Preparing to take a competitive exam, revising until the last evening, resting to be in good shape to take the test… then discovering once you thought you were relieved that it is cancelled. A nightmare for any candidate for an exam or competition. This is unfortunately what some 900 candidates from the Nancy-Metz academy have just experienced, in the recruitment competition for school teachers (CRPE) which took place on Wednesday April 1 and Thursday April 2: not all the candidates having received the same subject, the test was canceled and the future teachers invited to repeat it, the rectorate said on Thursday.
A simple email received by the candidates on April 3 informed them that the Thursday test was canceled “due to a material error independent of the academic services” according to L’est republican.
A hardware error invoked
“It was noted at the end of a test that the students had not all composed on the same subject”, explained the rectorate, referring to a “material error”, due to a “problem of setting under cover of the subjects by a service provider. “For the sake of fairness,” the decision was made to cancel the event.
“We understand that this is a destabilizing and stressful announcement, but the objective is that everyone has the same chances in this competition,” explained the rectorate. In total, 908 candidates are called to retake the test on April 28.
At the national level, the 2026 session has more than 88,000 registered for external competitions for school teachers, including nearly 50,000 for bac+3, for 11,600 open positions, according to figures from the Ministry of Education. There were 49,000 of them to pass it at the beginning of April, there will be a handful to re-test at the end of the month.
