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France: France Education Profile 2012

2012/03/12

 

 

 

France Education Profile 2012

  1. Académie system
  2. School calendar
  3. Primary education
  4. Secondary education
  5. Tertiary education

The French educational system is highly centralized, organized, and ramified. It is divided into three different stages:

  • primary education (enseignement primaire);
  • secondary education (enseignement secondaire);
  • higher education (enseignement supérieur).

Primary and secondary education are predominantly public (private schools as well exist, in particular a strong nationwide network of primary and secondary Catholic education), while higher education has both public and private elements. The Programme for International Student Assessment, coordinated by the OECD, currently ranks France's education as the 25th best in the world, being neither significantly higher nor lower than the OECD average.

While the French trace the development of their educational system to Charlemagne, the modern era of French education begins at the end of the nineteenth century. Jules Ferry, a lawyer holding the office of Minister of Public Instruction in the 1880s, is widely credited for creating the modern Republican school (l'école républicaine) by requiring amount children under the age of 15 -- boys and girls -- to attend. He as well made public instruction free of charge and secular (laïque).

Amount educational programs in France are regulated by the Ministry of National Education (officially called Ministère de l'éducation nationale, de l'enseignement supérieur et de la recherche). The chief of the ministry is the Minister of National Education of the highest-ranking officials in the cabinet. As of May 2007, the Minister is Xavier Darcos.

The teachers in public primary and secondary schools are amount national civil servants, making the ministère the major employer in the country. Professors and researchers in France's universities are as well employed by the national.

At the primary and secondary levels, the curriculum is the same for amount French students in any given grade, which includes public, semi-public and subsidised institutions. However, there exist specialised sections and a variety of options that students can choose. The reference for amount French educators is the Bulletin officiel de l'éducation nationale, de l'enseignement supérieur et de la recherche (B.O.) which lists amount current programs and teaching directives. It is amended a lot of times each year.

Académie system

In France, academic councils called académies (English : academies) are responsible for supervising amount aspects of University education in a given region. Universities are answerable to their académie, and the académies are answerable to the Ministry of Education. However, private Universities are independent of the national and therefore independent of the académies.

French territory is divided into 35 académies, 26 of which are located in mainland France and 9 in French overseas territories académie often spans a few départements, the majority commonly used administrative unit in France. Académies as well cover French schools located abroad so that the Lycée Français Charles de Gaulle in London, for example, falls under the jurisdiction of the Lille académie.

The académie headquarters (termed rectorat) is usually located in the major city in the concerned territory. It is headed by a recteur. The major responsibility of the académie is to manage personnel and national budgets pertaining to the education system. It serves as a link between regional specificities and the centralised governing body in Paris. It ensures the implementation of the official educational programs produced by the Ministry.

At level down in the national education hierarchy, each département as well has its own 'inspection académique' (academic inspection), headed by an inspecteur d'académie (academy inspector).

Note that the académie, as an education-based territorial unit, has no relation with l'Académie française, the authoritative body concerning the French language.

School calendar

In the Metropolitan territory, the school year extends from early-September to early-July. Most students have finished their year by Bastille Day, 14 July. The school schedule is standardised throughout the country, and is the sole domain of the ministry.

For the 2005-2006 school year, the first day of classes across the country was 2 September 2005. The year ends on 4 July 2006.

But in the secondary, school year may finish before these days because the schools need time to organize the exams like the Baccalauréat.

In French overseas departments and territories, the school schedule is set by the local recteur.

Major holiday breaks are as follows:

  • * Amount Saints (la Toussaint) and a half weeks around the end of October and the beginning of November;
  • * Christmas (Noël) weeks around Christmas Day and New Year's Day;
  • * winter (hiver) weeks starting in mid-February;
  • * spring (printemps) or Easter (Pâques) weeks starting in mid-April;
  • * summer (été) months starting in early-July.

Amount Saints, Christmas and summer vacations occur simultaneously across the country. For the winter and spring breaks, the country is divided into three zones (A, B, and C) and each zone's vacation dates are shifted by or weeks to prevent families from crowding up in popular destinations such as ski and seashore resorts.

Primary education

Schooling in France is required and mandatory as of age 6, the first year of primary school. A lot of parents start sending their children before though, around age 3 as kindergarten classes (maternelle) are usually affiliated to a borough's primary school. Some even start before at age 2 in pré-maternelle classes, which are essentially daycare centres. The last year of maternelle, grande section is an significant step in the educational process as it is the year in which pupils are introduced to reading.

