“Massive recourse” to AESH, “obstacle course”… The very contrasting results of the inclusive school policy

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La Cour des comptes a rendu ce lundi 16 septembre un rapport attendu sur la scolarisation des élèves en situation de handicap dont les besoins ont explosé. Si les efforts sont évidents, leur efficacité l‘est moins.

Can (significantly) do better despite efforts. This is how we could summarize the National Education report card on the inclusion of students with disabilities. The judgment of the Court of Auditors, which took up the subject following a citizen consultation in 2022, reveals a more than contrasting assessment of a policy that has nevertheless been proactive for two decades and the February 2005 law on school inclusion.

This desire has been reflected in the figures. As the school has become more open, it has welcomed more and more students with very diverse disabilities, increasing from 155,361 in 2006 to 436,085 in 2022. The State has devoted significant resources to this, and their support workers (AESH) have even become the institution's second largest profession, with 78,816 agents (full-time equivalents) in 2023, an increase of 90% since 2013, representing a payroll that has increased by “278%”. “Quantitative success is undeniable: National Education has organized and transformed itself both in terms of institutional management and the professional practices of staff”, states the Court of Auditors.

The number of students with disabilities is increasing every year. S.W.

Heterogeneous, incomplete

But she quickly qualifies this. "These transformations prove to be heterogeneous depending on the territories and, in many cases, incomplete". Above all, the "massive recourse" to AESH – which could also "constitute an obstacle to the student's autonomy" according to the last National Conference on Disability in April 2023 – would be carried out “to the detriment of accessibility systems that remain insufficiently developed”, in particular the accessibility of buildings or the adaptation of teaching materials. The Court therefore questions “the control and sustainability” of such an increase in load “in view of current and future budgetary constraints”, but also of its efficiency.

The Montpellier academy in the good average

The figures from the Court of Auditors show that the Montpellier Academy is not the most behind, and by far, in this work of school inclusion. The rate of students without support is one of the lowest, just behind the academies of Corsica, Nancy-Metz and Besançon. In April 2023, there were 417 without support, out of a total of 17,365 students with a notification requiring it, or 2.4%, compared to a national average of 8%. The five departments also have a coverage rate of adapted teaching materials higher than the national average of 68%: 81% in Hérault, 85% in Gard, and up to 95% in the Pyrénées-Orientales for a total of 4,907 students. On the eve of the start of the school year, the rector Sophie Béjean assured of her desire to respond as best as possible to the needs. Some 120 AESH were thus recruited this year, making a total of nearly 7,000 agents – or 4,324 full-time equivalents according to the unions. There are also 472 Local Units for School Inclusion (Ulis) systems, 13 of which have just opened this fall. The Court of Auditors report shows, however, that the figures do not tell the whole story of the quality of support. Ms. Béjean also pointed out that the subject is "complex".

Throughout the 160 pages of the report, we read that teachers often feel helpless when it comes to diversifying their teaching activities due to numerous factors, starting with the number of students per class that is "too large and which limits the possibilities of individualizing their teaching", or "the absence of suitable teaching materials". Families “unanimously described their children's schooling as an obstacle course”, describing“discontinuous paths that are sources of feelings of unease and uncertainty about their future“. The support workers, for their part, say they are “insufficiently equipped and prepared to deal with situations that sometimes exceed their skills and means of action“, calling for better initial and continuing training, which they would like to see combined with the medico-social sector.

The difficult coexistence of two sectors

The Court of Auditors also analyses that if the inclusive school policy has so many implementation weaknesses, it is notably because it is dependent on the coexistence of two sectors “whose coordination and interactions are not satisfactory” : the educational sector and the medical-social sector. The final decisions “are imposed” on the National Education system, without the latter having the possibility of raising the alarm, for example, about cases of students who should have been admitted to medical-social facilities, but who are not there, due to a lack of places in the latter or by choice of families. On the eve of the start of the school year, the resigning Minister of National Education, Nicole Belloubet, had also slipped in that 24,000 children with disabilities would have to be admitted to school, due to a lack of places in medical-educational institutes.

Jessica Boyer of SNALC, the majority union of AESH

“The payroll of AESH increased by 278% between 2013 and 2022.” While the Court of Auditors questions the massive use of these personnel “with questionable effects”, while defending itself against any misunderstanding “there should be no fewer accompanying persons”, the leading union of ÆSH, the SNALC, sets out its framework. “To say that the presence of these assistants can constitute an obstacle to a student becoming independent does not hold water. It is the administration's hobby horse, we had felt it coming! She wants to move from compensation to accessibility, computers and educational adaptation for example, which do not require human intervention.

Which for the SNALC is nothing more than a decoy. “How to reduce the payroll without appearing to touch it”, says Jessica Boyer, vice-president of the SNALC for the Montpellier academy. But teachers are still just as helpless when faced with students who are far from the learning offered or who exhibit very disruptive behavior: “On the occupational health and safety registers, three-quarters of the completed files in the first level concern acts of violence linked to inclusions of ADHD (attention deficit disorder) or ASD (autism spectrum) for example, made in insufficient conditions: spitting, biting. Some should be Medical-educational institute”. In 2023 in Hérault, 400 students did not have a place in IME and 90 in ULIS. How to square the circle with the available resources ? “We must not make people believe that AESH are a hindrance to a student's autonomy. Equipment will never replace humans”.

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