EDUCATION IN FRANCE

Be prepared !

There are subtleties, sometimes even obvious elements, in the French education system which could surprise the British parent and pupil.

The first and most obvious of these is the lack of uniform at any stage of schooling. Standing at the school gate in the mornings you will see children arriving in a cheerful array of outfits, usually carrying a large bag on their back - or these days pulling a bag on wheels. It is for the pupils and their parents to show common sense as to what is suitable for school, though of course the school reserves the right to refuse unsuitable dress.

The programme of secondary education in France has a much broader base than in England, where selection of subjects can begin with the choice of GCSE subjects and continues with the selection of, usually, three, four or five subjects at AS and A2 levels. In France, all subjects continue to be studied by those pupils taking the Baccalauréat général. Consequently, it is not possible to put aside those subjects which a pupil finds more challenging. Furthermore, whereas in the English examination system each subject stands alone, in the French Baccalauréat system all subjects count towards the final result, albeit on a sliding scale according to the type of Baccalauréat chosen.

The emphasis on pupils taking responsibility for their learning is fundamental to the French system, especially in the older classes. There will always be a teacher responsible for each class - in secondary education called the professeur principal. While this teacher will get to know the class, the contact is less than it might be in some English schools. However, the professeur principal does play a major role in the quarterly Conseil de classe. This is a meeting of all the teachers of a class, together with the Head (le Proviseur), or Deputy Head (le Proviseur Adjoint), at which each child’s report and progress for the term are discussed in a full and frank way. This discussion can be all the more surprising in that two representatives of the parents (parents délégués) are present as well as two pupils representatives from the class (délégués de classe). Non-délégué parents and pupils then contact the representatives who give an accurate account of what has been said. This can be delicate if a pupil has had a poor term, but reflects the transparency which permeates the system. This can come as a surprise, but ultimately works well, as no-one is in any doubt as to the progress of each child. Those who have done well know that praise is earned and those who have done less well are aware of the action they need to take. On the whole in this latter case, action is taken and noted in the following Conseil.

In those cases where a pupil has not been able to address his or her problems and the level of work remains considerably below the class average (la moyenne), the conseil de classe in the third term can recommend that the pupil should repeat the year (redoublement). This does happen to a number of pupils.

The parents délégués are elected each year in September/October, usually two for each class, and are the main link for parents into the school on non-individual matters. Each term the elected representatives hold a meeting to which the parents from that class are invited. Whole class issues are discussed and then reported back to the parents’ committee by the representatives, from whence they are passed on to the school.

Unlike English schools, where it is common for the school to undertake education outside the classroom through various activities, in France the school views its role as mainly for academic education. There may well be sports teams, a choir, orchestra and some other activities, but you may find that such activities are less available than in English schools. French children tend to find such activities outside school.

As a rule, the task of French teachers, especially in secondary schools, is to teach pure knowledge: it does not extend to the transmission of values or manners, which is seen as the responsibility of the family. However, private schools, which are often religious, set themselves different rules in this respect.

The current move in English schools to remove some administrative tasks from teachers is bringing the English system more into line with the French, where there has always been much clearer distinction between the administration (l’administration) of the school and the teaching staff. In place of year-group heads, French schools have a system of Conseiller Principal d’Education (CPE). These are members of the administrative staff, usually responsible for two or sometimes three school years. They are the people you should contact if your child is ill and needs to be away from school and will probably be your first point of contact should you wish to communicate with the school.

Pupils with no lesson during the first timetable hour of the school day are not expected to come to school until their first lesson is scheduled to begin - similarly pupils go home after their last timetable lesson, even if this is before the end of the normal school day.

Finally, the French national curriculum is such that, not only is the programme of work set out, but the order in which it is to be covered is also fixed. This has the tremendous advantage for parents who need to move to a different town or area that they can put their children into a new school in the knowledge that the child’s education will continue with very little disruption in the new school.

Part of the charm - and challenge - of settling into a new country is that things are different - even when sometimes on the surface they appear to be similar. So be prepared, be adaptable, and you will find that the French education system works well, and that you and your children will gain an insight into French language and culture in a way not possible otherwise.