After kindergarten, the young students move on to primary school. It is in the first time(cours préparatoire) that they will learn to write and perfect their reading skills. Much akin to other educational systems, French primary school students usually have a single teacher (or perhaps) who instructs in a lot of different disciplines, such as French, mathematics, natural sciences, history and geography to name a few (the latter are seldom separated). Note that the French word for a teacher at the primary school level is professeur (before called instituteur, or its feminine form institutrice).

Religious instruction is not supplied by public schools. Laïcité (secularism) is of the major precepts of the French republic. Pupils therefore have civics courses to teach them about la République, its function, its organization, and its famous motto Liberté, égalité, fraternité (Freedom, equality, brotherhood).

In a March 2004 ruling, the French government banned amount "conspicuous religious symbols" from schools and other public institutions with the intent of preventing proselytisation and to foster a sense of tolerance part ethnic groups. Some religious and libertarian groups showed their opposition, saying the law hindered the freedom of religion as protected by the French constitution.

Secondary education

French secondary education is divided into schools:

  • * the collège for the first years directly following primary school;
  • * the lycée for the next three years.

The completion of secondary studies leads to the baccalauréat.

Brevet des collèges

The Brevet des collèges is the first official diploma a pupil has to sit. It is not required in order to enter high school (lycée).
The school marks for the whole of the final time(3ème) and the year before it (4ème) are taken into account for half of the mark. However starting from 2007 only the marks from the final time(3ème) will be taken into consideration. The other half of the mark consists of the final exam, the brevet. Pupils are only tested on French, mathematics and history/geography, for the exam.

Baccalauréat

The baccalauréat (as well known as bac) is the end-of-lycée diploma students sit for in order to enter university, a classe préparatoire, or professional life. The term baccalauréat refers to the diploma and the examinations themselves. It is comparable to English & Welsh A-Levels, American SATs or ACTs, the Irish Leaving Certificate, Australia's Higher School Certificate and the German Abitur.

Most students sit for the baccalauréat général which is divided into 3 streams of study, called séries. The série scientifique (S) is concerned with the natural sciences, physics or mathematics (a lot of streams exist of which is called série scientifique sciences de l'ingénieur (SSI), a série scientifique baccalauréat with additional specializations, génie électrique and génie mécanique. There is as well the Bac STI, Sciences & industrial technologies. There as well exists the option génie mécanique & the options electrotechnique), the série économique et sociale (ES) with social sciences, and the série littéraire (L) focuses on French and foreign languages and philosophy. However, these séries are not exactly specializations and each bac-possessor has the right to integrate any public university in his catchment area if this applies to the subject he wishes to apply for. Students having followed the L series do not have enough scientific knowledge from high school alone to succeed in science university courses, therefore some combinations of baccalauréats and university courses are very rare.

There is as well the baccalauréat technologique and baccalauréat professionnel.

Tertiary education

Higher Education

Higher education in France is divided into grandes écoles and universities. Grandes écoles are considered additional prestigious than universities and their selection procedure is highly competitive. For example, the majority prestigious engineering grandes école, École Polytechnique, have about 12 000 candidates for 400 places.

A striking trait of French higher education, compared with other nations, is the small size and multiplicity of establishments, each specialized in a additional or less broad spectrum of disciplines. A middle-sized French city, such as Grenoble or Nancy, may have 2 or 3 universities (for instance: science / sociological studies), and as well a number of engineering and other specialized higher education establishments. For instance, in Paris and suburbs, there are 13 universities, none of which are specialized in area or another, and a large number of smaller institutions which are very specialized.

It is not uncommon for graduate teaching programs (master's degrees, the course part of PhD programs etc.) to be operated in common by several institutions, allowing the institutions to present a larger variety of courses.

In engineering schools such as École Polytechnique, it is not uncommon that a large share of the teaching staff is not made up of permanent professors, but of part-time professors hired to teach specific point only. These part-time professors are generally hired from neighboring universities, research institutes, or industry.

Another originality of the French higher education system is that a large share of the scientific research is not done by universities, but by research establishments such as CNRS or INSERM. In a lot of cases, the research units of those establishments are installed inside universities (or other higher education establishments), and jointly operated by the research establishment and the university.

These traits can cause international university rankings to underestimate French universities due to the criteria used[citation needed], but however in spite of amount these Times world universities ranking placed École Polytechnique tenth part world universities and Professional Ranking of world universities placed École Polytechnique fourth part amount world universities, and HEC Paris fifth.

Tuition Costs

Another characteristic is the low tuition costs. Since higher education is funded by the national, the fees are very low: the tuition varies from 150€ to 700€ depending on the university and the different levels of education. (licence, master, doctorat) can therefore get a Master's degree (in 5 years) for about 750-3,500€. Additionally, students from low-income families can apply for scholarships, paying nominal sums for tuition or textbooks, and even getting a monthly stipend up to 450€/month.

