The new school year has only been underway for a matter of weeks, but France has announced that it will be scrapping exams for large parts of the 2021 baccalaureate due to the health situation.
Students due to take the end-of-school exams commonly known as le bac
in spring 2020 faced the abrupt cancellation of exams and instead were given grades based on their assessed work over the year. France also expanded university places to take account of the difficult situation for students, who had three
months of remote-learning during the lockdown in spring.
Now the French education ministry has decided, in order to avoid any more last-minute changes, to also drastically alter the format of the exams for 2021.
- In good news for pupils who struggle with exam nerves, exams have largely been scrapped and replaced with continuous assessment and coursework
- Only exams in a pupil's 'speciality' subject will be maintained, with an expanded format
- These exams will go ahead as planned from March 15th to 17th, but if a pupil is ill on those dates they can take the exam in June
- These changes are temporary for the 2020/21 academic year and affect pupils in both the first and second year of lycée.
The education ministry added, perhaps slightly optimistically, that: "These adaptations will allow students to work with complete peace of mind this year, for a successful baccalaureate and a good entry into higher education."
The ministry also laid out plans to guarantee at least 50 percent of face-to-face teaching for pupils in lycée.
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