France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, secondary education is in two stages: * ''Collèges'' () cater for the first four years of

secondary education Secondary education is the education level following primary education and preceding tertiary education. Level 2 or ''lower secondary education'' (less commonly ''junior secondary education'') is considered the second and final phase of basic e ...

from the ages of 11 to 14. * ''Lycées'' () provide a three-year course of further secondary education for students between the ages of 15 and 19. Pupils are prepared for the ''

baccalauréat The ''baccalauréat'' (; ), often known in France colloquially as the ''bac'', is a French national academic qualification that students can obtain at the completion of their secondary education (at the end of the ''lycée'') by meeting certain ...

'' (; baccalaureate, colloquially known as ''bac'', previously ''bachot''), which can lead to higher education studies or directly to professional life. There are three main types of ''baccalauréat'': the ''baccalauréat général'', ''baccalauréat technologique'' and ''baccalauréat professionnel''.

School year

The school year starts in early September and ends in early July. Metropolitan French school holidays are scheduled by the

Ministry of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...

by dividing the country into three zones (A, B, and C) to prevent overcrowding by family holidaymakers of

tourist Tourism is travel for pleasure, and the commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as being limited to holiday activity on ...

destinations, such as the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

coast and ski resorts.

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

, for example, is in zone A,

Marseille Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...

is in zone B and

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

and

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( ; ; Gascon language, Gascon ; ) is a city on the river Garonne in the Gironde Departments of France, department, southwestern France. A port city, it is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the Prefectures in F ...

are in zone C. In contrast to the practice in most other education systems, the school years in France are numbered on a decreasing scale. Thus, pupils begin their secondary education in the ''sixième'' (6th class) and transfer to a ''lycée'' in the ''seconde'' (2nd class). The final year is the ''terminale''. In French, the word ''étudiant(e)'' is usually reserved for

university A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

-level students, and ''collège'' and ''lycée'' students are referred to as ''élèves'' (''pupils'' or ''students'' in English). The curriculum (''programme officiel'') is standardized for all French public institutions. Changes to the programme are made every year by the French Ministry of Education and are published in the Ministry's ''Bulletin officiel de l'Éducation nationale'' (''BO''), the official reference bulletin for educators.

Collège

The collège is the first level of

in the

French educational system Education in France is organized in a highly centralized manner, with many subdivisions. It is divided into the three stages of primary education (''enseignement primaire''), secondary education (''enseignement secondaire''), and higher educat ...

. A pupil attending ''collège'' is called ''collégien'' (boy) or ''collégienne'' (girl). Men and women teachers at the ''collège''- and ''lycée''-level are called ''professeur'' (no official feminine professional form exists in

although the feminine form "professeure" has appeared and seems to be gaining some ground in usage). The City of Paris refers to a collège in English as a "

high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...

".Children & families
."
Archive
City of Paris. Retrieved on 20 July 2010. Entry in ''sixième'' occurs directly after the last year of

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...

, called ''Cours moyen deuxième année'' (CM2). There is no entrance examination into ''collège'', but administrators have established a comprehensive academic examination of students starting in ''sixième''. The purpose of the examination is evaluating pupils' level on being graduated from primary school.

Curriculum

The table at the right details the French curriculum. Along with 3-4 weekly hours of

physical education Physical education is an academic subject taught in schools worldwide, encompassing Primary education, primary, Secondary education, secondary, and sometimes tertiary education. It is often referred to as Phys. Ed. or PE, and in the United Stat ...

, a typical school week consists of some 26 hours of schooling.

French language French ( or ) is a Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European family. Like all other Romance languages, it descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire. French evolved from Northern Old Gallo-R ...

and

literature Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, Play (theatre), plays, and poetry, poems. It includes both print and Electroni ...

occupy the most time, 4-5 hours per week, followed by 4 hours per week of

mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...

