“Former journalist, I became a teacher at 50”

After 7 weeks of well -deserved vacation, Valérie, professor of French, resumed like thousands of students, the way to school. It will only be his 5th return …

Valérie, 55, is more than delighted to meet us to talk about her new job: French teacher in 5th and 6th secondary (accounting option) in Brussels. The media, she knows: she was a journalist for many years, before being dismissed at 50. “I experienced a very big questioning. Compared to myself and my work, which did not move as I wanted. I then wanted to exercise a more essential job, and be French teacher, I liked it well.”

Mastering language, literature, culture and philosophical debates have always passionate about it. “I applied on the teaching site.be. It was enough to download your diplomas – Art History for me – and 2 days later, I was engaged! I had no aggregation, and therefore no educational experience. I followed the training A little later during the evening. ”

A real corporation

Valérie does not choose her first school: she lands in a professional Athenaeum with a very low socio-economic index, with students “not easy to manage”. A real slap, she says, especially since we were in the middle of Covid and that I had to wear a mask to give lessons.

It is said that 40% of teachers stop before 4 years: I understood why. Fortunately, In this school and the next one, I was able to count on great mentors. By entering teaching, I joined a real corporation. My colleagues supported me and taught me to adapt to everything. Without them, I would probably not have kept… ”

Sometimes discouraged

At the beginning, Valérie embarked on the profession full of energy, having at heart to be able to transmit her passion for language and culture. “As a journalist, I was ready to answer questions, to be interested in students, but I had to calm my ardor. Being a teacher is stand-up, 7 hours in a row.”

First advice given to him: do not spend all your energy from the first hour! “I learned to stay standing for a long time (once sitting, we lose all authority), to spare my voice (I found myself several times Aphone) and to vary my approaches (active participation, group work, etc.).”

Above all, it must face the lack of receptivity of students – they are optional compatibility: the French course is not their priority – and absenteeism. Mainly in 5th, because there is no repetition: “I have been discouraged, because I had only 4 or 5 students present out of 24, and to ask myself how I was going to finish my program and catch up with gaps in 6th grade. It must be said that I only have 2 students whose French is the mother tongue. During the oral exam, only 5 were present, the others being absent without the week. said to me: ‘But madam, anyway, we know we pass’. ”

60h/week for a beginner teacher

Another difficulty: the administrative burden. In 5 years, Valérie noted that she has exploded: secretariat, paperwork, educational meetings … “We say that the teachers give 20 hours of lessons per week. This is false: we plan 38 at school, not to mention the course preparations and the evenings at home. For a beginner teacher, it can go up to 60 a.m. Absolute necessity.

Valérie regrets Prof-bashing, this tendency to publicly criticize the teachers that we see too often on social networks. “We imply that the teachers do not do much. It is so far from being the case!”

Very useful journalistic skills

Valérie says it: what she learned in her first career as a journalist is far from lost. “Research, synthesize documents, check the sources, talk to a camera or an audience… These skills serve me every day. I also hosted writing workshops (too (She is also a writer, editor’s note), I like to have my students write, invite writers in class … The students love to know that I was a journalist, that I interviewed this or that celebrity. They find it motivating. Some want to become a journalist elsewhere. ”

The students of Valérie are, for the most part, 17-18 years old. “When I hear my colleagues from 1st or second secondary, I am delighted to escape the problems of emotional management or hormones of young teenagers. Mine is a little more mature. I have less disciplinary problems, even if I have known a few rare cases of violence. Maybe given my age, I benefit from natural authority.”

They have lost many illusions

Valérie Le Sent: some of her young people were weakened by confinement. They suffered a lot from the lack of contact and solidarity, and have lost many of their illusions there. Not to mention that some have hardly had French lessons for a year. “What I regret too,” she adds is the absence of parents. During parents meetings, I sometimes wait 3 hours without seeing anyone … No doubt they believe, their child being (almost) major, that it is no longer necessary to get involved. But it’s a mistake: I know how much they still need their parents’ support. ”

We walk on eggs

On the other hand, what fills Valérie with joy is when a pupil marvels after a book, a testimony or a museum visit, activities which they are not necessarily used to. “Literature allows you to open up to existential questions: stereotypes, determinism, gender equality … even if you have to choose readings with caution, because debates can quickly ignite. I often introduce feminist authors in my program – educational freedom allows me. Given the multiculturality of my classes, the subject is delicate. see with a bad eye the fact that I am a woman and that some girls refuse to sit next to a boy. ”

His biggest victory?

But over the year, Valérie notes that each other’s gaze evolves, and she takes it as a personal victory. “The day I received a message from a student, a year after her departure, telling me that she thought about Simone de Beauvoir and preferred to study to be independent rather than getting married right away, I understood the importance of my role.”

And the enrichment is reciprocal: “The students entrust their emotions to me, their story, their way of seeing the world. A class is a microcosm of lives, of intimate. Some have left their country to be able to survive, others do not have enough to eat or work at night. Their stories make me think, push me to adapt. I find myself facing 24 students and therefore 24 different brains. The job invites you to question itself continually. ”

A physically difficult job

In short, Valérie does not regret her change of orientation for a second. “I am well where I am. I see myself continuing as a teacher until 67 years old.” His only fear? Let his body not follow: “I will probably acquire more techniques to capture the attention of students and make them more independent, but professor is a physically difficult job. I will have to practice a lot of sport to be sure to hold on!”

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