Introduction

The French educational system originates from the Third Republic when Jules Ferry, Minister of Public Education (1879-1888), introduced free, compulsory and secular primary education for everyone.

Twenty-first century French schools of course no longer have much in common with the direct legacy of Jules Ferry. Since the Second World War, the French education system has seen some fairly radical changes, particularly in response to the large increase in the number of children studying beyond primary school.

Successively, the collège, lycée and university have opened their doors wide to the new generations. Education is now for the masses rather than the elite and has had to adapt not only to cater for the extra number of pupils and students but also to take account of the growing length of courses. Its democratisation has been driven by urgent social reasons and the requirement for a more highly-skilled workforce resulting from radical socio-economic changes in society.

However, since the 19^th century, the French educational system has been faithful to the objective of a universal system and to the basis of its current principles:

• School is compulsory from 6 to 16

• There is a state control, through the Ministry of Education, of the curriculum, examinations, diplomas and university degrees.

• Free education is provided in state schools, from nursery schools to higher education (university registration fees are minimal).

• Secularity is guaranteed in state educational institutions. French society is not based on membership of a specific cultural, ethnic or religious group, but on support for commonly accepted principles, secularism (laïcité) being one of these. It is the means France has chosen, in accordance with her history and traditions, not only to ensure the separation of the State from the various faiths, but also to safeguard equality between all citizens and encourage a harmonious coexistence between the different beliefs. With this in view, the Education Bill (referring to wearing religious signs in schools) passed in 2004 should be seen as one of a set of measures designed to promote better integration into French society and to fight economic and social discrimination.

• There is freedom of choice in education as private schools (religious or non religious) are free to offer their own services. Today, 17% of pupils attend private institutions, 94% of which are Catholic schools. Teacher’s wages are paid by the State.

1 - Administrative and management system

The French Ministry of Education (Ministère de l’Education nationale, de l’Enseignement supérieur et de la Recherche) accounts for the salaries of 1,317,483 persons, 1,172,089 of whom belong to the state schools system and 145,394 to the private system. 76.9% of these persons are teachers¹. To these figures should be added those from other ministries (Health, Defence, Agriculture) who also participate in the education of more pupils and students.

In 2003-2004, there were about 15 million pupils and students in state and private schools and higher education institutions : 6.5 million in nursery and elementary education, a little less than 6 million in secondary education and 2.2 million in higher education.

There are 61,200 nursery and primary schools, including 5,970 private. There are 11,500 collèges (years 7,8,9 and 10) and lycées (years 11, 12 and 13), including 3,700 private schools.

1-1 Education funding

In 2003, the domestic expenditure on education (DEE) reached 111.3 billion euros, corresponding to 7.1% of the gross domestic product (GDP). Taking all sources of funding together, national efforts concerning education are considerable, reaching 1,810 euros per inhabitant or 6,600 euros per pupil or student.

The French State, which employs more than 1.3 million people, plays a preponderant role in the funding of education, contributing 64.8% of costs, of which 57.5% is covered by the Ministry of Education alone. Local authorities cover 19.4% of the total costs of education while households pay for 8%.

1-2 Teaching systems

In 1989, an outline Act laid down the principle of schooling for all until the end of the second cycle (18) and the target of 80% of the age cohort reaching baccalauréat level, reflecting the ambition to raise the education level of French people as a whole. The numbers in secondary-education lycées then grew rapidly. While in 1985 less than 30% of an age cohort left school with the baccalauréat, by 1995 that proportion had risen to over 62%, and has remained more or less the same since.

The 1989 Act did not make significant changes to the school structure but highlighted the will to divide schooling into educational stages (cycles pédagogiques). The aim was to improve educational continuity and help adapt teaching to each child’s individual psychological and physiological capabilities.

Attainment targets are set for each stage and are designed to provide the necessary flexibility and should mean far fewer children having to repeat a year. The stage covering the last year of nursery school and the first two years of primary school (cycle des apprentissages fondamentaux) is particularly important since it is when children learn to read.

