The Covid-19 epidemic obliges, the baccalaureate specialty tests, scheduled for March 14 to 16, could be arranged or postponed to the end of March, May or June. The ministry is consulting unions and representatives of parents and students before announcing its decision in the coming days.
The Minister of National Education assured Monday, during a trip to Tourcoing, that a decision would be taken “within eight days”. It could happen as early as the end of the week.
32% of the final grade
These specialty tests – which concern the two “specialties” chosen by high school students in Terminale – were born from the baccalaureate reform decided by Jean-Michel Blanquer, and count for 32% of the final mark for this exam. They have never been organized before due to the health crisis.
In 2021 (first year of the new baccalaureate), these tests had been canceled and replaced by continuous assessment. This time, it is not a cancellation but a postponement which is studied with the unions and the national council for high school life. Will these events simply be arranged and maintained in March as the majority of high school students and parents of Peep, one of the federations representing parents of students, hope?
High school students want the tests to be maintained in March, possibly postponed for one or two weeks maximum, with test arrangements, such as for example two subjects to choose from for a test (instead of only one). “It’s also very important to have national and anonymous tests that count in our Parcoursup files”, notes Ruben Carius, president of the organization “Les Lycéens!” »
May seems to us to be the best for the students
Will they be postponed to May as headteachers suggest?
“March is too early, because January and February have been or will be very disrupted. June is too late, because specialist teachers cannot both correct the copies and pass the great oral. May seems to us to be the best for the pupils, ”declares Claire Krepper, national secretary of SE-Unsa, on the same line as the main union of school heads.
“Maintaining the tests in March risks putting everyone in a tense situation because we still have 12% to 15% of teachers absent due to the Covid”, notes Catherine Nave-Bekhti, of the Sgen-CFDT union. “Reporting is complicated. But if this reassures and secures the students then why not move to April or May? “.
“It’s complicated to move forward properly because many are missing”
Other unions, including the SNES (first among college and high school teachers), are leaning towards a postponement in June. “A large part of the students are at a distance or sick. It’s complicated to move forward correctly because many are missing and we never have the same students in front of us, depending on the contact cases and the sick. It’s impossible to finish the programs and the idea is therefore to allow time to better prepare the students,” says Sophie Vénétitay, from SNES-FSU.
For several weeks, lessons have been disrupted by the absence of teachers and students contaminated by the Covid.
But a postponement in June would mean that the high school students of Terminale will chain the two specialty tests, the philosophy, then the great oral, a test which is out of the ordinary for French students. And the teachers correcting these tests will have to pass the grand oral, the anticipated French tests and the philosophy tests at the same time.
All the hypotheses are still on the minister’s table. Pupils, teachers and parents, if they do not agree on the desired timetable, all demand a “quick” response.