Understand the French school system in 5 minutes
To discover the English version of this article, click here
In France, school is compulsory from 3 to 16 years old. The Jules Ferry laws of 1881 and 1882 gave the French state the obligation to provide free and secular education for all. The Ministry of National Education therefore offers a single curriculum, followed by the 12,409,900 pupils who started school in September 2018.
In order to present the school system in France, we will present the 3 types of schools that exist in France, then the 4 main stages of schooling, which are themselves divided into educational cycles.
There are 3 types of schools in France:
Firstly, public schools, which are schools run by the state. These schools are free and secular, and are obliged to take in all children within a certain school zone. The curriculum taught is that dictated by the National Education.
80% of students are in public schools.
There are public schools under contract with the State. This contract, which binds the school to the state, obliges the school to follow the curriculum and the general rules issued by the Education Nationale. The teachers of public schools under contract are assigned to the schools by the National Education, and their remuneration is paid by the State. These schools, through their contract with the State, therefore benefit from financial support from the State. Public schools under contract are therefore neither free nor necessarily secular - 97% of these schools are Catholic. Nevertheless, as these schools are under contract with the state, they deliver the national education curriculum.
19% of students attend public schools under contract.
Finally, some schools are known as non-contracted public schools. This means that the schools are not obliged to follow the curriculum or the rhythm of the National Education. Non-contractual schools therefore have greater freedom in terms of the pedagogy they use, but they do not receive any financial aid from the State. Thus, the recruitment and remuneration of teachers is the responsibility of the school. These schools include most of the bilingual, Montessori, eco-responsible schools, etc.
Approximately 0.5% of students are enrolled in non-contractual schools.
L'école M is a private nursery school with no state contract. The teachers are free in their teaching methods (pedagogical project of theécole M) but they follow the National Education curriculum.
The schooling is done in 4 stages:
Kindergarten (3-6 years): kindergartens are divided into 3 classes: petite section, moyenne section, and grande section. These three classes make up cycle 1, which aims to deliver the first learning experiences (exploring the world, mobilising language, etc.).
Elementary (6-11 years old): these schools are divided into 5 classes which are CP, CE1, CE2, CM1 and CM2. The CP, CE1 and CE2 classes form cycle 2, which is the cycle of fundamental learning. It is during these three years that pupils learn to read, write and count. The classes of CM1, CM2, and 6ème form cycle 3, which is the consolidation of knowledge.
Kindergarten and elementary school constitute the primary school (3-11 years).
Collège (11-15 years old): the collège classes are an opportunity to deepen all the knowledge acquired. The 6ème class completes cycle 3, while the 5ème, 4ème and 3ème classes form cycle 4, the last educational cycle of the French Education Nationale. The major difference for pupils entering collège is that they have one teacher per subject (compared to one teacher per class in kindergarten and primary school). The middle school years end with a national exam, the Brevet, which attests to the knowledge and skills acquired.
Lycée (15-17 years old): there are two types of lycée in France: the general and technological lycée, which accommodates the vast majority of students, and the vocational lycée, which allows students to enter the professional world immediately through alternating teaching and work placements. The classes of Seconde, Première and Terminale constitute the three classes of the general and technological lycée. In Terminale, students take the baccalauréat, which concludes the 15 years spent on the school benches. Pupils then have the choice of continuing their studies in higher education (university, preparatory classes, business school, etc.) or going directly into working life.