1-3 School year

French school term dates are approved by the Higher National Education Council but may be slightly modified to take local situations into account. The term dates are based on the definition of the optimum lengths of time children need to spend working and resting, statutory rules being 35-36 weeks a year (174 days) for classes. Most primary and secondary institutions follow the pattern of 6½ weeks of school work and 2 weeks holidays. The school year begins at the beginning of September and closes at the end of June.

1-4 French School structure

Overall, the current structure of the education system is fairly simple. At the bottom there is primary education, including both nursery and primary schools. This reflects the desire to establish a continuity between nursery and primary school by starting on the basics with the little ones before they move up to primary school. Young children can begin nursery school at the age of two - a French particularity which is a great boon for working women – and school is compulsory from the age of six.

After five years of primary school, children go on to secondary education, which is divided into two cycles (key stages). The first cycle takes place in the single collège which for the great majority of pupils leads on to the second cycle, taking place in vocational, general and technological lycées. The lycées now take over 60% of each age cohort to the baccalauréat.

All the baccalauréats, however, do not offer the same career prospects, and in reality the second cycle of secondary education, like higher education, takes very different forms. Everyone with a baccalauréat is entitled to go to university, but some students have more possibilities than others because of the type of “bac” they possess.

Most students go to university, with the universities themselves and the departments within them often reputedly differing in quality. A minority of students pursue their studies in what are known as CPGE, i.e. preparatory classes in the most prestigious lycées which prepare pupils for the entrance examinations of the Grandes écoles [prestigious higher education institutes with competitive-entrance examinations]. There are also special sections for higher-level technical students with a fairly selective recruitment process, taking those with the best technological baccalauréats. Among these, the Diplômes universitaires de technologies (DUT) and the Brevets de technicien supérieur (BTS). In addition there are specialised schools in architecture, fine arts, nursing etc.

2 – Schooling in France

2-1 Nursery schooling

French nursery schools, which have existed since 1887, are neither day nurseries nor kindergartens, but educational establishments for children aged from two to six. With an original identity and a culture tailored to the age and development of the children, nursery schools provide a specific education. Teachers offer each child a framework and organisation of activities which encourage their autonomy and allow them time to have their first experiences while encouraging the acquisitions of new skills.

Although nursery education is not compulsory there is a strong demand for it: about 35.5% of two-year-olds and virtually 100% of three-year-olds attend nursery schools, most of them state-run. Nursery schools teach children to get on with others, develop their personality and language skills. They also allow identification of any sensory, motor or learning difficulties so that these can be treated early. The system is extremely effective in helping children from disadvantaged backgrounds to integrate. Finally, older children can begin to develop reading skills.

Under article 2 of the 1989 Education Act, a place must be made available for any three year-old child whose family requests a place in a nursery school as near as possible to his/her home. It also states that priority should be given to providing school places for two year-olds living in socially underprivileged areas such as inner-city, rural or mountainous districts. Handicapped children and foreign children are offered places, where conditions allow, in order to facilitate their integration as quickly as possible.

Nursery education is divided into three sections:
Cycle 1 – Cycle des apprentissages premiers

• Petite section (beginners): 2-4 years

• Moyenne section (intermediate): 4-5 years

Cycle 2 – Cycle des apprentissages fondamentaux (with the first two years of primary)

• Grande section (upper): 5-6 years (year 1)

Under the division of a child’s schooling into educational stages (cycles), the upper section of nursery schools is included in the “basics” stage (cycle des apprentissages) together with the first two years of primary school (cours préparatoire and cours élémentaire 1). Nursery schools can therefore give their under-fives a better preparation for the subsequent “basics” stage (5-8 years) and “consolidation” stage (8-11 years).

