High school students, already recruited in tension sectors, choose not to come to the exam. A still marginal phenomenon that highlights the lack of attractiveness of this diploma.
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“Pass your baccalaureate first!” The injunction is no longer yours for some high school students from the professional path. Beginned by companies in search of staff, they prefer to enter the job market than finish their studies and obtain their diploma. Florent Martin has been the bitter observation for a few weeks. The principal of the Lycée Christian-Bourquin in Argelès-sur-Mer, in the Pyrénées-Orientales, became aware of these withdrawals in the hotel and restaurant training of his establishment with the holding of class councils in the third quarter. “They won earlier and faster. We haven’t seen a part of the promotion for a month,” said this representative of the SNPDEN-UNSA provider union.
How many of these students will present themselves to the baccalaureate terminal events in the coming days? Florent Martin wonders. “20 % may not come,” he said, worried. In question: the insistence of restaurateurs to recruit them, while the sector is experiencing an unprecedented labor shortage at the start of the summer season.
What is the extent of the phenomenon at the national level? Teachers and principals consider him marginal. Some qualify it as usual: the “outings during training”, according to the jargon of national education, are more frequent in the professional path than in general and technological sectors, especially in industrial training. The resignations a few weeks before the holding of the exams prove to be less anecdotal in sectors in tension such as hotel and restaurant, construction or personal services. “Until now, we did not have this difficulty at the end of the course,” notes Florent Martin.
“Demographic drop”
Edouard Geffray, the director general of school education, judges these abandonments “difficult to quantify for the moment” and refers to consolidated figures in the fall. It is still one of the reasons for the decrease in candidates for the Bac Pro (- 1.6 % for the 2022 session), with “a demographic drop” and “of lower repetitions”. “Students were able to make the choice of professional integration during the year in a context of strong economic recovery,” he admits.
In Arcachon, in Gironde, Laurence Colin faces the same loss of students as her colleague from Argelès-sur-Mer, tourist area requires. The principal of the Lycée Condorcet has seen its numbers have been blending since September. Nine students out of a hundred and fifty slammed the door during the year, after being hired, after an internship most often. “We have difficulty retaining them. Most even refuse the interviews we offer to talk about their situation. They do not see the point of continuing their studies when they can already earn their living,” said this representative SNPDEN-UNSA.
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