; other subjects occupy 1-3.5 hours per week. The curriculum is devised by the French Ministry of National Education and applies to all ''collèges'' in France and also for AEFE-dependent institutions. ''Académies'' and individual schools have little margin for curriculum customisation. Teachers compose

syllabi A syllabus (; : syllabuses or syllabi) or specification is a document that communicates information about an academic course or class and defines expectations and responsibilities. It is generally an overview or summary of the curriculum. A sylla ...

per precise government educational regulations and choose

textbook A textbook is a book containing a comprehensive compilation of content in a branch of study with the intention of explaining it. Textbooks are produced to meet the needs of educators, usually at educational institutions, but also of learners ( ...

s accordingly, and every major French publishing house has a textbook branch.

Process and purpose

Usually a different ''professeur'' or teacher teaches each subject; most teachers teach several different age groups. ''Collège'' pupils stay in the same class throughout the school year and in every subject (except for optional courses such as foreign languages, where students from several classes mix), so each year-group is divided into as many classes as necessary. The strong belief in teaching in mixed-ability classes means that streaming occurs only rarely. Class sizes vary from school to school, but usually range from 20 to 35 pupils. Each class has a ''professeur principal'' (main teacher or class tutor) who acts as the link between the teaching staff, administration and pupils. Ultimately, the ''collège'' has the task of preparing students for the advanced subjects of the ''lycée''. At the end of the ''troisième'' class, students sit for ''le diplôme national du brevet'', an end-of-''collège'' examination. The ''brevet'' is not required for entrance to the ''lycée'', and passing it does not guarantee that a pupil will progress to the higher-level school. During the last ''conseil de classe'' of the year, held in June, teachers and administrators decide whether or not a pupil can progress to the next grade. In deciding, they evaluate the student's

skills A skill is the learned or innate ability Abilities are powers an agent has to perform various Action (philosophy), actions. They include common abilities, like walking, and rare abilities, like performing a double backflip. Abilities are in ...

, participation, and

behaviour Behavior (American English) or behaviour (British English) is the range of actions of Individual, individuals, organisms, systems or Artificial intelligence, artificial entities in some environment. These systems can include other systems or or ...

. One of three outcomes is possible: # The student progresses to the next grade. # His or her ''redoublement'' (repeating the year) can be required. # He or she can, in specific cases, be offered to skip a grade and be promoted two grades. A student asked to repeat a grade can

appeal In law, an appeal is the process in which Legal case, cases are reviewed by a higher authority, where parties request a formal change to an official decision. Appeals function both as a process for error correction as well as a process of cla ...

said decision. The decision of the appeals council is final.

Lycée

The ''lycée'' () is the second and last stage of

in the

. The City of Paris refers to a lycée in English as a "

sixth form college A sixth form college (pre-university college in Malaysia) is an educational institution, where students aged 16 to 19 study typically for advanced post-school level qualifications such as GCE Advanced Level, A Levels, Business and Technology Edu ...

". A pupil attending a ''lycée'' is a ''lycéen'' (masculine) or a ''lycéenne'' (feminine). Until 1959, the term ''lycée'' designated a secondary school with a full curriculum (seven years, the present college + lycée) directly under the supervision of the state, then from 1959 to 1963 any secondary school with a full curriculum. Older ''lycées'' still include a ''collège'' section, so a pupil attending a ''lycée'' may actually be a ''collégien''. At the end of the final year of schooling, most students take the

diploma. There are three main types of ''baccalauréat'', which are completely different from each other: the ''baccalauréat général'' (general baccalaureate), the ''baccalauréat technologique'' (technological baccalaureate), and the ''baccalauréat professionnel'' (professional baccalaureate). ''Lycées'' are divided into (i) the ''lycée général'', leading to two or more years of post–baccalauréat studies, (ii) the ''lycée technologique'', leading to short-term studies, and (iii) the ''lycée professionnel'', a vocational qualification leading directly to a particular career. General and technological education courses are provided in "standard" ''lycées'', while vocational courses are provided in separate professional ''lycées''. In practice, competent pupils at a vocational ''lycée professionnel'' can also apply to take short-term, post–baccalauréat studies leading to the ''Brevet de technicien supérieur'' (BTS), a vocational qualification. That option is available also to pupils at a ''lycée général''.

