Education in France

November 1, 2007

PRE-SCHOOL

Crèche

The vast majority of French kids begin school well before the age of six. Many have been institutionalised since they were six months old – the age at which they are generally accepted in a crèche. Most towns are equipped with local council-run crèches (crèches municipales). Where no such organisations exist, many parents set up their own crèches parentales – under strict council guidelines. The latter are glorified playgroups employing childminders.
The care in crèches parentales is perhaps not as good as that provided in official council crèches, where the childminders are replaced by fully qualified carers (puéricultrices). Such crèches are not simply places to dump kids: the children are often involved in a full range of artistic and sporting activities. The crèche is also important for acquiring life and social skills such as going to the loo, eating at table and learning respect for others. Even at this early age, the emphasis is on teaching kids to be able to take their place in a group structure. Most council crèches run from seven in the morning until six in the evening. There is a monthly care fee, which is also tax deductible. Ring your local mairie for details.

Child-minders

For children who are unable to find a place in a crèche, the childminder or ‘nounou’ is the only solution. As with everything in France, childminders are regulated. They have to be registered with the local authorities and, for this, they must attend state-run childcare courses.

Since state registration there are fewer nounous than before and nowadays,finding a childminder willing to accept your kids is almost as difficult as trying to find a job or somewhere to live. Childminders will charge anything from €850 to €1,400 for their services, and because of their scarcity, they can quite happily name the terms under which they will accept your offspring. All childcare fees are tax-deductible, providing your childminder is state-registered.

Parents who are tempted to employ unregistered childminders, beware. This is illegal and could land you in prison or get you a hefty fine, or both. When employing non-French childminders, make sure that all their paperwork is in order. Childcare is a nice earner for many illegal immigrants. Remember, that under French law, pleading ignorance is no defence. All relevant details can be found at your local mairie.

École Maternelle / Nursery School

Crèche is not compulsory, neither is école maternelle (nursery school), the next link in the French educational chain. However it is free. Children can enter Maternelle at the age of three, or in the August or September nearest to their third birthday. This means that some children as young as two and a half can start école maternelle.

Nursery school in France marks the start of formal education. There are three levels or sections: petites, moyennes and grandes (small, medium and large – just like French fries!) Class sizes can vary, but a standard class is composed of roughly 20 children, under the responsibility of a teacher and a classroom assistant. The latter plays no active part in teaching. There is no national curriculum as such for nursery schools, just a set of objectives which individual children must have more or less attained before being able to attend primary school.

The list of objectives is long and tiresome and written in French educational jargon. Basically though, children must have decent communication skills. This does not just mean being able to string a sentence together: they must be capable of telling a story, expressing wants and needs and explaining and justifying themselves. They must also possess the rudiments of writing and are expected to write their full name and a simple phrase in capital letters, lower case and joined-up writing (genuine Dickensian copperplate script). In terms of maths, children are expected to be able to count up to 30, recognise and draw simple geometrical shapes and resolve simple problems relating to quantities. Most important, children must be able to “respecter les règles de la vie collective”, in other words, as a full and active member of a group, live by and respect the rules imposed by that group. From an early age the French system places a very heavy emphasis on children being able to follow rules (règles) and instructions (consignes).

Regular assessment is carried out by the class teachers and at the end of each term parents receive a written report on their offspring. Assessment is carried out according to guidelines set down by the state education authority, though it is in no way national, and does not lead to the creation of national league tables. There are ‘good’ and ‘bad’ maternelles, but in the French system there is no such thing as parental choice, you send your kids to the local school. Details are available from the local mairie. A recent ruling allows for some flexibility in this but parents need to apply early to their mairie if they wish to send their children to a school outside their catchment area. Handicapped children, siblings and certain other categories have priority in gaining places in a different school.

The standard school day starts at 8.30am and finishes at 4.30pm. Children get two hours for lunch and do not attend school on Wednesday afternoons. Some maternelles (roughly 25%) function on a four-day week. Children attend school every day except Wednesdays and Saturdays but their holidays are shorter. Their summer holidays, for example, do not begin until the second week of July and they go back to school in the last week of August.

