Secondary education in France
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In France, secondary education is divided into two schools:
- the collège (IPA: Template:IPA) (somewhat comparable to U.S. junior high school) for the first four years directly following primary school;
- the lycée (IPA: Template:IPA) (comparable to a U.S. high school) for the next three years.
The completion of secondary studies leads to the baccalauréat (IPA: Template:IPA) (baccalaureate, also colloquially known as bac). The baccalauréat can lead to higher education studies or directly to professional life.
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Organization & Progress
French students usually spend seven years in French secondary schools, from age 11 to age 18. Both schools are usually in different buildings.
A French school year starts in early-September and ends in mid-June. Holidays are scheduled by the Ministry of Education. The country is divided into three zones (A through C) to prevent holidayers from crowding in major tourist spots such as the Mediterranean coastline and ski resorts. For example, Paris and Bordeaux are in zone C while Lyon is in zone A and Marseille in zone B.
Contrary to Anglo-Saxon systems that use increasing numerical grade names, the French secondary school system uses decreasing numerical grade names, which can lead anglophones to confusion. Therefore, grades go from sixième (the first year of collège) to terminale (the final year of lycée).
Another difference is the way students are called. In the French language the word for student (étudiant) is usually reserved for university-level persons. In collège and lycée therefore students are referred to as élèves, or in an English translation pupils.
The curricula in collège and lycée (referred to as le programme officiel) are standardized in all French public institutions. Changes to the programme are made year after year by the French Ministry of Education and are published in the Ministry's Bulletin Officiel de l'Éducation Nationale (BO), the official reference for educators.
Collège
| Collège (Junior high school) | ||
| Age | Grade | Abbreviation |
|---|---|---|
| 11 | Sixième | 6e |
| 12 | Cinquième | 5e |
| 13 | Quatrième | 4e |
| 14 | Troisième | 3e |
The collège is the first level of secondary education in the French educational system. It is very different and should therefore not be mistaken for or compared with Anglo-Saxon colleges.
A student attending collège is termed collégien or collégienne, in the feminine form. Teachers at the collège and lycée level are called professeur -- note there is no official feminine form in France.
Entry in sixième occurs directly after the last year of primary school, called cours moyen deuxième année (or CM2). There is no entry exam into collège but administrators have established a comprehensive test for students starting sixième. The purpose of the examination is to evaluate the student's level coming out of primary school.
Curriculum
| Subject | Remarks | Starting in |
|---|---|---|
| Humanities & Languages | ||
| French Language and Literature | Features both French and translated foreign works; focuses mostly on grammar and spelling | 6e |
| History & Geography | Mostly French-based but also includes some foreign history and geography | 6e |
| A first foreign language1 | Known as Première langue vivante étrangère, often reduced to LV1 | 6e |
| A second foreign language1 or a French regional language | Deuxième langue vivante étrangère or LV2 | 4e |
| Arts & Crafts | 6e | |
| Musical Education | 6e | |
| Civics | Known as Éducation civique, juridique et sociale or ECJS | 6e |
| 1Foreign languages available include: English, German, Arabic, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese and Russian. Other languages may be available, depending on locale. Almost all students take English as either first or second foreign language. | ||
| Natural & Applied Sciences | ||
| Mathematics | 6e | |
| Biology & Geology | Known as Sciences de la vie et de la Terre | 6e |
| Technology | 6e | |
| Physics & Chemistry | 5e | |
| Optional courses | ||
| Technology | Extra hours in smaller groups | 6e |
| Latin | 5e | |
| Ancient Greek | 3e | |
The curriculum is detailed in the table to the right.
Along with 3 to 4 hours of physical education every week, a typical week clocks in at about 26 school hours. French language and literature takes the most allocated time with 4 to 5 hours per week, followed by mathematics with 4 hours/week. The other subjects use between 1 and 3.5 hours every week.
The curriculum is devised by the French Ministry of National Education and applies for all public collèges in France and also for AEFE-dependent institutions. Académies and individual schools have very little latitude in terms of curriculum customisation. Teachers make their syllabi following these precise government regulations and choose textbooks accordingly. Every major French editing house has an education-oriented branch.
Find official program references on the Centre national de documentation pédagogique website
Process & Purpose
Each subject is usually taught by a different teacher and most professeurs teach different grade levels. Collège students sit with the same group of students throughout the year and in every subject (except in optional classes such as foreign languages, where students from several groups are often mixed). Students are therefore divided into as many groups (termed classe) as necessary in each grade. Class size varies from school to school but is usually between 20 and 35 students. Each classe has a head teacher (professeur principal) who acts as the link between the faculty, the administration and the students. Early in the school year, the students elect two student representatives (délégués) and two substitutes (suppléants) from their own classe. Their role is to represent the students at class council and to act as a link between the students and the head teacher. Teachers, administrators and the student representatives of each grade meet three times a year in a class council (conseil de classe). In these meetings are discussed the level of each student individually and of the class as a whole as well as matters of logistics and discipline inherent to the group of students.
Ultimately, the role of the collège is to prepare students for the advanced subjects of the lycée. At the end of troisième, students sit for le diplôme national du Brevet, an end-of-collège exam. Contrary to popular belief, the brevet is not required to enter the lycée nor does its passing guarantee a pupil will go on to the higher-level school.
During the last conseil de classe of the year (occurring normally in June) the teachers and administrators decide whether a student can move on to the following grade. In their decision, they evaluate the student's skills, participation and behaviour. Three outcomes are possible:
- the student can move on to the next grade;
- he/she can be required to start the grade over (redoublement);
- he/she can, in very specific cases, be offered to skip one grade and move directly two grades up.
