- In recent weeks, the new continuous testing (E3C) of the reformed bac, have been disrupted in several high schools.
- Students who did not participate while their classmates were planking risk being punished with a 0/20.
- Regarding teachers protesting against E3Cs, most of them should be protected by the right to strike.
The sling against the first common tests of continuous control (E3C) continues. Blockages still took place this Monday in some high schools to prevent the holding of these tests. High school students also denounced the placement in police custody of four high school students on Friday in the 20th arrondissement of Paris after setting fire to a trash can near the establishment to protest against the E3Cs.
On January 20, the tests had been disrupted in about forty establishments out of the 400 high schools that administered the tests that day and ten high schools had to postpone them. According to the Ministry of Education, contacted by 20 Minutes on January 27, the E3Cs were disrupted in about sixty of the 435 high schools that were to compose and 16 of them were forced to cancel the tests.
Overflows in some high schools
The tension has even gone up a notch in some high schools. In Seine-et-Marne, last Monday, a high school student physically attacked her principal, which led to a delay in the start of the tests. Tuesday, at the Lycée Montaigne in Paris, the educational team was sprayed with powder extinguishers in front of the entrance door of the establishment by hooded people, according to concordant sources. In Rennes, Thursday, the firefighters had to intervene to extinguish the start of a fire in a high school where 350 students were taking tests.
“Friday, a principal of La Rochelle who decided to put a zero to the ten high school students of his establishment who had refused to take the bac exams, was threatened with death. And in Caen, another was surrounded in the courtyard by a group of high school students ", reports to 20 Minutes , Philippe Vincent, the general secretary of SNPDEN-Unsa, the first union of heads of establishments.
The risk of a 0/20 for absent pupils
These disturbances suggest sanctions for the students involved. When the E3Cs have been held, students who are not presented risk receiving a 0/20 in the tests. "There is no right to strike for students," recalls rue de Grenelle, which refers to article 12 of the decree of July 16, 2018 relating to the organization of continuous supervision. This specifies that "when the absence does not arise from a case of force majeure duly noted, a score of zero is awarded to the candidate for each test not taken". Force majeure being: illness, accident, bereavement of a loved one, etc.
But in reality "it is up to the school head to decide", explains the Ministry of Education. A type of sanctions to which the FCPE opposes,: "We refuse that we chase the troublemaker students and that they pay the broken ends of the impossible dialogue between the teachers and the ministry on this file", said Rodrigo Arenas, the co-chair of the parents' association, at a press conference. Same story with Sophie Vénétitay, spokesperson for SNES-FSU: "Where there should be appeasement, there can not be an escalation," she comments.
Some more difficult situations to assess
Another scenario seems to be problematic: that of the students who intended to take the E3C, but were unable to go to the examination room because of the blockade of their high school. Some of them would be under the threat of a 0/20. "If there were a lot of people absent from the tests on that day, the school head must allow the students in question to participate in the catch-up," says rue de Grenelle. But if there were few E3C absentees, it will be up to the principals to determine whether these students voluntarily dried up the exams, or if they were unable to attend due to the disruptions. "We do not accept the sorting of students for a catch-up session on the basis of viewing video surveillance or accounts of students' social networks," warned Rodrigo Arenas. "The principals will arbitrate and in the most vague cases, the doubt should benefit the accused", estimates Philippe Vincent, the general secretary of SNPDEN-Unsa.
And in the case of sanctioned students, it already provides that "some parents go to administrative justice to request that the 0/20 be canceled". Students who shared E3C topics on social media may also have concerns. Because it could be considered fraud and give rise to disciplinary action.
And the teachers, are they under threat of sanctions?
As for the teachers who expressed their opposition to E3C, some rectors wrote to them to remind them of their professional obligations. But according to Sophie Vénétitay, they do not risk much, "Those who did not watch the tests were strikers. And the right to strike is constitutional. So they cannot be penalized, but will have payroll deduction, ”she explains. With one caveat, according to Philippe Vincent, who thinks that those who refused to choose subjects for continuous monitoring in the bank of subjects provided for this purpose, could have concerns with the administration: "This could be recognized as a fault professional and sanctioned ”. Ditto for those who would have participated in the blocking of their establishment.
Still, the social history of National Education in recent years shows that the administration is reluctant to tease teachers. In June, some of the bac correctors went on strike. "In the end, 500 of them had a point of order and about 50 of them received a reprimand or a warning," said the ministry. "And those who had been sanctioned were because they had gone further, greatly disrupting the juries of the bac", specifies Philippe Vincent.
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