ÉCOLE PRIMAIRE / PRIMARY SCHOOL

After nursery school comes primary school, infant and junior (école primaire). This is free and compulsory. Children start primary at the age of six. There are five primary years: CP (cours préparatoire), CE1 and CE2 (cours élémentaires) and CM1 and CM2 (cours moyens).

From the first day in CP, the emphasis is firmly on the three Rs, reading, writing and maths. Art and sport also feature in the curriculum. Extra-curricular activities such as school outings depend on the class teacher or the head teacher. In some schools, the pupils have an outing every couple of weeks, in others, they may never go anywhere.

Foreign language teaching starts in CM2. The language taught is normally English, though German and Spanish are available, depending on the geographical location of the school. Children leave primary school at the age of 11 and go on to collège.

Primary school and nursery school are worlds apart. The transition from one to the other is fairly brutal, and some children take a long time to adjust. Primary school is very formal. Children are seated at desks and are not allowed to wander around. Talking is also forbidden, in complete contrast to nursery school, where silence certainly isn’t golden and where kids are grouped by activity and openly encouraged to walk around.

Primary schools operate along the same timetables as nursery schools with a four- or five-day week.

Parents should be aware that even at this young age, there is immense pressure on the children to work. Formal homework, for example, starts on the first day in CP. Each night, children will have something to do, either learning a poem, copying out sentences or doing basic maths. The emphasis is very much on learning by heart, and children will be asked to recite what they learned the night before.

French parents are very much aware of the pressure to succeed. To this end, many of them even give their children extra work. In CP, for example, children are supposed to learn to read and write. In my daughter’s school, half the class could read and write before the new school year began. Their parents had taught them during the summer holidays!

SECONDARY EDUCATION

COLLÈGE / PREP SCHOOL

A Collège d’Enseignement Secondaire (CES) is the first element in French secondary education. As an institution, it is a hangover from bygone days, when the French school leaving age was 14 and only the very bright or the very rich went on to attend a lycée. Pupils attend collège from the age of 11 to 14 from the sixième (sixth class) to the troisième (third class). Class sizes in collège are around 25 to 30 pupils, and there is no school on Wednesday afternoons.

In educational terms, collège is all about learning the basic theory, mechanics and fundamentals of the main academic subjects they will later follow in lycée. For example, in modern languages, pupils will study grammar at collège level, but will probably not actually use it in context until they get to lycée. This means that many pupils learns blocks of isolated theory by heart, but don’t actually start building anything until after collège.

At the end of college, all pupils sit the Brevet des Collèges, a national exam, over two days, where candidates take papers in Maths, French, History and Geography. Twenty years ago, the Brevet was an important exam, determining whether or not students would go to lycée. Nowadays, all kids get to lycée anyway. The Brevet has become no more than a symbolic rite of passage.

In their last year of collège – troisième, pupils choose the lycée they want to go to. Most students go straight to their local lycée (Lycée d’Enseignement Général) to study for the Baccalauréat, or ‘bac’ – the French school-leaving diploma.

Students of a less academic and more technical nature can choose to go to a Lycée Technique or a Lycée Professionnel where they can study anything from mechanical engineering and electronics right through to secretarial studies or catering. Both of these lycées offer a more vocational approach to learning. Students must do regular work placements and a major part of their final Baccaleauréat exam is of a practical, rather than an academic nature. For example, students studying catering must make and serve a meal to their examiners.

It is also in troisième that pupils can choose from the long, diverse and confusing list of extra options available at lycée. Some options are optional but some are compulsory. Many lycées offer filières renforcées, i.e. the opportunity for students to take extra classes in their best subjects. Two of the most popular filières are the Sections Européennes and the Classes Bilingues. In the former, pupils can study another subject in their chosen foreign language, for example, history lessons may be given in English. In the classes bilingues, they get a couple of hours extra tuition in a foreign language each week.

Students in troisième can also choose to opt for apprenticeship: instead of a lycée, they will go to the local Centre de Formation d’Apprentis and study for a certificate, the CAP – Certificat d’Apprentissge Professionnel. CAPs are available in everything from hairdressing and plumbing through to panel beating and photography.

