the struggle of high school students to find an observation internship in June

For the first year, all second year general and technological students must spend 15 days in a company, association or institution during the month of June.

Launched by Gabriel Attal when he was Minister of Education, the compulsory second-year internship system aimed to “reclaim the month of June“, that is to say keeping adolescents busy during this period when teachers and high schools are busy administering the various baccalaureate exams. If the idea is welcomed by some, others are desperate to find a place .

Indeed, the search for an observation internship can quickly become discouraging. “We did some research, no one answered”, “When they responded, it was mainly for refusals”, explain Noémie and her friend Raïssa. They are at high school in Creil, in the Oise. They are interested in architecture, they knocked on the doors of several firms, but without success. “I don’t have anyone I know who works in architecture so it’s really difficult to find an internship,” adds the high school student.

One of the keys to the problem is the lack of network among young people. Which makes Raïssa a little skeptical about the system: “I find this internship a bit useless because I’m sure that most high school students won’t find an internship in the profession they want, she explains. So it’s going to be a little difficult for businesses and also for us.”

To help these adolescents without a network, the government has expanded the “1jeune1solution” platform to second-year internships by encouraging companies, associations and administrations to offer offers.

A default internship

“I looked again yesterday and in Paris alone, there were only around ten proposals”, deplores Alexandre, the somewhat anxious father of a young girl who would like to go into law or commerce. Originally, he found the principle of this second year internship rather interesting, especially in the year when he had to choose his specialist subjects, but this independent computer engineer came up against reality: “It’s distressing because it’s obligatory, he said. You have to find one. The ideal is to find an internship linked to the student’s professional aspirations, but at some point, we end up forgetting this. We tell ourselves that we simply have to do an internship, whatever it may be.”

Especially since this second year internship comes a year after the third year, for which some young people had already found a place to stay by default. This is the case of Marie, who wants to become a lawyer but who had spent a week in her neighborhood pastry shop. “I didn’t particularly like it because it’s not really what I’m looking for, it’s not an area that I like”she admits.

The additional difficulty, for the second year internship, is that the period is the same for all 560,000 students concerned, which reduces the possibilities. The only alternatives to not having to do it are to participate in the universal national service (SNU) or to take a language trip, at the same time. If the teenager does not find any solution, he will be welcomed into his high school.