07 the baccalauréat examination and baccalauréat holders

At the 2014 session, 625,700 of the 710,800 candidates obtained their baccalauréat (88.0%), bringing the proportion of baccalauréat holders in a generation to 77.4%. Over half of these candidates obtained a technological or vocational baccalauréat.

At the 2014 baccalauréat session, 710,718 candidates sat the exam in France and 625,650 obtained their diploma. The pass rate increased in all three branches (chart 07.01). Overall, the pass rate rose by 1.1 points compared with 2013 and reached a historic high of 88.0%.

At this session, 305,700 candidates obtained a general baccalauréat, 129,200 a technological baccalauréat and 190,800 a vocational baccalauréat. Almost 30,000 more candidates took this third option than in 2013. The inclusion in the 2014 session of candidates from the 'Support, care and services for individuals' speciality, in addition to the improved pass rate of pupils taking the vocational path (+3.3 points), were the main reasons for this latest increase in numbers. The vocational path has returned to its historic high level of 2012. Numbers in the general path were stable compared with 2013: the increase in successful candidates in the scientific (S) series made up for the fall in the arts & humanities (L) series. For the first time since 2000, the number of candidates taking the technological path increased significantly.

Between 1995 and 2014, the distribution of baccalaureat holders (table 07.02) shifted in favour of the vocational specialities. The proportion of vocational candidates increased sharply (almost 8 points) between 2010 and 2014 when the vocational path was reformed, or almost 17 points more than in 1995. The vast majority of pupils in their 4th year of secondary education ('troisième') who choose the vocational path now opt for a course leading to the baccalauréat. In turn, the proportion of pupils taking the general baccalauréat has fallen by almost 10 points and for those taking the technological baccalauréat by almost 7 points.

In 2014, 77.4% of the generation of young people (excluding Mayotte) obtained the baccalauréat: 37.7% obtained a general baccalauréat, 16.0% a technological baccalauréat and 23.8% a vocational baccalauréat (table 07.03). Since 1985, the number of baccalauréat diplomas awarded annually has more than doubled and the proportion of baccalauréat holders in a generation has increased from 29.4% to 77.4%. This sharp rise is mainly due to the increase in the numbers taking the general baccalauréat and the rapid development in the vocational baccalauréat, introduced in 1987. Between 1995 and 2008, in contrast to the long period of growth that had gone before, the proportion of baccalauréat holders in a generation reached a plateau and hovered around 62%; it then increased by 3 points in 2009 when resit sessions were introduced for the vocational baccalauréat. It remained stable in 2010, then fluctuated during the transition phase that followed the reform of the vocational path (baccalauréat in 3 years rather than 4) and increased by more than 12 points in 4 years.

Almost one baccalauréat holder in four comes from a background of managers and higher intellectual professions, the socio-occupational category that is most represented (chart 07.04). This is particularly true for the general path, with more than one in three coming from this background. Children of employees are proportionally most numerous among holders of a technological baccalauréat, and children of manual workers in the vocational path.

Fanny Thomas