Attal makes mistakes about teachers’ salaries and corrects his “mistake” – The HuffPost

POOL New via Reuters

POLICY – It is a subject which is essential at the beginning of the presidential campaign: how to improve the purchasing power of French professors, notoriously poorly paid? To show that the executive did not wait for the proposal to‘Anne Hidalgo to double their salary, Gabriel Attal explained Sunday, September 19 that no teacher would earn less than 2000 euros net per month by the end of the five-year term.

At the risk of being wrong. As the government spokesman himself explains, this Monday on social networks, the promise of 2,000 euros will be valid in 2024, and not before the end of the five-year term in May 2022.

Mea culpa. Yesterday, when asked about teachers’ salaries on @BFMTV, I wanted to recall the unprecedented revaluations for the start of a career allowed by @jmblanquer. It is in fact in 2024 that no teacher will earn less than 2000 €. I wanted to correct my mistake. https://t.co/sqbYfCQfHm

– Gabriel Attal (@GabrielAttal) September 20, 2021

“Mea culpa. Yesterday, when asked about the salaries of teachers on BFMTV, I wanted to recall the unprecedented upgrades for the start of a career allowed by Jean-Michel Blanquer. It is in fact in 2024 that no teacher will earn less than 2000 €, he wrote on his Twitter account, sharing an interview with the Minister of National Education carried out at the end of August.

A campaign theme?

It must be said that the exit of the government spokesperson had provoked the ire of several professors on social networks. “A spatiotemporal rift? Small movement of panic because it can be seen that there has been no “historical” revaluation? Strategy ‘say anything’ regardless of the implications? ”Wrote for example Sophie Vénétitay, general secretary of SNES-FSU, Sunday on Twitter, among other annoyed messages.

2000 euros minimum for teachers: JM Blanquer says 2024, G. Attal says 2022.
– a spatiotemporal fault?
– small movement of panic because it shows that there was no “historical” revaluation?
– “say anything” strategy regardless of the implications? pic.twitter.com/RDIRAZHPPN

– Sophie Vénétitay (@SVenetitay) September 19, 2021

The debate is essential in the political sphere, since Anne Hidalgo launched her shock proposal, not quantified, in her book “A french woman“:” To multiply by at least two the salaries of all the people in contact with the pupils “in a five-year term” or, to start, to align at least the salary of the new teachers on the median salary of the holders of a bac +5 ” .

“A summit of demagoguery”, for the Minister of National Education Jean-Michel Blanquer, who quantifies the measure at “150 billion (euros) at the end of the five-year term” cumulatively.

France still lagging behind

One thing is certain in this debate, however: teachers are still poorly paid. According to a report by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), France is still lagging behind in this area, compared to other developed countries. The gap is for example glaring with Germany: a college teacher earns 72,588 dollars gross per year at the start of his career, against 34,833 dollars for a French teacher, ie double. At the end of the career, however, the gap narrows: 95,216 dollars in Germany and 59,340 dollars in France.

More generally, the salaries of French teachers with 15 years of experience stagnated or increased only by 1% between 2010 and 2020 in elementary and secondary education, against an increase of 6 to 7% on average in the countries of the OECD.