“What happens in college stays in college!” A teenager could once retort to a mother deemed too curious. But that was before. Before the arrival of Pronote and other software that have become essential in the lives of students. Veritable Swiss Army knives of school life, they now allow parents to consult their children’s grades in a few clicks, to check their timetable, to be notified in the event of a teacher’s absence, to hand in homework line, to access corrections… A godsend for some, a nightmare for others. “This tool is certainly very practical, but it is also a source of stress!” exclaims Stéphanie*, mother of a 14-year-old teenager, enrolled in a French high school in Morocco.
During the year of the 5th of the latter, the mother of the family was warned of the slightest event experienced by her daughter such as a flagrante delicto of gossip or an argument with a friend. “An observation or a bad grade could ruin my day. Despite everything, I logged on several times a day, feeling sick to my stomach, wondering what else I was going to discover,” she says. Since then, Stéphanie has been trying to take a step back and get rid of this addiction which was poisoning her relationship with her child. At the Pronote picket? The punishment would be unfair. Because these applications, if they crystallize the critics, are only the interface of deeper evils which affect the school today: increase of the academic pressure, central place granted to the evaluation, omnipresence of the screens, increased tensions between parents and teachers…
The appearance of these applications (EcoleDirecte, VieScolaire.net, Educ’Horus, etc.) in the educational landscape is not new. Pronote, the market leader, published by Index Education, appeared in 1999. In 2020, the group was bought by Docaposte, which depends on the La Poste group. It is now used in 75% of colleges and high schools, ie in 8,000 establishments, and can record up to 20 million connections per day. At the time of successive confinements, linked to the Covid-19 episode, it broke attendance records. Since then, habits have remained and the tool has made itself indispensable by enriching itself with new functions each year. But the most popular – or dreaded – by students remains the one that appears under the “grades” tab: the numerical evaluations of each assignment are recorded there with, often as a bonus, the highest and lowest grade, as well as the class average. “Which has the perverse effect of reinforcing this current obsession with grades, denounces sociologist Pierre Merle. understood or not the student, the reasons for his possible errors, or the solutions to be put in place to help him”. Especially since the note often appears on Pronote before the class copy is returned. “Once the result is known, the student and his parents move on and do not even take a look at the correction”, continues Pierre Merle. According to this specialist in education issues, the growing share of continuous assessment, generated by the reform of the baccalaureate, and the establishment of the Parcoursup system, have further increased this pressure in recent years.
Especially since, since the health crisis, all specialists denounce a growing malaise among young people. According to a survey by the Synlab association, carried out between April and May 2022 among a thousand teachers, a third of middle and high school students reveal, in their speeches and in their words, signs of stress or anxiety. . The President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron, during his back-to-school address to the academy rectors on August 25, himself spoke of “unhappy” French students, “anxious” parents and “disillusioned” teachers. “For young people in difficulty, a tool like Pronote can be an aggravating factor since it tends to dehumanize their school career. The subject also comes up often in our discussion groups dedicated to parents”, explains Odile Mandagaran, president of the school phobia association which welcomes between 300 and 400 new families per week since September. “The problem is that the notifications can appear at any time, including evenings, weekends or during school holidays”, laments Cécile* whose son, enrolled in 3rd grade in a college in the Ardennes department, suffers from anxiety disorders. “Why don’t they have the right to disconnect like us other employees?” she asks.
“Permanent and excessive surveillance”
It would suffice for this that the young people concerned themselves put the tool on standby during certain time slots. “Not so simple! A message posted by a classmate on the class’s WhatsApp group and indicating a new info found on the app is enough to make them crack!”, retorts Anne *, mother of a 17-year-old girl attending school at Cherbourg, in Normandy. On the other hand, some teachers would post additional homework on Pronote in the evenings or on weekends, thus forcing students to connect regularly so as not to miss anything. “This remains extremely rare. In the vast majority of cases, the instructions are given in class and noted in the student’s diary, retorts Bruno Bobkiewicz, secretary general of SNPDEN, union of school heads. In particular because of the digital divide that is still relevant. Not all families necessarily have the means to connect.” Aware of the shortcomings caused by this ultra-connection, the company Index Education has been offering a new feature since last September. “Teachers could already choose the date of publication of the marks before entering them. They now have the possibility of postponing the sending on the parents’ space so that the student has them before”, explains Emilienne Morruzzi, in communication load. An option that should put an end to a lot of criticism… provided that teachers take it up. For the time being, many are still unaware that this possibility is offered to them.
Another great revolution generated by this school life software: from now on, the slightest delays or absences are immediately recorded and parents are directly informed. An undeniable advantage… But, again, beware of counterproductive effects! “It all depends on the use made of it by the establishments”, warns Pierre Merle. It happens that certain persons in charge of school life alert the parents, even if a pupil shows up shortly after the bell. “The risk is to fall into permanent and excessive surveillance. However, freedom and trust are central concepts in our relationship with others”, continues the sociologist. A statement shared by Eric Labastie, national administrator of the Federation of Parents’ Councils. “I’m a bad student when it comes to Pronote because I don’t consult it every day. I prefer to learn from my children, themselves, how their day went. I also let them tell me their grades because it is part of life’s learning to confront these situations”, explains this father of two children. For him, these software are a real plus, provided they do not lose sight of human relationships. Including between families and teachers. Many teachers complain of receiving messages, sometimes virulent, posted “on the spot” by certain parents via Pronote. A bad mark can thus be a source of dispute. “We know that certain writings can sometimes be clumsy or misinterpreted. This is why Pronote should not be a place of exchange but only a tool for making appointments”, believes Eric Labastie.
Reflection around a good use charter
With the reform of the baccalaureate and the abandonment of the old S, ES and L streams in favor of a varied choice of specialties, the groups formed from a single class have broken up. Teachers find themselves having to correct an assignment done by students from several different classes. Going through Pronote is therefore a huge time saver. “The counterpart is this fear of the control exercised by the management team, even by the inspection bodies and the ministry”, warns Bruno Magliulo, former inspector of National Education and specialist in orientation issues. “These software allow you to see, from a distance, how many homework assignments such a teacher gives per year. Or, if another grades more or less severely than his colleague”, he continues. In March 2021, the Action and Democracy teachers’ union dedicated a post on its site, entitled “Pronote, or the devil hidden behind good intentions!”. The article denounced an “unhealthy intrusive tool”: “the notion of privacy seems to have become obsolete and the professor is now tweakable and choreable at will through notifications”. Within the Hector Berlioz school complex in Vincennes (Val-de-Marne), a charter dedicated to digital communication should soon see the light of day at the request of teachers.
In other establishments, it is the families who are demanding better supervision of this software. Elodie Antoni, president until June of a parents’ association in a college-high school in Marseille with more than 2,000 students, has noted an increase in grievances against Pronote in recent years. “One day a mother wrote to us complaining that the arrival of a bad white patent grade had caused some irritation and ruined their Easter weekend,” she recalls. Convinced that this subject will continue to grow, Elodie Antoni is not against the development of an internal charter of good use. “Anyway, we can’t go back. Because Pronote also has advantages, especially in terms of transmitting information between families and parents,” she insists. During a board of directors of the college, the teaching team had put forward the idea of keeping only the mention of the averages by subject and of removing the general average of the pupils. But the representatives of the latter strongly opposed the project. New illustration of this mix between fascination and repulsion for this software.
*Name has been changed