Candidates for the bac could pass a grand oral in front of a jury of three people.

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  • Unions like Snes-FSU, SE-Unsa or Snalc are asking for the cancellation of the grand oral, scheduled for the end of June for candidates for the new bac.

  • They believe that the pupils will not be well prepared in this part-time classroom context.

  • But for now, Jean-Michel Blanquer is keen on it.

Will the star test of the bac reform see the light of day in 2021?

It no longer seems so safe due to the worsening health situation linked to the coronavirus.

Several unions, like Snes-FSU, SE-Unsa or Snalc are asking for the cancellation of the grand oral, scheduled for the end of June for the candidates.

“To inaugurate it in this context would not be reasonable.

We must give it up to restore serenity to students and teachers, ”suggests Stéphane Crochet, secretary general of SE-Unsa.

The subject will also be discussed Tuesday morning during a meeting between the ministry and trade unions on health measures in education.

For the time being, Jean-Michel Blanquer does not seem ready to cancel this emblematic test of his new baccalaureate.

"The health situation should normally be more relaxed in June," he said recently in an interview with 

Le Parisien.

"So, logically, the French bac for first year students, the philosophy tests and the new grand oral will be held under the normal conditions of terminal control", he added.

Questioned by

20 Minutes

, his entourage specifies "that at this stage, it is still his position".

"The half-class system will have an even greater impact on the preparation of the pupils"

However, the situation changed last week, with the regional reconfinement announced by the government, which forced high schools in the 16 departments concerned to no longer accept one in two students in class.

This will further complicate the preparation for this test, as explained Sophie Vénétitay, Deputy Secretary General of SNES-FSU: “The half-class system will have an even greater impact on students' preparation.

Knowing that she was already difficult before.

Because according to the texts, she had to start from the 1st class, which was impossible with the first confinement last year ”.

A delay in ignition which continued after the start of the school year, according to the unionist: “The teachers were not trained for this new test until November.

We wasted time ”.

Stéphane Crochet agrees: “The teachers were first focused on preparing for the specialty exams, which were to take place between March 15 and 17, before they were canceled on January 21.

And since then, they have struggled to find time to work as a team on this subject and are more concerned with the objective of completing their program in a difficult educational context ”.

"You can't learn it in three months, it's impossible"

Another concern, according to Sophie Vénétitay: “The break in equality in the preparation of this test.

Because in November, some high schools organized distance courses for some of the students, while private high schools preferred to maintain 100% face-to-face lessons so as not to harm anyone.

"The part of the test, which consists of a discussion about the student's orientation project, also raises questions according to Stéphane Crochet:" The morale of high school students is currently at half mast and their self-confidence is undermined. .

This is not ideal for a successful oral performance.

Many of them are already having a hard time planning the next year, so talking about their longer-term project will prove difficult, even painful ”.

For high school students, the countdown to the test is also difficult: “An oral exam is prepared in order to acquire rhetorical qualities.

You can't learn it in three months, it's impossible, ”says Clara, in Terminale at Versailles.

"The distance courses do not allow us to work properly on the two specialty questions on which we will be questioned on D-day", she adds.

And hybrid education (both face-to-face and at a distance) "has resulted in many gaps and a great delay in the programs of their specialties," she says.

"We can tell that this is the last totem pole in the Blanquer bac"

And although the grand oral has caused much ink to flow even before the pandemic, it still seems to be poorly understood by the students: “We don't know who the juries will be, we don't know how the presentation should be.

And we don't know if the event will take place with or without the mask, ”insists Clara.

A vagueness also underlined by Sophie Vénétitay: “The practical details are still not known.

Because no health protocol has been defined ”.

It remains to be seen whether the minister will hear these arguments.

Sophie Vénétitay is not sure: "We can tell that this is the last totem pole of the Blanquer bac to which the minister is clinging".

The unions agree on the fact that if the event is canceled, the decision must be taken quickly.

"Not only to de-stress the students, but also because it will be necessary to change the coefficients of the subjects in which the candidates will be evaluated", specifies Stéphane Crochet.

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