LYCEE / SECONDARY SCHOOL

Pupils attend lycée from the ages of 15 to 18. There are three years: seconde, première and terminale. Class sizes vary, but the national authorised maximum is 36. Some lycées (and collèges) still have school on Saturday mornings.

The first year of lycée is the seconde générale. Whatever direction the pupil has chosen for his or her studies, he or she will spend the first year of lycée getting to grips with this new part of the secondary system. This is a very important year in educational and psychological terms. It gives the pupil time to make the difficult transition from collège and come to terms with new ways of working. If a student can get through collège with good marks from simply learning by heart, at lycée he or she is expected to begin to apply the theory. This is where many kids come unstuck. They suddenly realise that they don’t actually understand what they were asked to simply regurgitate at collège.

The seconde is also the first time that pupils are expected to think for themselves and rely on their individual strengths. This can be hard when, since the maternelle, it has been drummed into them that while autonomy is a good thing, they are first and foremost group members and not individuals.

In a Lycée d’Enseignement Général there are three standard bacs on offer: Bac S –scientifique (maths and science): Bac L – littéraire (modern languages, philosophy) and Bac ES – économique et social (economics / business studies and maths).

At a Lycée Technique or a Lycée professionnelle two different bacs are on offer: Bac STT – sciences et techniques du tertiaire (secretarial and accountancy) or Bac STI – sciences et techniques industrielles (mechanical engineering and electronics).

The pass rate for the bac is edging towards the 90% level every year. All students with the bac have the right to go to university. There is no selection system, no clearing and students merely turn up at the university of their choice in early July and enrol. Apart from the enrolment fee of around €150, university is free.

CURRICULUM

France has a national curriculum. From Calais to Calvi, all students are taught more or less the same subjects in the same way (teacher training is also highly standardised). As previously mentioned, there is no form of religious or moral instruction. Recently however, citizenship was introduced at collège level.

The study of a foreign language, mainly English, begins in the last year of primary school. In the third year of collège (quatrième) pupils are asked to select a second foreign language. The choice is normally between Spanish and German, though other languages, including regional ones, are available.

In lycée, pupils can opt for the Sections Européennes or Classes Bilingues where they get teaching of other subjects in their first foreign language or extra classes in that language. The range of languages available varies and these special sections or classes are not available at every lycée. A full list can be found on the Éducation Nationale website

ASSESSMENT

There are no end-of-term exams and no regular national tests nor school league tables as such. Pupils are regularly assessed or tested by their individual teachers. At the end of the school year each pupil is given his or her average mark out of 20. If it is 10 or over, the pupil can go on to the next year. If it is below 10, there is a reasonable chance that the student will redouble, i.e. do the entire year again.

The French education system offers no real rewards for students who excel in any particular discipline. The prime objective of all students is to attain and maintain the pass mark of 10 right through their time in school. It is rather like playing Monopoly. The object every year is to get round the board, without going to prison.
Higher Education
In France, anyone with a Baccalauréat has the right to go to university, much in the same way as passing your driving test allows you on to the road. Like the rest of the French system, university is non-selective. Future students simply turn up at their local university when they have their Baccalauréat results and enrol on their chosen course. The total absence of any selection procedure means that some courses can be heavily over-subscribed. On the first day of teaching on some courses, it is not uncommon for students to queue hours before the lecture to get a place in the lecture hall – amphithéatre. Any selection in the first year at university is of the ‘natural’ variety. At the start of the second year, on the more popular courses, as many as half of the students may have dropped out.

Traditionally in France, maths and science have been the popular subjects. In France if you are good at maths you can go anywhere and do anything. In recent years, students have moved away from these subjects and preferred to study law, psychology or arts subjects. Medicine is still a popular option. Last year, in one medical faculty, there were 800 students in the first year. In the light of such heavy student numbers, some universities have simply transformed the end of first-year exams into second-year entrance exams.

Apart from the yearly enrolment fee, university is free. For financial reasons, as many students as possible try to go to their local university and live at home with their parents. Financial support in the form of a grant – bourse – is available for less well-off students. Grants are based on parental income. Even if there are no loans, this does not mean that many students don’t leave university with huge debts. Students get full health and social security cover, though they have to join one of the numerous government insurance schemes on offer.

