The written French exam of 5e secondary went badly for many students last year: in some school service centers, nearly half of the young people failed, show the figures obtained by The Press. Almost everywhere in Quebec, the failure rate is rising sharply. “It’s really alarming,” said a teacher.
The written French exam that all 5th graders must passe secondary was back last June, after being canceled two years in a row due to the pandemic.
Between 2019 and 2022, student success rates have dropped in all but six school service centers in Quebec. In several places in the province, the fall is marked, show data obtained from the Ministry of Education following an access to information request.
At the CSS du Fleuve-et-des-Lacs, in Bas-Saint-Laurent, for example, the success rate for the French test was only 50.5% in 2022, compared to 82.9% in 2019.
In Montreal, only 59.1% of students at the Marguerite-Bourgeoys school service center obtained a passing grade last June. This rate was 72.9% three years earlier.
The scenario is repeated in Longueuil, where 60% of young people from the CSS Marie-Victorin passed the 2022 exam, a drop of 16 percentage points compared to 2019.
“It’s really alarming,” says Isabelle Plante, professor in the department of didactics at the University of Quebec in Montreal (UQAM).
Uniform tests were the measurement tool before the pandemic, she recalls.
We target minimum required expectations. What we see is that a large proportion of young people do not reach it.
Isabelle Plante, professor in the didactics department at UQAM
The professor adds that “there is reason to ask questions”. The students who were already in difficulty are those “who had to switch and who are in failure”, advances Mme Plant.
“In the service centers, it must have shaken them up. When they see these results, they are not well,” said Nicole Monney, professor in the department of education sciences at the University of Quebec at Chicoutimi (UQAC).
At the Ministry of Education, it is said to have observed “a drop in results in French, language of instruction” which “varies from one environment to another”.
“The Ministry is concerned about this situation,” wrote its spokesperson Bryan St-Louis.
“We will hope that it will be replaced”
Contrary to what prevailed before the pandemic, the test counted for 20% of the final mark in French rather than 50%. Despite a marked drop in the success rate for this test, 87.1% of students nevertheless passed their 5-year French course.e secondary in 2022.
Are we to understand that the teachers generously graded their students?
I think the teachers did their job, but if it had counted for 50%, we would have had a higher failure rate [en français].
Nicole Monney, professor in the department of education sciences at the University of Quebec at Chicoutimi
Could it be then that they discounted the exam because of its lower weighting? “We can’t rule out this possibility, but 20% is enough to stimulate and mobilize young people,” explains Isabelle Plante.
Anyway, next year, “if we are in the same figures, we will have a problem”, says Mme Money.
“We will hope that it will be replaced”, breathes Isabelle Plante.
The “devastating” effect of the pandemic
French teaching specialist Suzanne-G. Chartrand attributes the drop in the success rate to the pandemic. “It had a devastating effect,” says Ms.me Chartrand.
“There were students who were really not good and who managed to pass from 3e at the 4eat the 5e secondary,” she continued. After two years of the pandemic, the students “are worse off, because they haven’t done the learning and haven’t had to do the work that they do every day,” she said.
All the teachers I know say that trying to get students to read any text is the cross and the banner. They’re not used to it: they read a paragraph, they’re asked what they read and they don’t remember.
Suzanne-G. Chartrand, French teaching specialist
Some students did not write during the pandemic, recalls Isabelle Plante. “They were a lot on computers, on technological tools. For some, it was difficult to come back, ”illustrates the professor.
In rare places in Quebec, we have escaped the general downturn. This is the case in the Îles-de-la-Madeleine, where students have increased their success rate from 95.3% in 2019 to 95.5% in 2022.
” It’s really unbelievable. There may have been less absenteeism, less illness, which could explain why the teachers were able to do their work with the students more, “says Nicole Monney.
With the collaboration of William Leclerc, The Press