Initially scheduled for March 14, 15 and 16, the baccalaureate specialty written exams are finally postponed by two months in France. They will take place on May 11, 12, and 13.
This is the end of a suspense that will have lasted two weeks. The announcement was made this Friday by the Ministry of Education following a meeting with unions of teachers, parents and students.
The postponement of the baccalaureate specialty written tests responds to a request from all the trade unions, which also say they are happy to have been heard. Because in the midst of the 5th wave of Covid-19, when more than 20,000 classes are closed in France, it seemed impossible to maintain the initial schedule.
For Sophie Vénétitay, general secretary of Snes, the leading union among middle and high school teachers, the health crisis prevents students from being prepared for the month of March.
We have really seen the effects of the fifth wave in our classrooms since the return from the Christmas holidays. Very concretely, you have to realize that we almost never have our entire classes in progress. We still have students who are put in isolation because of the Covid. In fact, we have parts of classes since we have students who are absent, who come and go depending on the results of the Covid tests, and we cannot move forward.
Sophie Vénétitay, general secretary of Snes
The Ministry of National Education announces that the program of the tests remains the same as that which was planned for the month of March. In other words, the candidates will not have more topics to revise, but more time to prepare for the specialty exams.
Specific arrangements
Several specific arrangements are also planned to provide students with good exam conditions. Thus, two days before the tests, the final year students will only have specialist lessons. Then, each candidate will have a choice of questions or exercises and the tests dedicated to the language level certificate are canceled this year.
The written tests of the two “specialties” (which are equivalent to dominant) chosen by high school students in the final year, were born from baccalaureate reform decided by Jean-Michel Blanquer. In 2021, the first year of the new baccalaureate, the specialty tests, which account for 32% of the final baccalaureate mark, had been canceled due to the health crisis and replaced by continuous assessment marks.
For this year’s events, the Minister had agreed to discussions on their possible postponement at the end of the mobilization day January 13 teachers. He had consulted unions and representatives of parents and students over the past two weeks before announcing his decision.
If on the side of the unions, we say we are relieved, on the side of the high school students, on the other hand, the disappointment dominates, because this postponement of the calendar will prevent these notes from being taken into account in the Parcoursup post-baccalaureate admission platform. Will indeed be used the averages obtained by the candidates in these courses over the three terms of the Première class and the first two terms of the Terminale “, indicates the ministry.