In terms of student life, there is no Student’s Union as in Britain. Unions for students do exist, but they are purely of the political variety. If there is no Union as in Britain, this also means that there is no Union building and none of the Union social activities. Campus life in France is a fairly sad affair. Universities are sets of buildings for education, not communities as in other European countries.

Limited student accommodation is available on most campuses. There are also canteen-style restaurant facilities, but as with most French educational services, they are purely utilitarian, you can eat there, but you won’t get a social life. In larger cities, efforts have been made to group student facilities in off-campus, town centre sites.

L.M.D

Since 2004, the LMD – Licence, Maitrise, Doctorat programme – has replaced the old two-year diploma, the DEUG, and brought the French university system into line with other European countries.

Previously, students would study for a DEUG (Diplôme d’Etudes Universitaire Général) and eventually a Licence (a BA or BsC degree). The DEUG would be done over two years, and back in the days of full employment it was enough to get a job. As jobs got scarcer, many employers started to ask for full three-year degrees. Now that everybody seems to have a degree, many employers are asking for a postgraduate Masters (MA or MsC)

University studies now work in terms of semesters. The standard degree course takes six semesters (1 to 6). The Masters takes two years (semesters 7 to 10) and the doctorate takes the time it takes.

OTHER FORMS OF HIGHER EDUCATION

Not all youngsters make it to university. Many who have done vocational Baccalauéats attend their local IUT (Institut Universitaire de Téchnologie). These establishments are a cross between polytechnics and technical colleges. They offer courses in everything from manufacturing science to secretarial studies. Many IUTs also offer management or business studies courses.

All courses are vocational and run over two years. The final diplomas (DUT – Diplôme Universitaire Technique) or BTS (Brevet de Technicien Supérieur) entitle the students to enrol in the third year of a degree course and eventually go on to Masters.

Graduates from IUTs have better employment prospects than their university counterparts. Firstly because of the more practical content of their course and secondly thanks to how they are taught – vocational, hands-on teaching with as much time on the shop floor and the workplace as in the classroom.

It is a widely-held belief in France that the university system produces nothing but future teachers, while IUTs produce future engineers.

The last form of higher education in France is the system of Grandes Écoles. The first of these were founded by Napoléon. He set up a system of academies to train an elite band of civil servants to administer his empire. The idea caught on, and nowadays there are many grandes écoles churning out future politicians, future generals, future CEOs and just plain old engineers, all ready to take their place in the vanguard of French society and the highest echelons of French industry.

Do not look for a direct equivalent in any other European country. There isn’t one. Grandes écoles are typically French. They only take the best. Getting into one is not easy. Each school has its own entrance exam and to prepare for the various exams for different establishments, future candidates first endure two years of Classes Préparatoires just after their Baccalauréat. For these two years, students do nothing but work until they drop or crack up. If they survive, they then spend two gruelling months travelling around France sitting as many grandes écoles’ entrance exams as is humanly or logistically possible.

A good diploma from a grande école is a meal ticket for life. Many of our current race of French politicians are graduates from such establishments (Polytechnique or the ENA – École Nationale d’Administration). Future CEOs tend to come from the Haute École de Commerce (HEC) and scientists and technocrats from the Arts et Métiers or École des Mines or Ponts et Chaussées.

ALTERNATIVES TO STATE EDUCATION

If the idea of standardisation leaves you cold; if the absence of moral and religious teaching leaves you aghast and angry; if your children are already in the system and experiencing difficulties… don’t worry, there are alternatives to the state system.

The most popular alternative is the private system of ‘religious’ fee-paying schools. The education you get depends on the school you choose. Private schools in France are normally run and administered by the local diocese. They offer the same curriculum and teaching as state schools. Teaching staff at private schools are paid by the state, but unlike teachers in state education they have no job security and are paid less. The private sector often attracts lower calibre teaching staff. The majority of private schools seeks to give value for money, by keeping pupils’ noses to the grindstone. This is fine, because many parents measure the quality of the school by the quantity of work given.

