the reform of Gabriel Attal, the choice of a break with the history of a 76-year-old exam

2024-01-07 19:07:55
The Minister of National Education, Gabriel Attal, leaving the council of ministers, at the Elysée, December 12, 2023. JULIEN MUGUET FOR “LE MONDE”

The 2024 college certificate session will be the last of its kind. The Minister of National Education announced at the beginning of December 2023 a profound reform of the exam which must come into force in June 2025, launched by students currently in 4th grade. “I would like to make the national patent diploma a real requirement”, argued Gabriel Attal on December 5, presenting his plan called “Shock of knowledge”. Considering that the patent suffers from a “devaluation of grades” and a “lowering of the level of requirements”the Minister recorded a review of its methods of obtaining it as well as a transformation of its status.

“An exam that has meaning is an exam that has consequences”argued Mr. Attal, announcing that the first exam taken by French students in their schooling would be a prerequisite for entering the 2de class from 2025. “When we fail the certificate, it means that we do not have the level to enter high school”, he decided. In doing so, Pap Ndiaye’s successor chose to break with the history of this 76-year-old examination and give it a role that it never had.

The national patent diploma is the heir of the first cycle of secondary education certificate (BEPC), created in 1947. At the time, school was only compulsory up to 14 years and under half of the students enter 6th grade, but a “second level” of education to which a growing number of students access is gradually being structured. “The name given to the BEPC clearly says what it is: an exam which punctuates the secondary school curriculum, now clearly made up of two cycles”explains historian Claude Lelièvre.

“It is neither necessary nor sufficient to enter 2de, écrit The world in an article in 1951. The candidates who apply rather indicate their intention to interrupt their general training to undertake specialized studies which will prepare them directly for the exercise of a profession. » Successful completion of the BEPC allows access to various establishments or competitions for public jobs – including the normal school to become a teacher. The national patent diploma still allows you to sit for category C civil service competitions today.

“Tormented history”

Since then, the patent has undergone multiple reforms modifying its name, its organization or the conditions for obtaining it. “It’s an examination with a tormented history whose status we had difficulty defining”, summarizes Julien Cahon, lecturer at the University of Picardie-Jules-Verne. After the establishment of the single middle school in 1977, it was automatically allocated to students heading towards high school.

You have 70% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.