Europe 1 with AFP 10:55 a.m., March 25, 2024

Since Monday morning, 560,000 general and technological high school students have had access to a platform, which should compensate for the lack of internship offers, less than three months before the two weeks of immersion planned for June. 

Less than three months before the compulsory two-week internship scheduled for June for the second year: the 560,000 high school students concerned, in general and technological sectors, have access from Monday to a platform, which should compensate for the lack of offers. “We have just started working on our CVs at high school... I'm afraid it will be very complicated to find a place because it's very late,” worries Nathalie, 15 years old, in second in a Bagnolet high school (Seine-Saint-Denis).

From June 17 to 28

“And unlike the internship in 9th grade, we all arrive at the companies at the same time, it’s going to be hell,” fears this student interviewed by AFP. Previously, the latter began their summer vacation at the beginning of June, due to teachers and high schools mobilized by the organization of the baccalaureate. But the current Prime Minister Gabriel Attal had wanted, when he was Minister of Education, to tackle a "true reconquest of the month of June" - like others before him.

On his initiative, the second half of June will thus be devoted this year to the baccalaureate exams for the first and final year classes and to "an internship in a professional environment" for the latter. This compulsory internship, in a company, an association or a public service, will last two weeks, from June 17 to 28, for all general and technological secondary school students in public and private schools.

“Deep their discovery of careers, better prepare and strengthen their career choices”

Objective ? “Deep their discovery of professions, better prepare and strengthen their career choices,” writes the ministry, which will soon publish a circular. To help these students aged between 15 and 16, a platform collecting offers, accessible from the dedicated “1jeune1solution” space, opens on Monday. But with less than three months to go before the deadline, many high school students have not yet validated an internship agreement, nor, for some, have even started looking, like Nathalie, the high school student from Bagnolet.

Setti, 15, who attends the same establishment, is on the other hand “almost free of research”.

“I'm waiting for confirmation but I have to go to a veterinarian specializing in NAC” (New Pets), who treats reptiles, birds and even guinea pigs. “It was my hairdresser who put me in touch with him,” says the young girl, who believes she is “one of the few” in her class to have won the prize. In Lille, Florence Delannoy, principal of the Montebello high school, makes a quick calculation: "Out of 460 second-year students, I only have 20 signed agreements to date, it's very low", regrets the head of the establishment, a union member. at Snpden-Unsa, for whom it is "a shame that the platform only opens at the end of March, it's too late".

Questioned by AFP, the Ministry of Education did not communicate the number of offers available on this platform.

The educational interest of this internship called into question

Others question the “pedagogical interest” of this internship. “At the end of June, these students will have already made the choice of their specialties for the first year, the orientation games are over,” laments Karile Richard, principal of the Turgot high school in Paris. “It’s all nonsense,” says this ID-FO union member. Some students point to “stolen vacations”. “I’ve been waiting for six years to have three months of vacation!”, annoys Lucien, in second grade at Lycée Voltaire in Paris. “I wanted to take advantage of finally being 16 to work in June, while waiting for the real holidays to start.”

And what will happen 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 his orientation project”, we can read on the Education website national. “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.”