An education assistant (AED) in France is paid based on a public service index, aligned with the minimum wage floor. The gross salary serves as a starting point, but the net salary actually received varies according to several parameters that the payslip does not always clarify.
Salary index and gross pay of an AED
In the public service, the remuneration of agents is based on a system of indices. For AEDs on fixed-term contracts, the index corresponds to the minimum wage floor index, updated with each legal increase in the minimum wage. This mechanism means that the gross remuneration of an education assistant mechanically follows inflation, without it being a proactive salary policy from the Ministry of National Education.
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AEDs on permanent contracts theoretically have a salary scale provided by the decree of August 2022. However, the order regarding their remuneration only provides for a single index for holders of a permanent contract, which significantly limits progression. An AED with six years of seniority and another newly recruited can thus find themselves on the same index.
To understand in detail how the remuneration of an education assistant net salary is calculated, it is necessary to distinguish the gross indexed salary from mandatory deductions (retirement contributions, CSG, CRDS) that significantly reduce the amount paid at the end of the month.
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Work hours and net salary: why two AEDs do not earn the same
The first factor of disparity between two AED payslips is the work time fraction. A full-time contract in the National Education corresponds to 1,607 annual hours. Most AEDs are recruited part-time or three-quarters time, which proportionally reduces the salary.
A part-time AED receives half of the gross salary, to which deductions are then applied. The net monthly salary of a part-time education assistant is therefore significantly below the net minimum wage, even though the hourly index remains the same.
This massive reliance on part-time work is not a choice of the agents. Schools have limited budget envelopes and allocate positions based on their needs for supervision and support. Two colleges in the same city may offer different fractions for an identical position.
REP and REP+ bonuses: a very unevenly distributed supplement
AEDs assigned to an institution classified in a priority education network (REP) or in a reinforced priority education network (REP+) receive a specific allowance. These REP and REP+ bonuses are taken into account for retirement calculation since January 1, 2024, making them a form of deferred remuneration and not just a monthly supplement.
An AED working in a downtown high school without priority classification does not receive this bonus. With equal seniority and work fraction, the net salary gap between a position in REP+ and a position outside priority education can represent several dozen euros per month.
Overtime and local allowances
Some AEDs work hours beyond their contractual fraction, particularly during exam periods or events at the institution. The remuneration for these hours depends on the credits available in the institution’s budget, creating a second source of disparity.
Allowances related to specific missions (supporting students with disabilities, supervision in boarding schools) can also be added to the salary. Their allocation varies from one institution to another and from one academy to another, without a uniform national scale.
Net salary of AEDs compared to other state public service agents
AEDs are non-permanent agents of the state public service. According to consolidated data on remuneration in the FPE, the average net salary of non-permanent agents remains significantly lower than that of permanent civil servants. Education assistants are at the bottom of this scale, below the average net salary of all agents combined.
This low position is explained by the combination of three elements:
- An index floor aligned with the minimum wage, without a real progression scale for fixed-term contracts or for the majority of permanent contracts
- Work fractions often lower than full-time, imposed by the budgetary constraints of institutions
- An absence of generalized bonuses comparable to those enjoyed by other categories of agents (teachers, permanent administrative staff)
The concrete result: a full-time AED earns a net salary slightly above the net minimum wage, while a part-time AED ends up with a monthly income that makes any financial autonomy difficult without additional work.
What salary disparities reveal about the AED status
Salary disparities among AEDs are not anecdotal. They reflect a structural operation where each institution manages its AED positions as a budgetary adjustment variable. The academy sets a framework, but the distribution of work fractions, the allocation of bonuses, and the possibility of overtime depend on the head of the institution and the allocated budget.
This system produces marked geographical inequalities. An AED in Île-de-France, where the cost of living is high, may receive the same indexed salary as an AED in a rural area, without specific compensation. REP and REP+ bonuses partially correct this imbalance for priority education areas, but they do not cover all high-pressure territories.
The CDI law adopted in 2022 was supposed to improve the clarity of AED remuneration. The implementing order, by providing only a single index for permanent contracts, has limited the scope of this reform. The salary progression of an AED on a permanent contract remains almost non-existent, raising questions about the attractiveness of these positions over time.
The role of education assistant remains one of the few jobs in the state public service where net remuneration depends as much on the place of assignment and the type of contract as on seniority or skills. This reality places AEDs in a unique position, both as state agents and subject to budgetary logics of institutions that fragment their remuneration conditions.