“Lucifer had to refuse
,” squeaks a trade unionist, upon the announcement of the appointment of Nicole Belloubet, 68, as Minister of National Education, after the shipwreck, in less than a month, of Amélie Oudéa-Castéra .
Because it is a woman of the left that Emmanuel Macron and his Prime Minister have chosen to pilot the Rue de Grenelle and put to music the road map of the
“clash of knowledge”
which, for its part, leans clearly to the right.
It will have to bring about the return of authority, the experimentation with uniforms and
“civic rearmament”
.
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Minister of Justice from 2017 to 2020, under Macron's first five-year term, Nicole Belloubet was one of the symbols of the then flamboyant era of
“at the same time”
.
At the time, she carried the left's major project in terms of justice: that of outlawing prison.
An idea at the heart of her reform of the sentencing system, in March 2019. In July 2020, she left the Chancellery with tears in her eyes, with an immense feeling of incomprehension in the face of this eviction which she necessarily considers unfair given the path traveled .
It flows from a peaceful retreat.
Ironically, Nicole Belloubet arrived at National Education by the same path as that which had led her to Justice: the defection of François Bayrou.
In 2017, she was quickly appointed Minister of Justice to replace the indicted leader of Modem.
Today she is donning the role of Minister of Education, so François Bayrou has just given up on joining the Government, and the Rue de Grenelle where he was expected.
Read alsoBehind François Bayrou's revolt, the desire to undermine Gabriel Attal's first steps
“pedagogical”
vision
of the school
The public law lecturer, a former university professor, had arrived at Place Vendôme with her beliefs as a left-wing woman, without much knowledge of the judicial institution.
She knows the workings of National Education much better.
The teaching unions have already frequented the socialist activist, former rector of Limoges, from 1997 to 2000, then of Toulouse between 2000 and 2005. A last post from which she resigned to protest against the decision of the Raffarin government to reduce the number of teachers .
In 2012, she participated in the major
“refoundation”
of the school led by the Minister of Education Vincent Peillon, after the election of François Hollande.
In the working group that she then led, she intended to
“decompartmentalize”
the disciplines, promote
“project pedagogy”
, and put the student
“at the center”
.
A “pedagogical”
approach
, which is difficult to see accommodating with the return of repeating a year, level groups and the refocusing on
“fundamental knowledge”
, anticipated by the
“shock of knowledge”
that Gabriel Attal launched at the 'National Education.
“It will be interesting to see how she will carry the level groups in French and maths.
“It’s not at all his ideological zone
,” summarizes Jean-Rémi Girard, president of Snalc, one of the rare unions to defend these measures.
If the other unions are in line with the new minister's convictions, they remain perplexed for the moment as to her ability to assert them.
“Her career is attractive, but with the road map written by President Macron, she risks being on the edge.
If she gives up defending the success of all students, we will not agree
,” says Elisabeth Allain-Moreno, at Unsa.
“Will you have to deal with the former rector capable of slamming the door or with a collaborator of Gabriel Attal who will not have free rein?
asks Sophie Vénétitay at Snes.
Potentially, in three weeks, she will defend the wearing of the uniform
,” she adds.
The experiment is due to be launched next September in around a hundred establishments.
Mistake during the Mila affair
“Far from the nonsense about the restoration of authority or the wearing of the coat, those who are really confronted with educational tasks today understand the essential: we must leave the rigid framework of the lecture, allow time and “autonomy for young people, allowing for the right to make mistakes in the learning process”
, wrote Nicole Belloubet in 2016 in a text with the deliberately provocative title
“Should we abolish the Ministry of National Education”.
A forum in which she defended the need to better pay and train teachers, but also increased autonomy for schools and more decentralized management.
She could be in line, on this point, with Emmanuel Macron.
And secularism, which Gabriel Attal fiercely defended when he was Rue de Grenelle?
“She wouldn’t have banned abayas!
»
asserts a trade unionist, who keeps in mind his blunder of January 2020 regarding the Mila affair, this 16-year-old girl harassed and threatened with death after making insulting remarks about Islam and its Prophet.
The then Minister of Justice explained on
Europe 1
that
“the insult to religion is obviously an attack on freedom of conscience, it is serious
”
.
Before regretting, later in the day, an
“awkward expression”
.
A woman of character
At the Ministry of Justice, Nicole Belloubet was the opposite of Christiane Taubira: constant urbanity and smooth speech, but a stubborn capacity to carry out the great project of the left in matters of justice.
Its law of March 23, 2019 reformed the sentencing system.
The shorter ones were prohibited and those less than a year had to be adapted.
Furthermore, the magistrates had the duty to propose alternatives to incarceration at the hearing.
However, during his three years at the Chancellery, the plan to build 15,000 prison places, Emmanuel Macron's campaign promise, was lost in the sand.
When he left, due to the Covid crisis it is true, the penal population recorded historic declines, before skyrocketing again under the reality of delinquency.
If further proof of her strength of character was needed, we will remember that after almost being swallowed up in 2018 by the longest conflict among prison guards, it was she who found the martingale to calm the discontent.
Teachers better watch out.