Georges Fotinos: the relationship between the school and the families has clearly deteriorated

The climate between families and schools has deteriorated significantly, warns researcher Georges Fotinos, while several parents have recently been prosecuted for death threats against teachers. In an interview with the newspaper "Le Monde", this specialist in educational issues discusses the causes of this deterioration and the risks it represents for the educational institution.

Georges Fotinos relies on two surveys he conducted among school principals to make this observation. According to him, the relationship between families and the school has gradually weakened, without political leaders really taking it up. He believes that the subject has been left aside for too long, despite the warning signals raised by the management teams in the field.

The researcher points to the multiplication of tensions, sometimes to the point of serious threats against teachers, as a symptom of an eroded trust between the two parties. This development, according to him, weakens not only the daily work of the teaching teams but also the ability of the school to fulfill its mission with students.

Georges Fotinos calls for a political awareness of the extent of the phenomenon, insisting on the need to better support school principals and teachers confronted with these situations. He also stresses the importance of restoring a peaceful dialogue between families and the educational institution, a condition according to him for a more serene school climate.

The interview comes in a context where several cases of threats against teachers have been in the media in recent months, reviving the debate on the protection of educational staff and on the means to be deployed to appease relations between the school and the parents of students.

According to the researcher, this deterioration does not uniformly affect all institutions, but it is observed in a sufficiently broad way to justify a structural response rather than one-off measures.