2-2 Primary schooling

The primary school is the institution responsible for teaching children the basic skills and citizenship. The job of primary-school teachers, who since 1990 have had the same status as other school teachers (professeur des écoles), has changed a great deal. The 1960s saw the end of the primary school as a closed entity, with it becoming a preparation for entry into secondary education. Therefore, the possibility of children leaving primary school without the basic skills has become unacceptable and the fight against failure at school and illiteracy have become national issues. In order to tackle these problems, the initial teaching of the basic skills has been reorganised : the methods of teaching French and mathematics have been reformed, fewer children now repeat classes, and the French Ministry of Education has put in place a system of REP² (Réseaux d’éducation prioritaire), the equivalent to Education Actions Zones in England.

Attendance at French primary school is compulsory. There are five successive levels:

Cycle 2 – Cycle des apprentissages fondamentaux (with the upper year of nursery school)

CP – Cours préparatoire, from 6 to 7 (year 2)
CE1 – Cours élémentaire 1, from 7 to 8 (year 3)

Cycle 3 – Cycle des approfondissements

The weekly timetable is 26 hours. The curriculum comprises seven subject areas: French, mathematics, history and geography³, science and technology, citizenship, art and music, PE and sports.

Subjects (2^nd cycle)
French 9h
Mathematics 5h
Discovering the world, Citizenship 4h
Art, PE 6h
MFL 2h

Subjects (3^rd cycle)
French & MFL 9h
Mathematics 5 ½ h
History & geography, Citizenship 3h
Science & Technology 2 ½ h
Art, PE 6h

The New Contract for Schools states that pupils attending a primary school should receive basic instruction in a foreign language to promote their European awareness and identity.

The main objectives of primary school are the learning and consolidation of the three basic skills - reading, writing and mathematics – in order to facilitate the move from primary to secondary school. Since language skills play a leading part, a “reading plan” (Plan lecture) was introduced with the aims of helping children making better use of their language, setting up special schemes for children who do not have French as their mother tongue and supporting efforts to instil the habit of reading once children have started to learn, in order to prevent illiteracy.

Following demographic trends, the number of pupils attending primary schools has gradually decreased since the 1980’s. In 2004, there were 6,552,000 pupils in primary education.

2-3 Secondary education

First stage – Collège (years 7,8,9,10)

In principle, after the end of primary school, all children attend collège, i.e. with more or less the same education offered in all of them. The aim of a single collège is to reduce inequalities between pupils. To remedy the social and cultural difficulties which can occur, experts have come up with numerous solutions: positive discrimination with the ZEPs, modernisation of teaching methods and collèges given the autonomy to establish different types of courses (advanced for some, special ones for pupils with the greatest learning difficulties).

The successes are undeniable, but there are still inequalities at school. The educational idea behind the collège is that it does not follow on from primary school, but precedes the lycée. Neither the curricula nor the teachers have always been prepared for the new children arriving in the collèges, and reforms are continuing in order to satisfy demands for the acquisition of knowledge and to take account of the diversity of the pupils and difficulties some of them are encountering.

College schooling is divided into two 2-year stages:

Observation stage (Cycle d’observation) - Sixième and cinquième (year 7 and 8) in which all pupils follow a common curriculum of 24 hours per week of French, mathematics, a MFL, history and geography, citizenship, biology technology, art and music, PE and sport.

Orientation stage (Cycle d’orientation) – Quatrième and troisième (year 9 and 10). At the end of year 8 (cinquième) all children either move to year 9 or repeat year 8. Since pupils are not divided during this orientation stage into academic or vocational stream, they can begin to map out the direction they would like their studies to take. In this respect, clear decisions are made at the end of year 10 (troisième). Pupils in quatrième and troisième follow a common curriculum of 25 hours of lessons per week, studying the same subjects as in sixième and cinquième.

In addition to this core subject, lessons are given in one of the following subjects:

• A second MFL;

• Advanced lessons in the first MFL;
• A classical language (Latin or ancient Greek)
• A regional language.

The vast majority of young people therefore study a second MFL.

Second stage – Lycées (year 11,12,13)

Until the 1980s, on finishing collège, some pupils went on to a short vocational training course or an apprenticeship, while others entered the second form of a general lycée. The former attended a collège d’enseignement technique (CET), renamed lycée d’enseignement professionnel (LEP) [vocational education lycée] in 1976, for a short period of training leading directly into working life. The latter attended a general lycée, or technological lycée to prepare for the baccalauréat.

