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"The school did not know how to play its role": high school students claim a 2021 baccalaureate without major oral

2021-04-02T14:37:27.501Z


After the announcement of an imminent closure of high schools, unions, students and teachers are calling for the abolition of the flagship event of the new


At two months of the bac, the concern is already gaining the high school students.

Faced with the closure of schools decided by the executive for at least three weeks, many students fear that they will not be able to prepare their tests as well as possible, in particular that of the grand oral.

Highlight of the new bac, this 20-minute exam is based on a presentation and an exchange with a jury addressing a question studied during the year by the student as well as his orientation project.

A new test whose details are still poorly understood, even by teachers, and which accounts for 10% of the final mark of the bac.

Something to add to the stress of some students for whom the school year has already been very disrupted by the health crisis.

“We're a little lost,” admits Tiffaine, 17, a final year student in Arras (Pas-de-Calais).

“Preparing for this event at home will be a hassle.

I've already had exercises with a teacher to work on my oral presentation, my articulation, my breathing ... But now that we're all going to be behind a screen, how do you want us to do it?

“Asks the schoolgirl.

"If we miss it, it's a bunch of points less"

Worried about not being able to concentrate at home, Tiffaine, like "lots of people around her", wishes to see the big oral canceled.

“Not to say that we have one less exam to work on, but because it's not fair.

We haven't received the preparation we deserve.

Even our teachers have trouble getting information.

If we miss, it is a bunch of points less on our copy and our future that is at stake, ”she sums up.

The teenager is not the only one to demand the cancellation of this exam defended by the Ministry of Education.

A petition launched by several terminal students demanding the abolition of the test currently has more than 22,500 signatures.

The initiative finds strong support from student unions, such as the Union Nationale Lycéenne (UNL), the first high school union.

"We do not understand why the government persists in maintaining this ordeal when it is already difficult to finish the programs in normal times", comments Mathieu Devlaminck, president of the UNL, stressing that "no hour in [ their] timetable was not devoted to this oral examination ”.

"The school did not know how to play its role"

Faced with a cruel lack of preparation, the test could even prove to be socially discriminating for students from a disadvantaged background, believes the union.

“The school has not been able to play its role, namely that of reducing birth inequalities.

Because we know very well that the jury summoned to this test will note the oratorical skills of the students (their way of speaking, of standing), which is socially unfair, ”he believes.

The observation is shared by some teachers who already feared that social inequalities would increase with the holding of such an exam.

“This ordeal already appeared to us to be fundamentally unequal.

Because there are very strong social biases in a student's voice.

Talking about his orientation project is not easy.

On the contrary, it can block some.

Such an oral examination therefore requires solid preparation if we want everyone to have the same opportunities in front of the examiner.

However, this time was not granted to us ”, regrets Sophie Vénétitay, assistant general secretary of the union of professors Snes-FSU.

READ ALSO> Educational inequalities: "School alone cannot do everything"

Added to this ordeal is an already deeply unequal context, believes the union representative.

Because a majority of public establishments have switched in November towards a hybrid operation, with classes of half-groups in face.

“Equality has in fact been broken this year since we know the extent of the digital divide among some families.

This problem, which jumped out at us during the first confinement, is far from being resolved.

For all these reasons, we have to cancel this great oral session so that we can find more serenity, ”she assures us.

The baccalaureate evaluation could then be done without this test "set up in the emergency" and which counts for two disciplines.

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A hypothesis that the government refuses for the moment to consider, despite growing pressure from unions and students.

The maintenance of the exams "is not to annoy people but to maintain the requirement of the bac", defended Thursday the Minister of Education, Jean-Michel Blanquer.

Contacted Friday by Le Parisien, the ministry maintains that "the maintenance of the final exams is planned to ensure greater equity between all candidates" and that "the health situation should improve by June".

For the time being, he "encourages high school students to continue preparing for their test", just as he encourages "establishments to organize large white oral examinations if possible".

Priority to revisions therefore, waiting and hoping for better days.

Source: leparis

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