In Marseille, a preparatory course brings pro baccalaureates to higher education
The preparatory classes for higher education (CPES) give graduates a refresher course before continuing their studies. That of the Antonin Artaud high school, in the 13th arrondissement of Marseille, has the particularity of being reserved for holders of a professional baccalaureate.
A WEEK IN THEIR LIVES
I take you to a philosophy class with Marc Rosmini, a teacher invested for twelve years in this particular preparatory class, and students and former students of the CPES of the Antonin Artaud high school, in Marseille.
Episode 1: “We really have the students who have had the merit of hanging on”
This January afternoon, there are only nine in the CPES class. Scheduled for around twenty students, this year it has seen an unusual number of defections since the start of the school year. An effect of the health crisis? It’s possible admits Marc Rosmini, the philosophy teacher: “On one had a lot of early stalls. From October-November, we really felt that the students who had done their Première-Terminale the two years of Covid had simply lost the habit of working”.
Or the program of this preparatory class for higher scientific studies is demanding, with 40 hours of lessons, including ten hours of maths, and homework. For these students from Pro baccalaureates, “the step in general is very high” underlines Marc Rosmini, in front of his small workforce: “There, we really have the survivors, the students who have had the merit of hanging on and who benefit from very special conditions, an almost individualized follow-up”.
Mohamed is 18 years old and has a “digital and computer systems” baccalaureate. In Terminale, his math teacher son convinced him to try the CPES, to then integrate a preparatory class, and if possible an engineering school. He who in college was not”not too interested in studies”little by little decided to study “to go further in life”. This is the common denominator of these students, who often come from outside Marseille: boys (not a girl in this science class) who ended up obtaining very good grades at the end of vocational high school, and who are very motivated to continue their studies.
In Marseille, a preparation to bring the bac pro to higher education, ep. 1
By Sara Ghibaudo
Episode 2: “We are all studious because we all want to succeed”
When I ask Killian about his school career, he goes back to his failed third year, “it must be said that in 3rd grade I am not too interested in my future”. If his grades plummeted at the end of college, it was also because of his concentration problems and his “dys” disorders (dyslexia, dysorthography), for which he had to undergo treatment.
By default, Killian goes on to a vocational high school, where his teachers, “all awesome” he says, gives him the taste to study. Then, he prefers the CPES and intends to take his revenge on his studies:
I really want to become an engineer […]I want to have a good social environment, not like my parents.
Killian and his comrades dream of becoming engineers, but they also need a refresher in literary subjects. In CPES, they discover philosophy, with great interest it seems to me: fingers are raised, no chatter or staring into space. “We are all very studious because we all want to succeed, confirms Killian, even I was shocked when I arrived here, in my Pro high school, it was not like that at all!”.
The work climate is also due to the small size of the class: “We involve the students much more, the teachers are more attentive, it really changes! “
In Marseille, a preparation to bring the bac pro to higher education, ep. 2
By Sara Ghibaudo
Episode 3: “I realized that doors were opening for me”
In this episode, I interviewed Guillaume, a former student of the preparatory class for higher education. At 20, he is continuing his career this year in a preparatory class for the Grandes Ecoles.
He too, in college, “would rather play video games and go out” rather than work. At the vocational school, during these internships, he nevertheless understands that “the manual does not please him too much”. A teacher pointed him towards the CPES of the Artaud high school, he saw it as a second chance: “I realized that doors were opening for me”.
Today, Guillaume dreams of integratinga prestigious school, like Centrale”. “I dare not say Polytechnic” he adds. And yet, the case happened 18 months ago: a former student of the CPES in Marseille passed the competition: “it was the second in the history of Polytechnique to come from a professional baccalaureate”, completes teacher Marc Rosmini.
twelve years, almost all his CPES students continued their studies. A minority enters the preparatory classes for the Grandes Ecoles of engineers, others head for the BTS. With also prestigious courses, even if Marc Rosmini does not want to focus on these: “Polytechnique two years ago, we didn’t expect too much. We already had a student who had joined Centrale, beautiful courses, but we don’t work for the exception: _our goal is to make all students succeed_“.
For Marc Rosmini, while CPES students and professional baccalaureate students in general often come from modest backgrounds, this unique class in France must also allow “reflect on the selective and normative aspect of our school system”. With this first rather simple observation: with a few resources, and a smaller number of students, on the quick snapshot of the results.
In Marseille, a preparation to bring the professional baccalaureate to higher education ep.3
By Sara Ghibaudo
Episode 4: “My goal is to make you intellectuals”
In the philosophy class, the students work on the subject of the day, the truth, based on the film Twelve angry men. Everyone contributes their analysis, and Marc Rosmini regularly has people write and highlight “method rules”.
“The idea is actually first to learn to work”, explains the teacher, especially since in vocational high schools, lessons are more practical than theoretical and the students have not got into the habit of working at home. And for that, no imposed program in CPES, which adds to the attraction of this particular class for the teacher, who likes “invent a route” and “adapt to the demands of the students”.
Marc Rosmini takes them to the theatre, museum or cinema. “Some come from backgrounds far from school culture, I tell them, my goal is to make you intellectuals! It made them laugh, it maybe scared them a little, and then they got the gout of course.” A teacher’s happiness, even if he holds in what he describes as “small experimental niche”.
In Marseille, a preparation to bring the professional baccalaureate to higher education ep.4
By Sara Ghibaudo