Little by little, the short vocational education was reduced, and with the creation of the vocational baccalauréat the great majority of pupils now go from collège to a lycée. The target of 80% reaching baccalauréat level has made the lycée route preparing for this examination the norm, the other routes (CAP, BEP⁴ and even more so the centres de formation d’apprentis – CFA [apprenticeship training centres]) often regarded as second class and signs of educational failure.

The lycées offer a great variety of courses. General courses continue to be the benchmark, but are not taken by a majority of pupils, and over 50% prepare either for baccalauréats technologiques or baccalauréats professionnels. The new status of the lycées professionnels has encouraged an increase in the number of bacheliers in France, but the idea that the only path to success is through the general baccalauréats remains deep-rooted in people’s minds, greatly underestimating the important potential of technical, and above all vocational training.

2-4 General and technological lycées – Lycées d’enseignement général et technique

General and technological lycées prepare pupils, over a period of three years, for a general or technological baccalauréat or a higher technical diploma.

Seconde (year 11): pupils follow a common core curriculum in addition to which they can choose one or more additional subjects (options) to help them decide which type of baccalauréat they wish to work for in première and terminale. Depending the option they choose, the school week consists of 29 or 31 hours.

At the end of year 11, pupils have a choice between:

The general baccalauréat which includes the humanities and languages (L), science (S), and economic and social (ES) options;

The technological baccalauréat which includes the science and industrial technologies (STI), science and laboratory technologies (STL), secretarial skills, accountancy and business (STT) and medical and social sciences (SMS) options.

At this final stage, the weekly timetable varies between 27 and 35 hours.

2-5 Vocational lycées – Lycées professionnels

The courses in these lycées lead to vocational qualifications: Certificat d’aptitude professionnelle (CAP in 2 or 3 years) with over 200 subjects, Brevet d’études professionnelles (BEP in 2 years) with a choice of 34 subjects or a vocational baccalauréat (29 subjects).

Pupils who have performed well in CAP or BEP forms can, having completed a one year foundation course, study for a technological baccalauréat.

The baccalauréat professionnel was introduced in 1985. It enables holders of a BEP (or in some cases of a CAP) to continue for another two years and study for the baccalauréat. Although the vast majority of young people who possess this qualification apply for a job, it also entitles them to go into higher education (specifically short-term higher technology study courses).

Pupils studying for the vocational baccalauréat spend a quarter of their time on industrial attachments.

2-6 Distance learning

The National centre for distance learning (Centre national d’éducation à distance – CNED) is under the control of the French ministry of education and is responsible for providing distance learning courses. These are available for primary and secondary education as well as for post-baccalauréat training. www.cned.fr

3 - Higher education courses

The democratisation of higher education is a fact, but there are still serious disparities among the three types of higher education offered to bacheliers. Since there is no numerus clausus nor entrance examination, all new bacheliers are entitled to go to university, and the great majority of students (over 60%) do so. But the absence of a clear vocational goal, like signing up for courses with limited employment prospects, in part explains the failure of some students in the early years of university.

A minority continues to enter preparatory classes (in certain large lycées) to prepare for the competitive entrance examinations to the grandes écoles. While the number of places has tended to increase, selection has become tougher since the percentage of pupils in preparatory classes and grandes écoles which was about 6.8% in 1960 had fallen to only about 3.6% in 2000. It is true that the grandes écoles are increasingly reserving a number of places for parallel admission – 24% at the écoles d’ingénieurs and 32% at the écoles de commerce in 2002 – for students with qualifications in other university subjects.

The sections de techniciens supérieurs (8) and the IUT are a second option for those not wishing to go to university.

3-1 Universities

The French university landscape is increasingly characterised by the growing self-confidence of universities, both better governed and more innovative and boasting of a growing autonomy. The kinds of education and training offered are becoming more diverse, with the availability of a growing number of courses leading to specific careers, modernised curricula, and some daring innovations in teaching methods.

