I’m not sure why this is in Feminism: chat?
I’m in France and this is has always struck me as a very odd aspect of the French school / childcare system. My children were in maternelle / primary school when the périscolaire system expanded due to reforms, but French schools have always had a very weird approach of putting unqualified, unsuitable adults in close contact with children of all ages. The périscolaire workers at my children’s school were a mixture of old school French grannies and young men, often of North African descent, doing this because they can’t find other jobs. Best case scenario the grannies were caring and experienced, and the young guys were sporty and energetic. Worst case scenario, the grannies were shouty, mean and lazy, the young guys were utterly ill-suited to childcare.
in secondary there are similar roles but the children are less vulnerable as they don’t nap and aren’t alone with the surveillants. But the people filling these roles are often just random odd-bods who are doing it temporarily or because they can’t get any other jobs. Our vie scolaire are permanently short staffed and will take pretty much anyone with a pulse. There’s a very cursory police check and training, but that’s it.
In France there is a huge tolerance of inappropriate behaviour that would get people fired in the UK - physical, sexual, racist, sexist etc. Last year an experienced teacher told a black kid in his class to ‘stop acting like he’s still in the jungle’. Everyone knew, nothing is done. Our head teacher asked one of her adjoints, who is North African descent, what it’s like having a baby Taliban at home (referring to her children). Again, initial shock horror then a collective shrug. Our janitor regularly makes young female students feel uncomfortable with leery comments, standing too close. We know that he and his cronies hang out in his office making sexual comments about students and female staff, behind the tinted glass. He showed my female colleague a video of someone masturbating 🙄. She shrugged it off 🤷♀️ Again, outrage followed by well, what do you expect from those people? Part of the problem is that many of these roles are fonctionnaire- state employees, therefore hugely protected. It’s less hassle to deal with complaints than to tackle the perpetrator.