Relief, for most of the 710,000 baccalaureate candidates, Tuesday July 5, who discovered their results. The provisional success rate is 86%, before the catch-ups. This is almost a surprise, given the trend of the last 30 years, as it is 4.7 points below the success rate of 2021.
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We will have to consolidate this figure at the end of the week, when we have the final results, after the catch-up session, which takes place from Wednesday and until Friday, but the trend is clear. In previous years, the baccalaureate pass rate before remedial was 90.5% in 2021 and 91.5% in 2020.
For the Minister of National Education Pap Ndiaye, this trend is linked to the post-Covid context. This is indeed the first year where this baccalaureate, reformed by Jean-Michel Blanquer, takes place almost normally. In 2021, the baccalaureate was largely based on continuous assessment and in 2020, there was absolutely no national test. This remains the record year for the success rate.
This year 2022, it is therefore the normal system with 40% continuous assessment and 60% for final exams such as philosophy, specialty exams and the grand oral, and then French passed in first class. It should be noted that this figure of 86% is higher than the success rate before the catch-ups in 2019 (77.7%), in 2018 (78.8%) and in 2017 (78.6%).
But this baccalaureate success rate is a recurring subject of controversy. We regularly hear this type of refrain: “The ferry is no longer worth anything”, “We give it to everyone”. When we look at the trend over the last few years, and it’s quite obvious, the curve is constantly rising. In 1995, there was 75% success and ten years later almost 80%, then 88% in 2015, and more than 90% in 2020 and 2021.
Two recent factors have greatly affected this success rate. First of all there is the Covid-19 in 2020 and 2021, with a form of indulgence on the part of the correctors and the new baccalaureate which takes into account continuous assessment. This requires harmonizing the notes, from one establishment to another and we only adjust upwards.
Moreover, this year, the scoring of the specialty tests has created controversy. The grades of entire batches of copies were raised, without notifying the correctors, who did not appreciate them at all. The ministry then assured that there had been no national instructions. But some protest against what has become of the baccalaureate today. Several associations of specialist teachers consider that “the baccalaureate, as a national examination whose value is guaranteed by the institution, no longer exists”. They wish “organize the Estates General of the high school”. In any case, the baccalaureate today remains the necessary key for those who want to continue their studies after high school.