The 2024 teaching recruitment exams have so far shown little improvement compared to previous years. With 3,100 unfilled positions in 2023 and 4,000 in 2022, it is expected that there will be vacancies for teaching positions in 2024 as well, leading to the need for the ministry to hire temporary contract workers. Early results suggest that hundreds of positions are already vacant in primary education, with around 90 vacancies in secondary education. The number of successful candidates is expected to be lower than the number of candidates who are eligible, indicating a continuing downward trend in the number of applicants since the exams were moved to the end of the second year of master’s study.
The government is hoping to address this issue through a reform of teacher training and by moving the exams to the end of a bachelor’s degree in the coming years. Despite extending the registration period in the fall of 2023, there has not been a significant shift in the situation. The number of external candidates registering for the exams has also decreased compared to previous years, with 42,800 candidates for primary school teaching exams in 2024, and 20,755 for the Capes (Certificat d’Aptitude au Professorat de l’Enseignement du Second Degré) exams, down by 30% to 40% from 2021. This decline in applicants is seen as a continuation of the systemic crisis facing the teaching profession.
Results from the eligibility exams confirm the systemic crisis in the teaching profession, although this crisis varies from academy to academy and from one subject area to another. The academies of Guyane, Créteil, and Versailles consistently face recruitment difficulties, with Créteil and Versailles having the highest recruitment needs in the country. In 2024, Créteil had 733 eligible candidates for 1,037 positions, Versailles had 744 eligible candidates for 1,230 positions, and Guyane had 61 eligible candidates for 152 positions. Additional exams held in the Parisian academies in recent years to increase the pool of candidates will only partially address these shortages.
It is still too early to draw conclusions about the 2024 recruitment exams, as the final results will not be known until the summer. However, early indications suggest that there will be a significant number of vacancies for teaching positions, forcing the ministry to rely on temporary contract workers once again. The downward trend in the number of applicants, especially for the primary and secondary education exams, points to ongoing challenges in recruiting and retaining qualified teachers. The government’s focus on reforming teacher training and the exam process is seen as a potential solution to address these recruitment issues in the future.
