"The entire school system is reaching its limits"

We meet Alain Massen in his practice on a Tuesday morning. There, the psychotherapist exceptionally takes a seat in the armchair reserved for his patients. Massen has been the face of the National Parents' Association for six years. In an interview with the Journal, he talks about the work of parents' committees, the smartphone ban, Project Alpha and what it takes to make inclusion possible.

Lëtzebuerger Journal: Alain Massen, six years ago, on 8 February 2020, the first national representatives of the institutionally appointed parents' committee were elected. After two terms of office – the law stipulates this upper limit – a new president will take over next month. Would you have wanted to take on this role again?

Alain Massen: It's been two three-year terms, so it's already a period of time that you can leave your mark on. It takes a lot of time and energy to fulfil the mandate. As a self-employed person, I could have invested this in other ways, for example to spend more time with my family. Now it is important that new ideas are introduced. However, I have set myself the task of continuing to be active on the National Committee if I am elected.

What do you retain from your six-year presidency – let's start with the negative?

I regret that practically the first two years fell victim to Covid and nothing else was on the agenda. That brings a tear to my eye because I feel like I haven't achieved much in two years. We didn't even meet within the committee for two years.

And what do you remember as the most positive moment?

I wouldn't want to pin that down to one moment. I would see the fact that we were able to consolidate the work of the national parent representatives at the end of the first and then in the second term of office as our greatest achievement. I think we are now a recognised dialogue partner, both for the ministry and for schools and politicians. We have been able to build up a network and explain how we work. We are not a trade union that shouts "no" to everything or only makes demands without proposing solutions. That's not our role. When you represent 300,000 parents, you have to take a constructive approach and look at what works and what doesn't work.