1st and 12th grade students now know what the decisive days of their year will be. The Ministry of Education revealed last week the new dates for the baccalaureate exams. The 2024 session will start on June 18 with the philosophy paper. The specialty written tests will follow on June 19, 20 and 21, then the grand oral from June 24 to July 3, 2024. For 1st grade students, the anticipated written tests for the French baccalaureate will take place on Friday, June 14, and the orals between June 24 and July 5. The results will be published on July 8.
“We are affirming a clear choice: the reconquest of the month of June,” commented last Thursday on TF1 the Minister of Education, Gabriel Attal. The first two weeks of June, all students will be in class. And the second fortnight, the 1st and final year students will be tested.” A decision linked to the fiasco of the 2023 baccalaureate calendar: the specialty tests having been positioned in March, many students who had their grades in April deserted the classrooms, thus depriving themselves of part of the program. Furthermore, the positioning of these tests at the end of the second semester forced teachers to see the program at full speed, and many students felt that they did not have enough time to prepare for the tests.
“It’s going to be super stressful and tiring for the candidates”
This situation had been denounced by unions of teachers, high school students, management staff and by parent federations. Gabriel Attal therefore knew that his decision to postpone the tests until June would be consensual. But the unveiling of the new calendar causes disappointment and concern.
First of all among final year students, who consider it too tight: “Three tests will be condensed into one week. It’s going to be super stressful and tiring. It’s a step backwards because in 2018, candidates were already taking a cascade of tests in the same week,” comments Gwenn Thomas-Alves, president of the FIDL union, who would have preferred one test per week. Ephram Beloeil, president of the Voix lycéenne union, fears that students will make apothecary accounts: “The two specialty tests count for 32% of the baccalaureate mark and philosophy for 8% for general baccalaureate holders and 4% for technology, some will focus on the first two and will tend to leave philosophy aside.
A very heavy schedule for French and philosophy teachers
Another point that bothers high school students: the Parcoursup results will fall from May 30 for the main admission phase, and from June 11 for the complementary phase. “It can destabilize students who have not received any proposals. And conversely, demobilize those who have been admitted to the training of their choice and will not see the point of working hard for their tests, because their future will already be sealed,” believes Gwenn Thomas-Alves
On the teachers’ side, this calendar also raises apprehensions. “Philosophy teachers will have to administer the written exams on the 18th, the tests for the humanities, literature and philosophy specialty on the 19th, 20th or 21st, and the grand oral from the 24th. All while correcting the papers. It’s even worse for French teachers, who may be asked to write the anticipated test on June 14, the written one for the humanities, literature and philosophy specialty on the 19th, 20th or 21st, the grand oral on from the 24th, and the oral exams for the French baccalaureate from the 24th there too. Not to mention the correction of the copies. They will spend a few sleepless nights,” warns Jérôme Fournier, national secretary of SE-Unsa. To lighten the workload and increase the pool of examiners-correctors, Se-Unsa will ask the ministry to call on middle school French teachers who have recently taught high school.
What about revision days?
Among school leaders, we are also preparing psychologically for a marathon in June: “These collected tests will disrupt our establishments, because it will be necessary to mobilize many rooms and teachers for monitoring and correction. The fact that specialty tests take place on a Wednesday (June 20) also poses a concern because in rural areas, school buses do not run on Wednesday afternoons,” notes Audrey Chanonat, SNPDEN national secretary.
Another unknown: will there be standardized days before the specialty tests to allow students to revise. On TF1, Gabriel Attal maintained the vagueness by declaring that “the first two weeks of June, all the students will be in class”. Last year, some high school students protested when they noted that ordinary days were planned in certain establishments, but not in theirs. Forcing the minister at the time, Pap Ndiaye, to impose it on everyone a few days before the tests. “It takes a real week of revision. A few days are not enough,” says Ephram Beloeil. “We need a circular to frame things nationally. And plan, for example, that the week of June 10, revision sessions are organized at the high school to allow those who want to participate to do so,” suggests Jérôme Fournier. “And we won’t have to find out at the last minute like last year. »
To enable students to prepare well, high school organizations insist on the need to put the white baccalaureates in order: “Some high schools do two in the year, while others do not. However, this allows students to revise the program and review the methodology of the dissertation,” believes Gwenn Thomas-Alves, who would like national directives to establishments on the subject. The baccalaureate has not yet finished making people talk about it.