A new professional baccalaureate in Aizpurdi

EDUCATION. The principal of Aizpurdi vocational school, Bernard Cabos-Duhamel, gives his vision of the reform of the bac(Collected by Fabien Jans - Sud Ouest - 01/28/20020)

Bernard Cabos-Duhamel participated yesterday in Bayonne, at the EducAdo fair organized by the colleges and high schools of the Basque Country.

Protests against the terms of the new baccalaureate, the first joint exams of which, the EC3s are being held this week, were observed by Bernard Cabos-Duhamel, principal of the Aizpurdi vocational high school in Hendaye. With an undivided curiosity of circumspection.

“South West” Does the baccalaureate reform also concern vocational baccalaureate?

Bernard Cabos-Duhamel. In general education, we apparently criticize the unequal aspect between schools, of continuous monitoring. But in vocational education, this has been around for decades, without raising the slightest problem of conscience. The equality between the Hendaye vocational school and that of Bordeaux has not interested anyone until then.

How does it work in vocational high school?

The professional bac works at 80% in CCF (control during training, NDRL), the link between the establishments is the program. This is going very well, even if the success rate is lower than that observed in general courses. This would tend to show that the level of requirement does not suffer. Anyone who does not work regularly is automatically cornered. On the other hand, continuous assessment values the diligent student who, faced with a baccalaureate test, for various reasons, could have fallen.

The reform also concerned the "transformation of the professional path". What effects will it have on Aizpurdi high school?

This leads us to the creation of a new professional baccalaureate: the pro hairdressing baccalaureate. Until now, it was necessary to do a CAP over two years and then leave (or stay) at the CFA for two years of professional certificate which was equivalent to a professional bac, very focused on practice but which posed a problem in terms of theoretical knowledge, in particular in terms of business management. With the professional baccalaureate that we are setting up next school year, the idea is to invest in the future BTS, which will arrive in the coming months and which will be particularly focused on taking over businesses. This is a need that will grow in the coming years, as will the need for hairdressers capable of managing teams. As part of this bac, the second year takes as its framework the family of beauty and well-being professions. It is difficult to set up, but it opens up prospects for the students, towards new professions in this sector: thalasso, coaching, dietetics. So many sectors that are reinventing themselves.

How has the reform made it easier for you?

Overall, we are liberalizing the professional path with the massive arrival of apprenticeship and the building of a bridge between initial training and vocational training. With the possibilities of returning from one to the other rather unprecedented. Concretely, the nine CFAs of the Bordeaux rectorate and the three Greta merged to become the Greta CFA d'Aquitaine. All establishments linked to Greta can now open a CFA section within them. Either independently, on condition of being able to assume financial responsibility, or by taking advantage of the possibility of integrating apprentice students into the classes of the bac pro. One might fear, in this context, the proliferation of training without a real framework. But first of all, there is no question of competing with each other. And the safeguard will be that of the examination. If a training center constantly sends its students to the pipe breaker, it will not go under the radar.