Lycée général and lycée technologique

General streams (''baccalauréat général'')

In France, the ''lycée général'' is the usual stepping stone to

degrees. Before 2021, the students of the general baccalaureate chose one of three streams (termed ''séries'') in the penultimate ''

lycée In France, secondary education is in two stages: * ''Collèges'' () cater for the first four years of secondary education from the ages of 11 to 14. * ''Lycées'' () provide a three-year course of further secondary education for students between ...

'' year (S for Sciences; ES for Economics and Social sciences; and L for Literature). During the ''seconde'', students mostly take the same courses, despite having different academic skills and interests, so it is usually thought to be an easier year than either the ''première'' or the ''terminale''. The ''baccalauréat général'' examination is different for all three ''séries'', and subjects are weighted according to the course taken. According to the official statistics, for the 2003–2004 school year, 33 percent of all students chose ''série S''; 19 percent chose ''série ES''; and 11 percent chose ''série L''. tp://trf.education.gouv.fr/pub/edutel/dpd/rers2004/chap4_12.pdf official statistics/ref> All students take

philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

courses in ''terminale'', while

classes end in the ''première'', excepting the ''série L'', where they become

French literature French literature () generally speaking, is literature written in the French language, particularly by French people, French citizens; it may also refer to literature written by people living in France who speak traditional languages of Franc ...

classes, where pupils are to study two books during the year, from French writers, or foreign books translated into French (e.g. ''

Romeo and Juliet ''The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet'', often shortened to ''Romeo and Juliet'', is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare about the romance between two young Italians from feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's ...

'' during the school year 2007–2008, or '' The Leopard'' from Italian author Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa). There also is a required option for further specialisation in all ''séries'', although it is restricted to the chosen course. For example, a student in ''série S'' can choose to specialise in

physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...

, " ''SVT'' (

biology Biology is the scientific study of life and living organisms. It is a broad natural science that encompasses a wide range of fields and unifying principles that explain the structure, function, growth, History of life, origin, evolution, and ...

and

geology Geology (). is a branch of natural science concerned with the Earth and other astronomical objects, the rocks of which they are composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Earth ...

) or "

engineering Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...

sciences" but not in

. A student in ''série L'' can choose to specialise in one of his or her foreign languages (English being the most popular), a third foreign language or a dead language such as Latin, or one of the following arts: music, theatre, circus, " plastiques". Specialisation adds a separate, weekly two-hour class in the chosen discipline; also, it increases the weight of the chosen subject at the ''baccalauréat''. The

syllabus A syllabus (; : syllabuses or syllabi) or specification is a document that communicates information about an Academy, academic course or class and defines expectations and responsibilities. It is generally an overview or summary of the curriculum. ...

in the specialisation class is unrelated to the material learned in the common class. Specialisation plays no role in the choice of a post–secondary career or subject at

, except for a few courses aimed for students from a given ''série'' that can also accept students from other ''séries'' if they have taken a given specialisation. Starting from the 2020-21 academic year, the S, ES and L streams of the general baccalaureate are deleted. Students of the general baccalaureate now choose three specialty courses, then keep two in the final year. There are 12 specialties (that vary in their availability depending on the school):

arts The arts or creative arts are a vast range of human practices involving creativity, creative expression, storytelling, and cultural participation. The arts encompass diverse and plural modes of thought, deeds, and existence in an extensive ...

ecology Ecology () is the natural science of the relationships among living organisms and their Natural environment, environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community (ecology), community, ecosystem, and biosphere lev ...

history History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

geography Geography (from Ancient Greek ; combining 'Earth' and 'write', literally 'Earth writing') is the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. Geography is an all-encompassing discipline that seeks an understanding o ...

humanities Humanities are academic disciplines that study aspects of human society and culture, including Philosophy, certain fundamental questions asked by humans. During the Renaissance, the term "humanities" referred to the study of classical literature a ...

