• Terminale students will have to take their two specialty tests from March 20 to 22.
  • A deadline too early according to many teachers and students, given the density of programs.
  • To ensure good working conditions for teachers and students, unions and teachers' associations are calling for a return to testing in June.

A stressful countdown. In a little more than a month, from March 20 to 22, final year students will have to take their baccalaureate specialty tests. A great first since the implementation of the bac reform in 2019. In 2020, these tests were cancelled due to Covid and in 2021, the first part of the school year was severely disrupted by the epidemic, they were postponed to May.

The challenge is double for students because each of the two specialty tests has a coefficient of 16. This represents 32% of the final mark. And for the first time, the marks of these tests will be taken into account in the students' Parcoursup file and will therefore allow them, if they are good, to more easily get the trainingthey are aiming for.

"It feels like you're messing around for six months"

However, preparing students as well as possible for this deadline is not obvious, as the programs are dense, whatever the subject. "Students are not ready in all disciplines! We see the chapters at a snail's pace and we will loop with mimeographed files. Teachers are caught between institutional injunctions and the difficulty of keeping up with this pace," explains Sophie Vénétitay, Secretary General of Snes-FSU. "It's hard to finish all seven chapters in my discipline. It feels like you're messing around for six months. It is absurd to have placed final tests at the beginning of the year, "abounds Benoît Guyon, co-president of the Association of Professors of Economic and Social Sciences (Apses).

Shortly after his arrival on rue de Grenelle, Pap Ndiaye lightened the programs of these specialties a little. But according to many teachers, it didn't really change the game. "In Economic and Social Sciences (SES), it is the chapter on the School that has been removed, but some colleagues had already done so, so it has not lightened anything," says Sophie Vénétitay.

Pedagogy undermined by this sustained pace

Many teachers also complain that pedagogy is falling by the wayside: due to lack of time, very few exercises, essays or comments are made in class. This poses a methodological problem for students. "In March, students will have to complete a four-hour essay but some will never have done one," says Benoît Guyon.

It is also not easy, with this rhythm, to come to the rescue of students in difficulty. Especially since personalized support no longer exists. Those who have chosen a speciality in high demand, such as History-Geography, Geopolitics and Political Science, Mathematics or SES, pay the heaviest price. Because in groups of 30 or 35 students, the personalization of lessons is impossible. "It adds inequality. And we don't give students time to learn from their mistakes, to progress," says Benoît Guyon.

It is also impossible with this schedule to make school trips with students to allow them to cultivate themselves and breathe a little. Or to consider projects. Class life is diminished.

"It imposes a gigantic personal work afterwards"

Students also say they are sticking their tongues out. "It's much more stressful than with the old system. We have to revise our baccalaureate in six months, be very autonomous and start working in September. This requires a gigantic personal work after class, "says Eliot Gafanesch, secretary general of the Voix lycéenne. Daphne, who has to pass the specialties History-geography, geopolitics and political science and Humanity, literature, philosophy, knows something about it. She set up an organization at the cordeau: "Two weeks before all my checks, I make cards. And during the holidays, I finish the ones I didn't have time to write. There's a lot to learn," she admits.

The fear of crashing at these March tests nags many students: "They know that these grades will be very watched on Parcoursup, especially if they have chosen a selective training," insists Eliot Gafanesch. Additional source of stress: they must make their wishes on Parcoursup before March 9 and they have until April 6 to close their file on the platform. "I've already returned all my wishes, but you have to do the cover letters and that's more stressful," says Daphne.

The risk of "evaporation" of students at the end of the school year

Specialty teachers are also worried about the end of the year. Because how to maintain the motivation of students after these tests since they will know the majority of the grades counting for the baccalaureate? "In SES, we will still have 5 chapters to see but we fear that many will demobilize or accumulate absences, because they will be more concerned with the preparation of their writing of philosophy and their great oral," says Benoît Guyon. And if students don't keep working seriously until the end of the year, they could arrive in higher education with gaps.

Several unions, including Snes-FSU and Snalc, have requested the postponement of these specialty tests to June. Associations of specialty teachers also organized a demonstration at the end of January in front of the Ministry of Education to demand a revision of the calendar of tests. In vain. At least for now.

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