Finally, it is as well to be aware that the private system is often used as a dumping ground for the hard cases state education cannot handle. You might be paying for your offspring’s education, but this does not guarantee that they will not end up sitting next to a psycho.

Home schooling is another alternative. While it may have some merit, it probably handicaps children by cutting them off from the outside world and it certainly does nothing for their foreign language acquisition.

If home schooling is your chosen option, have a good read of the ‘Code Civil’ beforehand, especially law n° 98-1865, which enforces compulsory registration of your children at the local mairie and regular home visits by state education inspectors. Refusal to comply with these regulations can result in a hefty fine and/or a six-month prison sentence. The law also specifies the subjects which a home-educated child must study including: the French language (spoken and written); the principles of mathematics and one foreign language. In addition, children are also expected to be able to: prove reasoning ability; devise a plan of work etc. Basically your kids will be expected to have the same knowledge and progress of their counterparts in the state sector. Home educators beware, state education tolerates any competition very badly.

If home schooling all sounds a bit too much like hard work, there are many alternative schools available. The most well-known are perhaps the Montessori schools.

Dr Maria Montessori was a late 19th-/ early 20th-century Italian educationalist. She reckoned that children could learn more from each other and their direct environment than from books. She also thought that children should be happy at school. To this end, there are no textbooks in Montessori schools. Children are grouped into generational family-style groups, rather than formal classes. The emphasis seems to be on making the individual child aware of his or her place in world and giving him or her the tools to learn from that world.

In the same vein, there are also Steiner schools. Rudolf Steiner was a late 19th-century German social scientist. Much of his educational philosophy is based on the development of the individual and that individual’s ability to take up a place in society based on their personal strengths and weaknesses.

Most of the instruction in both types of school is carried out in French and English. Their educational philosophy and linguistic approach make them interesting and appealing alternatives to state education. However, most Montessori or Steiner schools are located in Paris or in the South of France. Even if geographical proximity is not a problem, the fees can certainly be very dissuasive. Whereas crèche fees may be tax-deductible because a Crèche is a recognised state structure, these alternative schools are not recognised by the state, therefore there is no tax break.

Full details of Montessori or Steiner methods or schools can be found on the web. See addresses below.

Needless to say, all such establishments must adhere strictly to French Education Ministry guidelines, in terms of health, safety and curriculum. Such establishments will be regularly inspected by ministry officials.

PROBLEMS

French education is a good-quality, standardised, centralised product. Beware though,,the system can be wrong for some children, especially if they are not French. French education is all based around the group. It is all about ‘fitting-in’. Kids are never asked or expected to think for themselves, though they are supposed to be able to work on their own. If your child displays the slightest trait of individualism, he or she might even end up at the educational psychologist.

Children brought up in bilingual,households may have particular problems. Two languages means two parents of different cultures and therefore two ways of doing things. There are many cases of children from Anglo/French or Franco/American families whose children have been dragged round child psychologists, educational therapists and special needs teachers since they were four. Too many teachers cast themselves in the role of social engineers whose role is to create a new generation of little republicans.

Web GuideFrench Education

www.education.gouv.fr
www.education.fr
www.France-education.fr
www.cndp.fr/spinoo

Montessori Schools / their philosophy

www.montessoirenfrance.free.fr
www.montessori-france.asso.fr
www.montessoir.com
www.montessori.edu
www.vive-l-enfance.fr

Steiner Schools / their philosophy

www.steiner.waldorf.org
www.ecoleperceval.com

General / home-schooling

www.lesenfantsdabord.org
http://ecolesdifferentes.free.fr
www.worldzone.net/lifestyles/homeducation
www.membres.lycos.fr
www.eeip.free.fr

French Education

www.education.gouv.fr
www.education.fr
www.France-education.fr
www.cndp.fr/spinoo

General

www.educationplanet.com

Parents wishing a full list of alternative educational establishments can write to:
Agence Informations Enfance
23 Rue Zola – 93400 Saint-Ouen
Tel: 01 49 45 11 48 /

© Nick Rowswell

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