Unprecedented in its results, the bac 2020 is also unique in terms of its organization and methods, which were completely turned upside down this year by the confinement and the Covid-19 crisis. Exit, the table tests and the sacrosanct meeting of a generation with the philosophy dissertation! Applicants, for the first time, were assessed solely on the basis of their class work.
With what consequences, and what lessons for the school system? The question is all the more important since continuous monitoring, far from being an accident in the bicentennial history of the bac, is fast becoming the norm. As part of the reform of the school, from the start of the school year, it will count for 40% of the final mark - the other 60% remaining the prerogative of final tests.
Time saving ? No exam rooms to prepare, no invitations to send or streams of copies to manage ... Relieved of the organization of the bachot, the high schools (even very idle after the health crisis) continued to operate until the 4th July, 3 weeks longer than usual. Unheard of, which tends to show that the famous "reconquest of the month of June", which groups of ministers of education have called for in vain, could become reality with the reduction in the number of final exams in the bac.
Savings ? Similarly, the baccalaureate will have cost much less this year. It also risks paying less to those responsible for organizing it. Usually, school heads receive compensation "which can range up to 2,500 euros to 3,000 euros," says Philippe Vincent, secretary general of the main union of school leaders, SNPDEN. Correctors for their part are compensated 5 euros gross per corrected copy. Will they hit something this year? And what about the next editions of the bac, where the number of homework to note will melt like snow in the sun? " We do not know anything ! The question was asked, but the answer has not yet arrived… ”notes Sophie Venetitay, from Snes, the main union of secondary school teachers.
Less justice? For this session, organized as a matter of urgency, many juries noted that average pupils had been artificially inflated by their original high schools. "We have seen that in terms of objectification of the marks, we are far from the account," says Sophie Venetitay, who sees proof that "national, anonymous and terminal tests" are more necessary than ever. "We cannot draw conclusions from a session where we improvised everything in an emergency," tempers Philippe Vincent, continuous pro-monitoring. For Pierre Mathiot, director of Sciences Po Lille and architect of the baccalaureate reform, this edition would be above all proof… of the need for a vast teacher training plan in notation. "If high schools that rate too strictly, for the sake of reputation, adjust their practices, it will be rather good news," he said.