The Government has just launched an online service to help some 560,000 second-year students find an internship in a company in June. A platform that will be very useful to the many high school students who have not yet validated their agreement.
In high schools, the month of June is traditionally reserved for junior and senior year students, who take the baccalaureate exams. Result: the seconds find themselves with three months of vacation. Also, Gabriel Attal, when he was Minister of Education, decided that the latter would not be left without occupation and would have to carry out “an internship in a professional environment” For “deepen their discovery of careers, better prepare and strengthen their career choices”. For two weeks, from June 17 to 28, all general and technological secondary school students, educated in public and private establishments, will therefore be under observation in a company, association or public administration, to conclude the school year. Problem: three months before the deadline, many of the 560,000 high school students concerned have not yet validated their internship agreement or, for some, even started looking.
To give them a little help – to them and their parents – a new tool has been available since Monday March 25. Indeed, the site 1jeune1solution.gouv.fr dedicated to youth employment, has a new section dedicated to second year internships, stagedeseconde.1jeune1solution.gouv.fr, in order to be able to consult the offers available near them. An initiative that comes a bit too late for some teachers. “Out of 460 second-year students, I only have 20 agreements signed to date, that’s very low”regrets Florence Delannoy, principal of Montebello high school, unionized with SNPDEN-Unsa, at the microphone of Franceinfo. For her, he is “too bad the platform doesn’t open until the end of March, it’s too late”.
Second year internship: a divisive measure
As a reminder, the 1jeune1solution site was launched by the Government during the summer of 2020, when the pandemic was in full swing. This is a sort of toolbox for all questions relating to youth employment: job offers, work-study programs, hiring assistance, training, housing or mobility support, assistance financial… The site is now enriched with a new section bringing together second year internship offers for high school students. Questioned by AFP, the Ministry of Education did not communicate the number of offers available on this platform.
The site is rather easy to use. It takes the form of a search engine by profession, keywords, municipality, postal code or internship period. In fact, students can choose to do one two-week internship or two one-week internships. Each offer includes a brief description – a presentation of the job and the tasks to be carried out – the times, duration and location of the lunch break, the location of the internship and the number of places available. High school students can apply directly from the platform and follow the progress of their applications. To apply, they must enter a cover letter answering the question: “Why this internship motivates me”.
This initiative is seen as a reclaiming of the month of June for some, and as a false good idea for others. Indeed, many people question the educational value of this course. “At the end of June, these students will have already chosen their specialties for the first year, the orientation games are over”deplores Karile Richard, principal of the Turgot high school in Paris. “This is all nonsense”. And what happens if a student cannot find an internship? “The student is welcomed into his establishment” And “benefits from online solutions for discovering professional environments and carries out documentary research to clarify or perfect their orientation project”indicates the National Education website. “Impossible”says Karile Richard. “It’s a red period where the entire high school is monopolized on the baccalaureate exams, with the written and oral tests, so no time to manage seconds without an internship”. This could pose a problem…