Minister of National Education Advocates for Penalizing Spelling Errors in Baccalaureate Exams

Education – Beware of mistakes. Sunday, July 9, the Minister of National Education, Pap Ndiaye, said he was in favor of taking into account the faults in French in the marking of copies of the baccalaureate in the years to come, promising a “vast construction site” in this domain. An announcement that angered the teachers of the National Union of Second Degree Education (SNES-FSU), the first union in France for teaching staff.

It was during an interview given on Radio J that the Minister of National Education mentioned the copies of the baccalaureate often full of faults. He said he wanted “the introduction of formal criteria in the tests concerning the level of French”. So, “from a certain level of language that is too problematic”, no matter how good the copy, it couldn’t exceed a certain rating, he said.

Concretely, it would be “less points if you make mistakes in French”. “But that is only possible if we have worked so that the students no longer make mistakes”said Pap Ndiaye, announcing a “huge project that goes from primary school to the baccalaureate so that they write correctly”.

A proposal ” completely illusory”

A proposal that was not unanimous among teachers. In an interview given to France info Sunday, July 9, the general secretary of the SNES-FSU, Sophie Venetitay, explained that she was not convinced by the “vast construction site” of the minister.

According to the Professor of Economics and Social Sciences, “ believing that we will solve the problem by removing two points is completely illusory”. She who recognizes that “It’s very important to work on spelling and more generally on written and oral expressions”, explain to France info that in order for French pupils to progress in spelling, they first need more “time and resources”.

An observation shared by the LFI deputy for Val-de-Marne, Clémence Guetté, questioned on this subject this Monday, July 10 on Telematin : “It is to raise the level of training that is necessary, it is not to give bad grades to everyone”she got annoyed.

However, the prospect of increased resources does not yet seem relevant. Indeed, as Sophie Venetitay points out, “this year, the recruitment competition for French teachers was not full”.

Modification of the school calendar

During his interview, the Minister of National Education also mentioned other projects, in particular that of “the reconquest of the month of June”the baccalaureate reform having reduced the third trimester to “skin of grief”, as he indicated. “We must ensure that final year students work as they should until June”he added.

“We are working on several hypotheses: the question of the delay of the specialty tests, the modification of the coefficients (…) I will announce the decision in a few weeks”, added Pap Ndiaye.

The government is also considering a change in the school calendar, with a possible reduction in holidays and an extension of the weeks of classes for students. A question that asks ” a lot of work “recognized the Minister of National Education, aiming for changes by the end of the five-year term.

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