Bac new formula: the flaws in the calendar of the last tests

Philosophy gives, this Wednesday, the kickoff of the final exams of the general and technological baccalaureate. Like always. But not really like before. The discipline no longer has this media aura of the time when, before the reform, it gave the starting signal for the exam marathon.

It is now a test without stake, regret some professors of philosophy. “We are the only country in which, for the general and technological path, there is philosophy for everyone”, retorts to the Ministry of National Education to cut short the criticisms.

Demotivation of students

This feeling is not only valid for this material. Teachers have complained about the demotivation of pupils who, after spending their specialty exams in March – which count for 32% of the examination – came to the course pearly. Considering that the main issue – the inclusion of these notes in Parcoursup – was behind them. The tests that take place until June 30 will represent 18% of the baccalaureate coefficients.

“School is not optional, insisted the Minister of National Education, Pap Ndiaye, at the beginning of May on France Info. If they no longer go to specialty courses, it’s a bad calculation. But it is unlikely that his words will be enough to reduce this absenteeism in the future.

“Cultural change”

What to do then? Change the calendar and delay the specialty tests? “It’s complicated to postpone them to May because it would then be too late to take into account the notes for Parcoursup”, indicated the minister. “We do not, at this stage, intend to modify the calendar because it is the first installation of the ferry resulting from the reform”, one insisted again, Monday, at the ministry by evoking the three previous years “very disrupted by the Covid”.

To act on the demotivation of pupils, the National Education wants “a cultural change in the third trimester which must be increasingly positioned as a primer to the top “. Especially since “the specialties of high school students are generally in connection with their further studies “.

A full review

The ministry says it wants to “work” with higher education to make the third quarter not “not the end of high school but a period of transition from high school to further studies”. But without modifying the program.

“We are on a first full session, we explain to the ministry. Before we start moving the bricks and asking the big questions while the cement is still fresh, we’re going to let things stabilize. »

A complete essment of the exam session will nevertheless be submitted to Pap Ndiaye. “If the Minister wants to make a number of adjustments, all of this will be debated. But, at this stage, we are not planning on substantial modifications to the course of the baccalaureate, ”explains to the ministry.

What might such adjustments look like? Do not give high school students, from April, their notes for specialty tests and wait for the beginning of July when the results of the bac? “The question is interesting and legitimate,” we answer the ministry, without deciding.

Reflecting on the end of the school year

“The subjects presented during the grand oral, in June, could only relate to the program taught after the specialty lessons”, also suggests the instigator of the reform and director of the IEP of Lille, Pierre Mathiot, in an interview. in the “Sunday Journal”. Why not also upset the timetables for the third quarter?

The question will be on the table of former rector William Marois, who was entrusted by Pap Ndiaye with a mission to reflect on the end of the school year, from sixth to final year. For the rest, if, on Wednesday morning, the students are less stressed than before to p the philosophy test, it will not be a bad thing, we try to reure the ministry, speaking of “the expansion of the conceptual horizon” that it presupposes.