languages Language is a structured system of communication that consists of grammar and vocabulary. It is the primary means by which humans convey meaning, both in spoken and signed forms, and may also be conveyed through writing. Human language is ch ...

computer science Computer science is the study of computation, information, and automation. Computer science spans Theoretical computer science, theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, and information theory) to Applied science, ...

chemistry Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies the chemical elements that make up matter and chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules a ...

economic An economy is an area of the Production (economics), production, Distribution (economics), distribution and trade, as well as Consumption (economics), consumption of Goods (economics), goods and Service (economics), services. In general, it is ...

and

social sciences Social science (often rendered in the plural as the social sciences) is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of society, societies and the Social relation, relationships among members within those societies. The term was former ...

, engineering sciences,

. These specialties are added to a part common to all: French,

sciences Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...

sport Sport is a physical activity or game, often Competition, competitive and organization, organized, that maintains or improves physical ability and skills. Sport may provide enjoyment to participants and entertainment to spectators. The numbe ...

. A large part of the examinations are now done over the school year but the students also have final exams in their 2 specialties as well as in philosophy, added to a general oral examination.

Technical streams (''baccalauréat technologique'')

After the ''seconde'', students can also go on the ''lycée technologique'' to obtain the ''baccalaureat technologique.'' It includes eight other streams, called ''séries technologiques'': * ''sciences et technologies de la gestion'' (Management Sciences and Technologies, ''STG'') (replaced ''sciences et technologies tertiaires'' (Service Sciences and Technologies, ''STT'') for the June 2007 Bac Exam) * ''sciences et technologies de l'industrie et du développement durable'' (Industrial Science and Technologies and sustainable development, ''STI2D'') * ''sciences et technologies de laboratoire'' (Laboratory Science and Technologies, ''STL'') * ''sciences médico-sociales'' (Health and Social Sciences, ''SMS''): The name was changed in 2007 and became: ''Sciences et technologies de la santé et du social'' (Sciences and Technologies in Health and Social, ''ST2S'') * ''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'' (Hotel and restaurants management) The STPA and STAE stream are available only in ''lycées agricoles'', speciality schools for

agricultural sciences Agricultural science (or agriscience for short) is a broad multidisciplinary field of biology that encompasses the parts of exact, natural, economic and social sciences that are used in the practice and understanding of agriculture. Professiona ...

. The teaching of the lessons is based on inductive reasoning and experimentation. It allows you to work or to pursue short and technical studies (laboratory, design and applied arts, hotel and restaurant, management etc.).

Lycée professionnel

The ''lycée professionnel'' leads to the ''baccalauréat professionnel''. The courses are designed for students who do not plan to continue into higher education. The vocational training is for craftspeople and involves internships in commercial enterprises. The courses are suitable for students who are more interested in a hands-on educational approach than in academic schooling. There are nearly 100 specialties, including: Leather crafts; Building technician; Maintenance of industrial equipment; Cooking; Road freight transport driver; Butcher, etc and others.

Carte scolaire

French parents are not free to choose the state school that their children will attend; unless the children have special learning needs, they will attend the school allocated to them by the ''carte scolaire'' (school map). Reasons for attending a state school that is not their nearest include studying an option unavailable in the school to which they were originally assigned (e.g. a rare foreign language). For many reasons, many parents consider the allocated school standards inadequate, the teaching poor, and particularly if they do not like the idea of their children mixing with some of the other pupils at the school. In any city, there are "better" lycées and collèges, which parents would prefer their children attend. The two main methods used in such circumstances to get children into a school other than their assigned school are : * paying for private schooling; * having the child choose an unusual option (e.g. Ancient Greek or Latin) available only in the preferred school. A similar trick is used if some classes in a school are seen as "better" than others. For organisational reasons, students taking certain options are grouped into special classes, which may be academically attractive. They typically include classes taking German as a first foreign language, or Latin or Ancient Greek as options.

Outside France

References

External links

French Ministry of Education (in French)

''Centre national de documentation pédagogique'' website (in French)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Secondary Education In France Education in France

Secondary schools in France