Will the 2020 diplomas have any value?

On 13 March, the Government closed the doors of schools, colleges, high schools and universities. The question of pedagogical continuity arises for a few days. But how to ensure teaching when everyone is confined, locked at home. While for some, video conferoe action takes over without problems, as in preparatory classes, for others, the implementation is more cumbersome, especially in some universities.

In these circumstances, more and more students feel left to their own devices with few resources to study in good conditions. According to a study carried out by Unef at the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, 29.2% of students do not have a microcomputer with a satisfactory internet connection.

After classes, evaluations are also threatened. Many universities have postponed the date of the partials to an as yet unknown date. Others simply cancelled the end-of-year exams in favour of other forms of scoring: continuous monitoring or home service.

Last week, in an article published on the Mediapart Club, Unef campaigned for the cancellation of face-to-face exams and their replacement with duties “without telemonitoring and without indicative delays”. The students’ union also requested that all students receive a minimum score of 10 out of 20. A device that would allow everyone to validate this second semester and thus avoid a “mass failure”, in their words.

Unable to cope with the lack of information, many students question the value of their degree. Will he be recognized? The United and the Fage, two student unions, disagree on the issue. The spokesperson of the first serious doubt about the credibility of the graduates of 2020 and fears the arrival on the job market of these student promotions. As for the chair of the second, she believes that it is not only the terminal examination that validates or not the skills acquired, the continuous monitoring can also make the diplomas credible.

Will the 2020 diplomas have any value? NO: Clement Armato, representative of the student organization, Unite (National Interuniversity Union)

The health crisis we are experiencing is a totally unprecedented situation for universities, it will call into question the value of diplomas. Indeed, universities have closed until September, a “pedagogical continuity” difficult to implement because of the digital divide but also and above all the inability of our universities to have efficient digital tools, the removal of partial presentations and the implementation of remote examinations will make suspicious the grades obtained under such conditions of attribution.

The petitions circulating calling for the abolition of partials or an average of 10 for all, are recurring demands of Unef and Solidaires (federation of French student unions of the radical left) since they claim it after each of their university blockades…

These demands, beyond being totally absurd and representing a real levelling, are above all non-regulatory. It should be remembered that any grade (10/20, 15/20) cannot be given by default, either to a teaching or to a semester. A note must be an assessment of a work done. A jury must deliberate on the notes submitted to it by the teachers on the basis of the students’ copies. If a score has been awarded without a copy of the examination justifying it, the jury’s decision may be challenged for technical and substantive defects in an administrative tribunal.

In addition, the introduction of these provisions would penalize students from modest backgrounds in the first place and would mean “reduced-price degrees” compared to previous years but also in the future.

Source: https://start.lesechos.fr/

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