Christophe BONNET

Composition of the Jury

Abstract

 The French public education system is facing a serious crisis in teacher recruitment. This decline in the attractiveness of the teaching profession is manifested by difficulties in recruiting and retaining young teachers, but also in other ways. The increasing psychosocial strain of the job and the lack of recognition from both the institution and society are leading to voluntary departures or a risk of disengagement among those who remain.

This "teacher malaise", which is said to be the result of dysfunctions in the management of teaching staff within the National Education system (Court of Auditors, annual reports of 2013 and 2023), would have as its consequences the degradation of the performance of the French school system (Pisa reports 2020 and 2024).

Considering, on the one hand, that the quality of a public service is partly dependent on the quality of working life of the agents directly in charge of that public service, and on the other hand, that the rise of theories of spirituality in management offers promising perspectives for understanding well-being and ill-being at work (BET and MET), our doctoral research aims to understand in depth the spiritual aspects of BET/MET of teaching staff, in order to find ways to promote the former and limit the latter.

To achieve this, we employ qualitative research methods. Twenty-three professional life stories were analyzed. Our results allowed us to: 1) propose a conceptualization of actionable MET (Transitional Ethical Methodology) in management science; 2) identify workplace suffering that can be linked to the spiritual dimension of human beings; and 3) characterize an allocentric component of eudaimonic MET for teachers.

The discussion of the managerial implications of this research work focuses on: 1) the conditions for implementing benevolent management to limit MET; 2) taking into account the spiritual dimension of the individual at work through the introduction of a ternary anthropology in HR; 3) the mobilization of allocentrism as a lever of motivation and source of spiritual fulfillment through work for public service employees.