In order to open up to the world and learn “living together”.
The deputies adopted a bill which aims to revive the dynamic of travel in educational establishments.
The text plans in particular to establish a fund to help finance stays and compensation for teachers.
The bill was brought forward by MP LR Émilie Bonnivard, who defended the benefits of school trips.
Opening up to the world, learning to “live together”, first step towards autonomy… The “discovery classes” mentioned by the elected official were unanimously accepted in the Chamber of Parliament.
Émilie Bonnivard also defended the fact that these trips make it possible to fight against social inequalities, in addition to often constituting “the first memory in the mountains, at the sea, in the countryside or in the city”.
Overcome financial and logistical difficulties
Organizing school trips often encounters difficulties.
Administrative constraints, security, remaining costs despite some aid for the most precarious families... are all obstacles that the MP would like to break down.
To financially support departures, the bill establishes a “national school travel assistance fund”.
It will support trips lasting more than two nights in public and private schools under primary school contract.
Faced with this measure, several left-wing groups have made amendments asking to limit this aid to public schools, in reference to the recent controversy between the Minister of Education Amélie Oudéa-Castéra and the private Stanislas college-high school.
If the rapporteur of the text and the minister concerned opposed these modifications, they spoke out in favor of another balancing measure.
This would involve the calibration of aid based on a “criterion of the social situation of schools, with regard to the existing social positioning index (IPS) for schools”.
The aim is to determine the level of these payments based on the situation of the establishments, not on whether they are private or public.
Three million euros were allocated in the finance bill to this fund.
According to LFI MP Léo Walter, this is a “insignificant” amount.
Émilie Bonnivard responded that it would be up to the finance law to reassess the amount, recognizing that it would probably not be “sufficient”.
Compensation for teachers
As part of the Pact, a controversial system which promises better remuneration to teachers in exchange for new missions, the text provides compensation for all those who accompany their class for three nights or more.
At the end of the session, the deputies also adopted a bill aimed at safeguarding “kindergartens” managed or financed by a public authority.
As a reminder, they were to disappear at the start of the 2024 school year. These structures, which offer an alternative to nursery school education, welcome approximately 3,000 children each year, according to the rapporteur of the text, LR MP Michèle Tabarot.