The harmonisation of degree qualifications in Europe is the most recent stage of this modernisation, with the transition to university programmes organised on the LMD model⁵. International co-operation between universities is being encouraged in order to strengthen the European dimension of higher education with, for example, the Erasmus programme.

The complex conditions in which the reform is taking place are making it harder to discern the issues involved in setting up a Europe-wide educational area, and causing some professionals to worry about the long-term future of higher education as a national public service.

3-2 Grandes écoles

The grandes écoles, to which students are admitted after passing a highly selective competitive examination, for which they have spent an average of two years in preparatory classes, began to appear in the eighteenth century when the universities were going through a period of crisis; they were initiated by the authorities in order to provide senior executives, selected by competitive examination, for the higher levels of government service; they were also created at the initiative of professionals so that companies might have the skills necessary for their development.

These schools now have over 200,000 students and cover all areas of learning and knowledge, from the pure sciences to the arts, including the humanities and engineering, as well as literature, business and management and administration.

Some of these schools, including the most prestigious of them, were originally intended to train those destined to reach the highest echelons in the senior branches of the French civil service (Grands corps de l'Etat): the Écoles normales supérieures for teachers, Polytechnique and Saint-Cyr for the armed forces, the École des Chartes for public archivists, curators and librarians, and the École nationale d'administration (ENA) for top civil servants. While retaining these objectives, most of these schools have broadened their courses and their students no longer automatically go on to serve the State.

In parallel, business and management schools such as HEC (Hautes études commerciales), ESSEC (Ecoles supérieures de sciences économiques et commerciales) and Écoles supérieures de commerce as well as the engineering schools have recently been attracting ever-growing numbers of applicants due to companies' increasing need for highly-qualified staff.

3-3 Higher technical sections

Sections de techniciens supérieurs (STS)

The Sections de techniciens supérieurs (STS) are highly skilled technical sections within certain large general and technical lycées. Admission is open to students with the baccalauréat, following careful evaluation of their application file. The two-year course in lycées, prepares students for the brevet de technicien supérieur (BTS – Advanced Technical Diploma) which covers a wide range of specialised subjects (over 100) in the industrial, commercial, agricultural and arts sectors.

Instituts universitaires de technologie (IUT)

The Diplôme universitaire de technologie (DUT) is more general than the BTS and offers fewer specialisation (about 25 with options). DUT courses are taken in a Institut universitaire de technologie (IUT) attached to a university. Sectors are very varied, from civil engineering and social sciences to agriculture and catering.

People holding a BTS or a DUT, which are diplomas for applied studies, are much in demand by companies but an increasing number of them continue to study: more than a third of those with a BTS and over two thirds of those with a DUT. The recently introduced licences professionnelles (one year) are very suitable and welcome them. They can also enter engineering or business schools or take up a programme of study at university.

3-4 Continuing vocational training

In France, individuals have life-long access to education and training, at school or university in the case of pupils and students, and in the form of continuing vocational training for anyone already working. Instituted in its present form in the early 1970s, continuing vocational training involves the State, as well as businesses, local authorities, public establishments, State and private educational establishments, and professional, trade-union and family organisations.

Depending on their status and the specific training problems individuals may encounter, the two sides of industry and the State have set up a variety of options: an “orientation contract” (designed to help a young person to find a suitable vocational career path by allowing him or her to have a first experience of working life), a “qualification contract” (designed to facilitate recruitment of a young person by allowing him or her to obtain an educational qualification in the course of his or her employment), an “adaptation contract” (a work contract providing for training during working hours either in or outside the business), training leave, retraining agreements, etc.

Continuing vocational training is an important economic sector accounting for 1.7% of French GDP. The Act of 4 May 2004 on lifelong vocational training introduced an individual right to training for everyone in employment, transferable from one company to another under certain conditions (redundancy, business closure or restructuring).

5 - French school structure at a glance

6 - Some useful addresses

If you need information on education from "Ecoles Maternelles" (nursery schools) to "Lycées" (Secondary Schools), contact your Town Hall, the "Inspection Académique" (County Education Office).