A student asked to repeat a grade can go into an appeal process where the decision may be reviewed. The appeals council's decision is final.
Carte scolaire
Image:Lycee Rennes DSC08932.JPG French parents are not free to choose the public school that they their children will attend; these, unless they have special needs, will have to attend the school allocated to them by the school map (carte scolaire). Reasons for going to other public schools include taking an elective (say, some rare foreign language) that is not available in the local school.
Many parents consider their allocated school inadequate for a variety of reasons, most notably the "bad frequentation" of the school. This is especially the case in poorer neighbourhoods with immigrant populations. In a given city, there exists typically some "better" high schools that parents would prefer to use (typically built in the 19th century and located in the city centre).
The two main methods used in such circumstances are:
- paying for partly subsidized private schooling;
- having the child choose an elective (rare foreign language, ancient Greek, etc.) only available in one of the "better" schools.
A similar trick can be used in case there are "better" classes inside a given school: for ease of organization, students with certain electives will be grouped into some special classes, which may be attractive. Such elective choices typically include German as a first foreign language, and ancient Greek.
Lycée
| Lycée (High school) | ||
| Age | Grade | Abbreviation |
|---|---|---|
| 15 | Seconde | 2de |
| 16 | Première | 1e |
| 17 | Terminale | Term |
The lycée is the second and last level of secondary education in the French educational system. Graduating from a lycée leads to the baccalauréat degree.
The lycée can be compared to an Anglo-Saxon high school. One major difference between the two systems is the degree of freedom students have in choosing their courses. While in the U.S. or in Canada, students can virtually select courses à la carte, French students have to follow a certain number of core courses, with some additional electives.
Lycées are divided between lycée général, which leads towards more than two years of post-baccalaureate studies, the lycée technologique, which leads towards short studies, and lycée professionel, which leads directly towards professional life. General and technological streams are given at 'standard' lycées while professional streams are provided at separate professional lycées.
Famous lycées in Paris include: Lycée Henri IV and Lycée Louis-le-Grand.
Lycée général & technologique
In France, the lycée général is the usual stepping stone to university degrees. Seconde is a link-year during which students finalize their choice of stream (called a série) for the final two years. During seconde, all students have mostly the same courses even though they have different skills and interests. The year is therefore usually deemed easier than première and terminale.
General Streams
After seconde, most French students chose a general stream. In all streams some subjects have more hours in the student's timetable than others. The baccalauréat exam is different for all three séries and its subjects are weighed according to the student's stream.
| Streams | S scientifique (natural sciences) | ES économique et sociale (economics and social sciences) | L littéraire (literature) |
| Description | The natural sciences stream requires a high level in mathematics (which is very heavily weighed), physics & chemistry and biology. | The série ES is balanced between literary and scientific courses of studies, and students must take an economics and social sciences exam. | The série L weighs French language, history & geography and foreign languages heavily. It also includes a literature section. Students must sit for exams in one to three modern languages and also have the option of sitting for Latin, ancient Greek or both. |
According to 2003-2004 official statistics, 33% of students chose série S, 19% série ES while 11% picked série L.
In all streams, students have philosophy courses in terminale while French language classes end in première, except in série L where they become French literature classes.
There is also a required option for further specialization in all séries, although it is restricted to the chosen stream. For example, a student in série S can choose to specialize in mathematics but not in philosophy. Specialization adds a two-hour, separate class every week in the chosen discipline; it also increases the weight of said subject at the baccalauréat. The syllabus in the specialization class has no relation with the material learned in the common class. Specialization is an important step when choosing a post-secondary career or subject at university and especially for admission to a classe préparatoire (CPGE).
Technological Streams
The lycée includes eight other streams, called séries technologiques:
- sciences et technologies tertiaires (Service Sciences and Technologies, STT)
- sciences et technologies industrielles (Industrial Science and Technolgies, STI)
- sciences et technologies de laboratoire (Laboratory Science and Technologies, STL)
- sciences médico-sociales (Health and Social Sciences, SMS)
- sciences et technologies du produit agroalimentaire (Food Science and Technologies, STPA)
- sciences et technologies de l'agronomie et de l'environnement (Agronomy and Environment Science and Technologies, STAE)
- techniques de la musique et de la danse (Music and Dance Techniques, TMD)
- hôtellerie
The STPA stream is only available in lycées agricoles, speciality schools for agricultural sciences.
Lycée professionel
The Lycée Professionnel leads to several different professional diplomas in all fields. The students enrolled here are not planning on getting a higher education. It is based on vocational training and internships in companies and with craftsmen. It is a good track for those students more interested in a 'hands on' approach than in academic learning.
The first diploma, the CAP is prepared during 2 years. It usually prepares a student for a very specific job: carpenter, childcare provider, seamstress... It is the easiest diploma to obtain, hence the weakest students follow this track.
The second diploma, the BEP is prepared during 3 years after the college. It leads to a professional qualification in a specific field, such as 'restaurant industry', 'metallurgy', etc. It is more difficult than a CAP. Some students who have a CAP choose to continue on with a BEP.
The final diploma is the Baccalaureat Professionnel. It is the highest professional qualification available. It can be prepared during 3 years after the college, but most students get a BEP first and then continue to a Bac Professionnel.
The main problem is while there are many tracks to choose from some are more popular than others. There is a selection process at the entrance and the weakest students often are assigned to a track that they did not choose.
French Secondary Education Outside France
Main article: Agence pour l'Enseignement Français à l'Etranger