“We do as we can but it’s often DIY.” In the mouths of teachers concerned with the education of students with disabilities, this last word comes up repeatedly. The beautiful stories of successful journeys mingle, alas, the many sometimes very painful stories of failures and feelings of helplessness. In a recent book, Magali Jeancler, author of The other side of the inclusive school (Gallimard), multiplies the edifying examples. This school teacher dwells, among other cases, on that of Imani, broken by a failing system. This student, suffering from a malformation of the bladder, also suffers from a major cognitive delay that has not been diagnosed or assessed. “He has fine thinking skills, strategies, but too fragmented and fleeting”, describes the teacher. A succession of administrative grains of sand, absences or personnel changes ended up causing him to lose his footing. “Between CP and CM1, Imani will have made lots of friends, but he will have learned nothing or almost nothing, for lack of resources. It’s terribly serious!”, accuses the young woman.
Entering the world of 430,000 disabled students educated in public schools means discovering an endless maze of acronyms, lengthy titles, legal texts, complicated devices… with insufficient means. It is to note a crying lack of statistical data, too, whereas precise figures would make it possible to pose an objective glance on these painful situations. “We don’t know how long these 430,000 children or adolescents declared as being educated in ordinary schools really go to school. Some only go to class for a few hours, others all week. But, despite our repeated requests, we don’t have the details”, regrets Claire Hédon, the Defender of Rights. This former journalist reveals that complaints relating to difficulties in accessing education for children with disabilities represented in 2021 nearly 20% of child-related referrals addressed to the constitutional authority she heads. “A figure that continues to increase, she says. It shows that the child is most often asked to adapt to school when it should be the opposite.” And the Defender of Rights to enumerate the many flaws pointed out in a report published by his services last August.
We discover that the shortage of accompanying persons for students with disabilities (AESH), numbering 130,000, is one of the recurring problems. The candidates are missing and the number of hours of support, however notified by the departmental houses for the disabled (MDPH), are far from always being respected. As a result, children who were supposed to be accompanied find themselves alone, left to fend for themselves. “How can you be surprised not to find volunteers when the average salary of an AESH is around 800 euros per month and is below the poverty line!” Exclaims Claire Hédon, who pleads for the passage half-time to full-time of these contracts. A project under study, even if “all AESH do not necessarily want to work full time”, replies the Ministry of National Education, which insists on the “4,000 additional positions created again this year”, and “a growth of 10 to 12% per year”.
In a logic of pooling, AESH are, in the majority of cases, led to follow several children, dividing their time between different classes, or even several establishments. This situation would be directly linked to the recent generalization of inclusive localized support centers (Pial), normally set up to better adapt resources locally to requests. Las!, the report of the Defender of Rights judged their operation “opaque and disparate”. “It appears from the referrals and contributions received by the institution that this organization is often guided by a rationalization of resources”, it is still written.
In addition to these very difficult working conditions, there is a lack of specific training for these AESH. “They were given sixty hours of training recently. It’s already better, but far from enough,” said Sylviane Corbion, teacher and researcher in sociology. In his book The inclusive school. Between idealism and reality (ed. Erès), this school teacher evokes the case of a little autistic girl integrated into a very noisy class, placed under a defective neon flashing above her head, constantly called to order by her AESH the taking her by the shoulder to encourage her to work… “One day, this student in great pain broke down. She took her pair of scissors and planted them in the cheek of her companion, who has since been disfigured”, says- she. For a long time, the use of AESH was seen as the pillar of inclusive schooling. “But they are not the Doliprane of disability, likely to provide answers to all ills! After focusing on them for too long, the public authorities are trying to focus on other devices”, explains Sonia Ahéhéhinnou, vice-president of the National Union of Associations of Parents, Persons with Mental Disabilities and their Friends (Unapei).
In accordance with the law of February 11, 2005, the public education service must provide “academic, professional or higher education to children, adolescents and adults with a disability or an incapacitating health problem”. It is up to the State to put in place the necessary financial and human resources. Easier to decide than to guarantee in practice, one would be tempted to note eighteen years later, despite the best. The budget devoted to inclusive schools was 3.5 billion euros in 2022, an increase of 66% since 2017. Several systems have been created or strengthened over the past five years. There are now 1,300 localized inclusive education units (Ulis) – specialized classes for disabled students integrated into establishments. “There is not one but several answers to be given. It is up to us to adjust them as finely as possible and to adapt them according to the type of disability of the child”, advances Geneviève Darrieussecq, Minister Delegate in charge of People with Disabilities.
