Pre-Bac exams have been held recently. As you know, in this period of Covid-19 pandemic, there is no guarantee that Bac exams due to take place in June will indeed take place as scheduled, even if this is the top priority of the EEB IV school direction. This will of course hinge upon the sanitary circumstances in May/June, obviously difficult to foresee right now.
As you undoubtedly know, no exams were held in June last year, leading to a change in the marking of the 2020 European Baccalaureate, with the pre-Bac grades counting for 60% of the final grade. This year, articles 6.1.2 and 6.1.4 of the Arrangements for implementing the Regulations for the European Baccalaureate (applicable for the year 2021 session) (AIREB) foresee the possibility of changing the calculation of the final Bac grade, possibly along the lines of the 2020 session, depending on the evolution of the pandemic.
It is therefore particularly important for you to be aware of the available procedural safeguards:
- Pupils and parents are entitled to access to the corrected pre-Bac exam copies, in accordance with article 6.3.10 AIREB: “The candidates, or their legal representatives if the candidates are minors, have the right to view and get a copy of: Their original Pre-Baccalaureate scripts The mark awarded, potential annotation and sub-marking The examination paper The marking scheme.
Any documentation made available to candidates will, in the case of those parts containing information about other candidates, be made anonymous. The request must be made in writing to the Director of the School not later than 4 calendar days after the date that shows on the semester report or on any other results communication support, in case of Pre-Baccalaureate postponement. The Director will make all documents available not later than 3 calendar days after receipt of the request. The Director may decide to make all documents available only through a secure electronic form. A belated request for the viewing of the examination papers will be inadmissible”.
- In case of procedural irregularity, an administrative appeal before the Secretary General of the European Schools followed by a judicial appeal before the Complaints Board of the European Schools are possible. Article 12.6 AIREB details the procedure: “Complaints and appeals concerning the Pre-Baccalaureate examinations must be made through the Director of the School attended by the candidate to the Chairman of the Examining Board, by any candidate who claims that a procedural irregularity was prejudicial to him. The claim should be lodged before the 15th of March at the latest. The Director of the School will send the complaint or appeal, accompanied by all the relevant documentation for the handling of the case, to the Secretary-General of the European Schools. This must be done electronically not later than 2 working days after receipt of the request by the School. If the candidate is a minor, the complaint or appeal must be lodged by his legal representative”.
Be aware however that the Complaint Board’s case-law has a very restrictive interpretation of the notion of “procedural irregularity”. Contact the APEEE’s vice-president in charge of pedagogical affairs, Karim Kettani, for any related question: pedagogie@bru4.eu
A legal working group has been set up between the different APEEEs of the European Schools in order to follow up on these kind of appeals, especially following the many appeals against the 2020 European Baccalaureate results (see in that regard that working group’s “Memo on the 2020 Bac session”), in which the APEEE of EEB IV was heavily involved.