"The question was: How do we create a school that can connect the issues of the end of the world and the end of the month, but also the questions of the end of the 'self', thus addressing the issue of being in this ecological transition?”, exclaims Frédérick Mathis.
ETRE is a school primarily aimed at young people who are questioning their paths, who are neither employed, nor in training, nor in internships, aged between 16 and 25, and who will be supported and trained in the manual trades and skills of the ecological transition.
So why manual? “First, because the spark comes from the 'power of doing', meaning that taking action and working with one's hands is important,” specifies Frédérick Mathis. “Secondly, the jobs of tomorrow will be hands-on jobs. Therefore, it is essential to train these new players in the ecological transition.”
Indeed, by 2030, 1.8 million people will need to be trained in the skills and challenges of ecological transition. Among them, 89% will be workers and technicians.
The first ETRE school was established in a village of 200 inhabitants, 50 km from Toulouse. The demand was immediately very strong across France. "But upon looking, we found no place that brought together these social, ecological, and training issues. So we thought it would be good to create more ETRE schools by relying on people who know their territory. So we supported these creations.”
There are currently 33 in France, and the goal is to offer 60 by 2028. So there are very strong ambitions, but still insufficient compared to the challenges. “So we need to shift gears,” explains Frédérick Mathis. “And for that, we need to leverage the landscape of vocational training to integrate these manual skills as a subject, a structuring tool regarding the ecological transition, but also leverage society to change the perception of these trades and manual skills.”
