All parents of children with disabilities will tell you this. Each time they return to school, the same anxiety comes back to haunt them: will my child be accompanied this year? For many, the answer is “no”.
In a country which has made school compulsory from the age of 3 since a law adopted in 2019, the reception of children with disabilities remains subject to the presence, or not, of AESH. These supporters of students with disabilities are essential. They accompany the child, relieve the parents, teachers or atsem. In short, they are necessary. The problem is that there are not enough of them.
In recent weeks, we have been able to talk to you about Kahil, who had no place in Lyon, or Eliott, whose parents are taking on the role of AESH at his school in Rennes. “This is not my place at all!” I’m not trained for that. I am his mother, not his AESH,” testified his mother Elodie. After a month and a half of silence, the family has just learned that an AESH had been found.
According to the latest announcements from the government, the Rennes family should not be the only ones to benefit. In his 2025 budget presented on Thursday, Michel Barnier recorded 4,000 cuts in teaching positions within the largest employer in France (1.2 million people). “A real bloodletting” according to the unions. With a budget stabilized at 63 billion euros, the first in the nation, the government has promised a significant effort to support disabled students.
On Thursday, the creation of 2,000 AESH positions was recorded. Insufficient to respond to the fears of the unions. “We are being told 2,000 more AESH positions but we know full well that no one wants to do this profession that is not paid enough,” says Catherine Nave-Bekhti, general secretary of CFDT Education.
Too low a salary and an unattractive job
The effort of 2,000 positions is commendable and deserves to be highlighted. But it comes up against two remarks: the first is that it is estimated that it would take more than 3,000 people to occupy these positions which were previously called “school life assistants” or AVS. The second is that it will not be enough to create positions, they will have to be filled. However, the profession is not a dream because it is not very well regarded and often offers fragmented employment contracts with a salary of 1,000 euros. “The AESH are sometimes shown up like that, without us having explained to them what the child is suffering from,” Emmanuelle Maray told us. The head of the FSU in Ille-et-Vilaine pointed out very high turnover, great insecurity and a lack of qualifications. Beyond just the open positions, the government knows that it must make the profession more attractive.
Let us note in passing that if the lack of AESH is so glaring, it is also because the number of disabled students has considerably increased. According to a report from the Court of Auditors, the workforce has tripled in fifteen years, going from 155,000 in 2006 to 436,000 in 2022. France had 78,000 full-time AESH equivalents in 2023.
Source: www.20minutes.fr