These so-called “special needs” students may in fact suffer from mental, cognitive, psychic, sensory and motor disorders… An expanding list that suggests the titanic work to be done. “However, National Education staff are not sufficiently equipped or armed to adapt to this multiplicity of profiles and often feel very alone”, regrets Sylviane Corbion. Since the start of the 2021 school year, a 25-hour training course has been put in place to help new teachers, replies the Ministry of National Education. As for civil servants already in post, they can register for academic sessions or connect to a dedicated platform. “But compared to other countries, the resources allocated to training in France are derisory”, insists Sylviane Corbion.
In Sweden, in particular, all teachers take courses in speech therapy, psychomotricity or child psychology as part of their initial training. “All over five years and accompanied by a period of observation in the classes”, specifies this specialist. This allows them to detect, themselves and very quickly, any “dys” disorders (dyslexia, dyspraxia, dysorthographia, dyscalculia, etc.) that some of their students may suffer from. The other country regularly cited as an example is Italy, where all the specialized establishments, with rare exceptions, were closed several years ago. On the other hand, the classes which welcome handicapped pupils are reduced in number. And teachers are required to work in pairs with a specialist colleague who has received solid two-year training.
With regard to the objectives to be met in terms of learning, French teachers often say they navigate on sight. Normally, they must be able to rely on the personalized schooling project (PPS), provided by the MDPH, which is supposed to guide them on the specific needs of their students with disabilities. “The reality is that, most of the time, the teacher has to write this document alone… for himself! Which makes no sense”, reproves Magali Jeancler. Sylviane Corbion remembers this hypotonic little boy (devoid of muscle tone), strapped in his wheelchair. “Her AESH took her hand and did the work for her,” she says. In the evening, the pupil’s mother hopefully asked the teacher if he had made progress: “There is a false promise from the public authorities which tends to make people believe that the simple fact of integrating a student with a disability in an ordinary environment will help him catch up on his academic delay.”
The lack of dialogue and coordination between teachers and caregivers is one of the major flaws in the system today. This is, however, an essential prerequisite for the proper functioning of the inclusive school. “It is abusive to expect a teacher to also be a caregiver,” recalls Magali Jeancler. However, for lack of staff to support them, teachers are often forced to make do with the means at hand. “I had a visually impaired and diabetic child in my class. I was told to make sure she didn’t fall asleep. The risk being that she would fall into a coma,” recalls Sylviane Corbion, who had to be ready to give him a shot of insulin just in case. A gesture in which she was absolutely not formed. “I had no choice but to go see my doctor to ask him what to do,” she says.
“The medico-social sector, which has its particularities and above all its skills, must be more present alongside the educational teams. This is one of our main areas of work”, recognizes Geneviève Darrieussecq. The Ministry of National Education also says it is working to set up joint training to encourage links between teachers and health professionals. But the fact that the latter are subject to professional secrecy is often an obstacle to the sharing of information and advice concerning students. To make matters worse, the school today is sorely lacking in school doctors. “However, their role is central since they are the ones who will be able to detect certain disorders and direct, if necessary, a student towards the most suitable reception structure”, insists Audrey Chanonat, national secretary of the SNPDEN, union of heads of establishment. If the diagnosis is not made, a handicapped pupil can remain for several years in a class which is not adapted to him. A situation that happens often and does not necessarily end once the disease is detected. Even when the MDPH recommends referral to a specialized institute, waiting times are sometimes very long.
“In order for students with disabilities to be able to rub shoulders with other young people of their age, while receiving the care they need, the ideal would be to ensure that medical-educational institutes are integrated into mainstream schools”, considers Geneviève Darrieussecq. An experience of this type, almost unique in France, was born at the start of the last school year within the Léo Lagrange school group in La Seyne-sur-Mer (Var). 45 young people with disabilities benefit from adapted equipment and the presence, on site, of 25 specialized professionals. This represents a substantial budget: 2.4 million euros just for the construction of the building, to which must be added the operating costs.
On January 13, the Minister Delegate for People with Disabilities and Pap Ndiaye, her counterpart in National Education, went to Vaucresson (Hauts-de-Seine) to visit the Toulouse-Lautrec high school where the television series of TF1 of the same name. In this establishment, which puts forward its model of “reverse inclusion”, 240 students with motor disabilities that can be associated with respiratory, metabolic or cardiac deficiencies, rub shoulders with 110 able-bodied students. Young people benefit from exceptional infrastructure, a dedicated care center and small classes. “A source of inspiration” for the two members of the government present. “If only it could be like this everywhere,” confided a member of staff on the sidelines of the visit. Aware that this remarkable device remains very far from the reality experienced by the hundreds of thousands of other students with disabilities and their teachers.
