• Analysis
French Education Reform Proposals 'Vague', Says SNALC Union Chief Girard
Jean-Rémi Girard, president of the SNALC teachers' union, told François Picard that the government's French education reform proposals are vague and that the government itself "created most of the problems that everybody is trying to solve now."
Girard: 'They created most of the problems'
Speaking to François Picard, the SNALC president placed responsibility for France's educational difficulties not simply on demographic change or fiscal constraints, but on years of political decisions. Under Emmanuel Macron's first presidential term, the government eliminated 8,000 secondary teaching positions even as student enrolment was rising, Girard said. In his view, "They created most of the problems that everybody is trying to solve now".
Shortages persist despite fewer pupils
The union leader's diagnosis of teacher shortages france-wide points to a paradox: even where enrolment has fallen, staffing shortages persist, leaving institutions struggling to replace absent teachers.
Parcoursup and the capacity gap
On higher education, Girard argued that the problem is not Parcoursup per se, the admissions platform introduced under Emmanuel Macron in 2018. What he sees as the deeper issue is the widening gap between growing demand for university studies and the limited capacity of higher education institutions. He summed up the physical limits of the system plainly:
We cannot push the walls.
Vague proposals and a budget test
Girard said the protests have exposed "very big problems" within the national education system, and he cautioned against allowing the unrest to overshadow the underlying educational grievances. The government's latest proposals, he called a tentative step forward, but he remains sceptical of commitments lacking concrete guarantees and secure funding. He said the education system is caught between competing demands:
- •reducing public expenditure
- •tackling teacher shortages
- •accommodating growing demand for higher education
- •safeguarding equal access
Without an approved parliamentary budget, he warns, the promised measures "won't become real".
