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School health protocol: a day "in hell" with education assistants

2021-01-26T12:43:42.530Z


Swiss army knives in schools, supervisors have become guarantors of the health protocol, which still has a very precarious status.


There was a time when a day at a college went by normally, punctuated by the silences of class, the bells and cries of recess.

It was before the coronavirus, and the hunt for brewing to avoid meetings between students.

Guarantors of the health protocol, educational assistants (AED) now live

"a thousand days in one"

, sighs Marine Junca, supervisor in a college in the Landes.

"The organization may be extremely well established, it is hell to manage."

Before, students would enter his college through a gate, between 8 a.m. and 8:30 a.m.

From now on, they arrive every quarter of an hour through two different entrances depending on whether they come on foot or by bus.

Before, recess started at 10 a.m., until 10:20 a.m.

From now on, the half-group breaks are spread throughout the morning.

But we must continue to ensure the permanence.

Supervisors duplicate themselves, or at least they try.

“Sometimes I found myself managing two classes at the same time,”

says Marine Junca.

“I was running from room to room.

Fortunately they weren't too far away, ”

she says, even though

“ it was a bit of a mess ”

.

Not being able to be everywhere, the education assistant has sometimes resolved to provide homework help on the benches of the playground, while glancing at the students on break.

"I have the impression of being a covid policeman"

Matthieu, AED in the Paris region

In the canteen, the situation becomes gruesome.

“You have to make sure that the students go well with those in their class group, that they sit in staggered rows with two per table.

Sometimes, we reprimand them so that they accelerate, even if they have not finished their tray because the services are complicated to organize ”

, regrets Matthieu, AED in the Paris region.

Read also: Masks, fixed places, gel: in a school canteen under reinforced protocol

"Put your mask back on" "We don't kiss you ladies" "

Wash your hands"

, the supervisor repeats over and over.

His days consist in hunting down flirts in a corner of the courtyard, groups of friends gathered clandestinely under the stairs.

“I feel like a covid policeman,” he

sighs.

"They are still teenagers, and we can give all the instructions in the world, we cannot prevent them from living."

Gendarme,

“nurse and even medical secretary”

, affirms Ludivine Stifler, supervisor in a boarding school in Montpellier

.

“From now on, we take the temperature of the students, we reserve the covid tests for the residents, and we bring the meal trays to the patients in their rooms.

As in the hospital, except that there, they have equipment, which is not our case

”...

An impossible tenure

Covid-19 or not, supervisors must nevertheless continue the usual work of school life: ensure discipline, control attendance, pedagogically support students.

But also to listen to the small and the big evils.

As in many industries, the coronavirus crisis has highlighted the invisible but essential role of educational assistants.

"Vie S'vagère" "We are no longer pawns"

 : since the beginning of December, slogans have flourished among the AED, which joined the national education strike movement on Tuesday January 26 to demand a reform of their status.

Because the supervisors are in fact contract workers whose exercise of their profession cannot exceed six years, often in the form of precarious contracts renewed annually.

“Initially, it was considered a student job.

Except that today we see that the students are only 18 to 20% of the AED, who are on average between 30 and 40 years old ”,

explains Hugues Marie, national coordinator of the collective Vie 'Scolère.

“The different tasks require investment and involve responsibilities.

And yet, we cannot be tenured.

Those who would like to continue must stop ”

, continues Hugues Marie.

Read also: Covid-19: towards extended school holidays?

"It's a profession that can be learned"

, confirms Marine Junca, who, at 40, became a supervisor after having worked for a long time with children for local structures.

“We are real Swiss Army knives.

A somewhat hybrid role between psychologist, social worker and teacher assistant.

We find ourselves dealing with delicate situations, or disabled children, in front of whom we have no weapons, no tools, ”

she continues.

There is no AED diploma: the baccalaureate is enough.

It would take training.

Society has changed, and so have children.

"

Source: lefigaro

All news articles on 2021-01-26

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