The French Education System

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The French Education System

The structure of the French education system

After nursery school or kindergarten (école maternelle), which is optional, the French compulsory education system is divided into three stages or ‘cycles’:

primary school (école)

middle school (collège)

high school (lycée)

Preschool/nursery (école maternelle)

Preschools or nursery schools – écoles maternelles

– provide care for children from two and three years old until they are

six. The curriculum aims to prepare children

for primary school, and includes reading, writing, numeracy and

sometimes even a foreign language.

Primary school (ecole primaire)

Children in France attend primary school from the age of six to 11 years old.

There are five levels:

Cours préparatoire (CP) or 11ème – age 6 to 7 years old

Cours élémentaire (CE1) or 10ème – age 7 to 8 years old

Cours élémentaire (CE2) or 9ème – age 8 to 9 years old

Cours moyen 1 (CM1) or 8ème – 9 to 10 years old

Cours moyen 2 (CM2) or 7ème – 10 to 11 years old

The school week is around 24 hours; primary schools often close

for all or part of Wednesday. There are lessons on literacy, numeracy,

geography/history and commonly a foreign language, often English.

Middle school (collège)

Between the ages of 11 and 15, students in France attend a middle school or collège.

There are four levels:

6ème – 11 to 12 years old

5ème – 12 to 13 years old

4ème – 13 to 14 years old

3ème – 14 to 15 years old

The syllabus aims to give all pupils a general education and

consists of French, mathematics, history/geography, civics, biology,

physics, technology, art, music, and physical education. Over the four

years in the college, the more academic students tend to choose to take

more general classes while the less academic tend to take more

vocational classes.

High school or lycée

The last three years of secondary education – from 15 to 18 years old – are spent at a lycée general, a lycée technique or a lycée professionnel.

Students take the same core curriculum of some eight or nine subjects

but are offered three electives and an artistic workshop.

The levels are:

Seconde (CAP, BEP) – 15 to 16 years old

Première (CAP, BEP) – 16 to 17 years old

Terminale (BAC) – 17 to 18 years old

Lycée general and lycée technique

Students start to specialise with the aim of sitting the Baccalauréat (le bac), which is the qualification to enter university at 18 years old. Students choose different ‘series’. The general bac consists

of the L series (literary studies), ES series (economic and social

studies) or S series (sciences). The S bac is considered the toughest.

Students have to pass all subjects in the series (getting 10/20 in

the exam) to pass; those getting 8/20 or under have to retake the year

and sit again. Those who pass can get a place at one of France’s

universities.

Lycée professionnel

At a lycee professionnel (lycées pro),

students work towards qualifications to help them get a manual or

clerical job or pursue further vocational studies. These qualifications

are the baccalauréat professionnel (bac pro), CAP (certificat d'aptitude professionnel) and BEP (Brevet d'enseignement professionnel), which focus on one of four fields: social/health, driving/transport, catering/hotels, and optics.