The tuition in public engineering schools is comparable to universities, albeit a little higher (around 700€). However it can reach 7000€ a year for private engineering schools, and some business schools, which are amount private or partially private, charge up to 12000€ a year.

Health insurance for students is free (if they get a scholarship) until the age of 25, so only the living costs and books expenses have to be added.

Although this is the case in a lot of schools, some schools that are public have other ways of gaining money. Some do not receive sufficient funds from the government to hold a lot of trips and things. These schools may ask for a small (optional) entrance fee for new students.

The public universities in France are named after the large cities near which they are located, followed by a number if there are several. Paris, for example, has thirteen universities, labeled Paris I to XIII, most of them are however not in Paris itself, but in the suburbs. In addition, most of the universities have taken a additional informal name which is usually the of a personality or a particular place. Sometimes, it is as well a way to honor a famous alumnus. For example, the science university in Strasbourg is known as "Université Louis Pasteur" while its official name is "Université Strasbourg I".

The French system is currently undergoing a reform, the Bologna process, which aims at creating European standards for University studies, most notably a similar time-frame everywhere, with three years devoted to the Bachelor's degree (licence in French) for the Master's, and three for the doctorate. French universities have as well adopted the ECTS credit system (for example a licence is worth 180 credits). However, the traditional curricula based on end of semester examinations still remains in place in most universities. This double standard has added complexity to a system which as well remains quite rigid. It is for example difficult to change a major during undergraduate studies without losing a semester or even a whole year. Students usually as well have few course selection options once they enroll in a particular diploma.

Grandes écoles & CPGE

The Grandes écoles of France are higher education establishments outside the mainstream framework of the public universities. They are generally focused on a single subject area, such as engineering or business, have a moderate size, and are often quite selective in their admission of students. They are widely regarded as prestigious, and traditionally have produced most of France's scientists and executives.

The classes préparatoires aux grandes écoles (CPGE) is a prep course with the major goal of training students for enrollment in a Grande École ; of which the best known and prestigious are Lycée Saint-Louis, Lycée Louis-Le-Grand, Lycée Henri IV or Lycée privé Sainte-Geneviève for instance. Admission to the CPGE is usually based on performance during the last years of high school, called Première and Terminale. The CPGE are located within high schools but pertain to tertiary education, which means that each student must have passed successfully their Baccalauréat (or equivalent) to be admitted in CPGE. Each CPGE receives the files of hundreds of applicants worldwide each year during April and May, and selects its new students under its own criteria (mostly excellency). A few CPGE programmes, mainly the private CPGEs (which account for 10% of CPGEs), as well have an interview process or look at a student's involvement in the community.

CPGE programs have a nominal duration of years, but the second year is sometimes repeated once, mostly in the scientific sections, where the student gets then the status of cinq demi (" halves"), for he was only a trois demi ("three halves") during his first second year. The explanation behind those names is that the majority coveted engineering school is the Ecole Polytechnique, nicknamed the X (as the mathematical unknown). In French, a student is said to integrate a school when they are allowed to enroll in it. A student is called a 3/2 if he integrates the Ecole Polytechnique between his first and second year of preparatory class since the integral of x from 1 to 2 is 3/2. The same idea is valid for "cinq demi", since the integral of x from 2 to 3 is 5/2. Students enrolled in their second second-year are as well called "carrés" (squares), and a few turn to "cubes" for a third and final second-year. These terms probably stem from repeated attempts at applying to "X" (Polytechnique), yielding x2 and x3. Some ambitious professors encourage their top students to eschew admittance to other prestigious schools in order to try their hand at X additional time. .. Despite this high standard, the 30 000 students in classes préparatoires must face the fact that they won't amount go to the Ecole Polytechnique. The renowned engineering schools Centrale Paris, Supélec, École nationale supérieure des mines de Paris, École nationale des ponts et chaussées, École nationale supérieure des télécommunications, Supaéro, ESPCI or École nationale supérieure d'arts et métiers , amount member schools of ParisTech are as well a proud goal to obtain for these students.

The oldest CPGEs are the scientific ones, which can only be accessed by scientific Bacheliers. Scientific CPGE are called MPSI ("Mathematics, Physics and Engineering Science"), PCSI ("Physics, Chemistry, and Engineering Science") or PTSI ("Physics, Technology, and Engineering Science") in the first year, MP ("Mathematics and Physics"), PSI ("Physics and Engineering Science"), PC ("Physics and Chemistry") or PT ("Physics and Technology") in the second year. The classes which especially train students for admission to the elite Écoles Normales Supérieures or Ecole Polytechnique have an "*" added to their name, e.g. MP*.

First year CPGE students are called the 'Math Sup' - or Hypotaupe - (Sup for "Classe de Mathématiques Supérieures", superior in French, meaning post-high school), and second years 'Math Spé' - or Taupe - (Spés standing for "Classe de Mathématiques Spéciales", special in French). The students of these classes are called Taupins. Both the first and second year programmes include as much as sixteen hours of mathematics teaching per week, ten hours of physics hours of philosophy to hours of or) foreign languages teaching and to three hours of minor options: either SI, Engineering Industrial Science or Theoretical Computer Science (including some programming using the Pascal or CaML programming languages, as a practical work). With this is added several hours of homework, which can rise as much as the official hours of class. A known joke part those students is that they are becoming monks for years. Sometimes three.

The literary and humanities CPGEs have as well their own nicknames, Hypokhâgne for the first year and Khâgne for the second year. The students are called the khâgneux. These classes prepare for schools such as Écoles Normales Supérieures, Ecole des Chartes, and sometimes Sciences Po.

There are as well CPGE which are focused on economics (who prepare the admission in business schools). These latter are known as "Prépa EC" and are split in parts ("prépa EC spe mathematics" , generally for those who graduated the baccalaureat S and "prépa EC spe éco" , for those who were in the economics section in the lycée.). The majority famous of those business schools are HEC School of Management, ESSEC, ESCP-EAP, EM Lyon, EDHEC which propose a Master degree and an MBA.

The students of CPGE are as well matriculated in universities, and can rejoin college in case of failure of their grandes écoles ambitions or if they just do not wish to become engineers and feel not able to pass the Écoles Normales Supérieures competitive examinations. The ratio of students who failed to enter grandes écoles is low in the scientifics and economics CPGE, but high in humanities, for the only Grandes Écoles aimed in these classes are the Écoles Normales Supérieures.

The amount of work required of the students is exceptionally high. In addition to class time and homework, students spend several hours each week completing exams and 'colles' (very often written 'khôlles' to look like a Greek word, this way of writing being initially a khâgneux joke). The so called 'colles' are unique to French academic education in CPGEs. They consist of oral examinations twice a week, in math, physics, French and the foreign languages, usually English and Spanish. Students, usually in groups of three, spend an hour facing a professor alone in a room, answering questions and solving problems. In CPGE littéraires (humanities), the system of 'colles' is a bit different. They are taken each quarter in each subject. Students have hour to prepare a short presentation that takes the form of a French-style dissertation (a methodologically codified essay, typically structured in 3 parts: thesis, counter-thesis, and synthesis) in history, philosophy, etc. on a given topic, and that of a commentaire composé (a methodologically codified commentary) in literature and foreign languages; as for the Ancient Greek or Latin, they involve a translation and a commentary. The student then has 20 minutes to present his work to the teacher, who ends the session by asking some questions on the presentation and on the corresponding topic. 'Colles' are regarded as extremely stressful, particularly due to the high standards expected by the teachers, and the subsequent harshness that may be directed at students who do not perform adequately. But they are significant in as much as they prepare the students, from the very first year, to the oral part of the competitive examination, reserved to the happy few who successfully pass the written part.

Recruitment of teachers

Traditionally, primary teachers were educated in Ecoles Normales and secondary teachers by the Agrégation examination. The situation has been diversified by the introduction of the lower level CAPES examination for secondary teachers and additional recently by the institution of Instituts Universitaires pour la Formation des Maîtres. University teachers are recruited by special commissions. However a lot of of the successful candidates still have the Agrégation qualification and a large number have been trained at the Ecoles Normales Supérieures.

Statistics for education in France

The French Republic has 63 million inhabitants, living in the 22 regions of metropolitan France and overseas departments (1.7 million). Despite the fact that the people is growing slightly (up 0.4% a year), the number and proportion of young people under 25 are, however, falling: there are now fewer than 19 million of them in metropolitan France, or 32% of the total people, compared with 40% around 1970 and 35% at the time of the 1990 census. France is seeing a slow aging of the people — less marked however than in other neighbouring nations (Germany and Italy), especially as the annual number of births is currently increasing slightly.

18 million pupils and students, i.e. a quarter of the people, are in the education system. Just over 2 million are in higher education.

In 1999, France's GDP was close to FF 9,000 billion (EUR 1,330 billion), i.e. FF 150,000 (EUR 22,000) per inhabitant. Of this total, just over FF 600 billion (EUR 95 billion) were devoted to initial or continuing education: 7.2% of GDP. As far as school education spending is concerned, France is in a middle position, behind the Nordic nations (Sweden and Denmark), but fairly significantly ahead of Italy and Japan.