Secondary education in France
Template:Short description Template:Citations needed
In France, secondary education is in two stages:
- Template:Lang (Template:IPA) cater for the first four years of secondary education from the ages of 11 to 14.
- Template:Lang (Template:IPA) provide a three-year course of further secondary education for students between the ages of 15 and 19 (although some Template:Lang host higher education courses like CPGE or BTS). Pupils are prepared for the Template:Lang (Template:IPA; baccalaureate, colloquially known as Template:Lang, previously Template:Lang), which can lead to higher education studies or directly to professional life. There are three main types of Template:Lang: the Template:Lang, Template:Lang and Template:Lang.
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 by dividing the country into three zones (A, B, and C) to prevent overcrowding by family holidaymakers of tourist destinations, such as the Mediterranean coast and ski resorts. Lyon, for example, is in zone A, Marseille is in zone B and Paris and Bordeaux 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 Template:Lang (6th class) and transfer to a Template:Lang in the Template:Lang (2nd class). The final year is the Template:Lang.
In French, the word Template:Lang is usually reserved for university-level students, and Template:Lang and Template:Lang students are referred to as Template:Lang ('pupils' or 'students' in English).
The curriculum (Template:Lang) 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 Template:Lang (BO), the official reference bulletin for educators.
Collège
| Age | Name | Abbreviation |
|---|---|---|
| 11–12 | Template:Lang | 6e |
| 12–13 | Template:Lang | 5e |
| 13–14 | Template:Lang | 4e |
| 14–15 | Template:Lang | 3e |
The collège is the first level of secondary education in the French educational system. A pupil attending Template:Lang is called Template:Lang (boy) or Template:Lang (girl). Men and women teachers at the Template:Lang- and Template:Lang-level are called Template:Lang (no official feminine professional form exists in France although the feminine form Template:Lang has appeared and seems to be gaining some ground in usage). The City of Paris refers to a Template:Lang in English as a "high school".<ref name="Parisschools">"Children & families Template:Webarchive." (Archive) City of Paris. Retrieved on 20 July 2010.</ref>
Entry in Template:Lang occurs directly after the last year of primary school, called Template:Lang (CM2). There is no entrance examination into Template:Lang, but administrators have established a comprehensive academic examination of students starting in Template:Lang. The purpose of the examination is evaluating pupils' level on being graduated from primary school. Template:Clear
Curriculum
| Subject | Remarks | Starting in |
|---|---|---|
| Humanities and languages | ||
| French Language and Literature | Features French and translated foreign works; concentrates on grammar and spelling | 6e |
| History and Geography | French-based, but includes foreign history and geography | 6e |
| A first foreign language1 | Known as Template:Lang (LV1) | 6e |
| A second foreign language1 or a French regional language | Template:Lang (LV2) | 6e or 5e |
| Arts and crafts | 6e | |
| Musical education | 6e | |
| Civics | Template:Lang | 6e |
| 1Available foreign languages include: English, German, Arabic, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, and Russian; other languages available per locale. Most pupils study English as first foreign language, and Spanish, Italian or German as second foreign language. | ||
| Natural and applied sciences | ||
| Mathematics | 6e | |
| Biology and Geology | Template:Lang (SVT) | 6e |
| Technology | 6e | |
| Physics and Chemistry | 6e | |
| Compulsory courses | ||
| Physical Education | 6e | |
| Optional courses | ||
| Latin | 5e | |
| Ancient Greek | 3e | |
The table at the right details the French curriculum. Along with 3-4 weekly hours of physical education, a typical school week consists of some 26 hours of schooling. French language and literature occupy the most time, 4–5 hours per week, followed by 4 hours per week of mathematics; other subjects occupy 1-3.5 hours per week.
The curriculum is devised by the French Ministry of National Education and applies to all Template:Lang in France and also for AEFE-dependent institutions. Template:Lang and individual schools have little margin for curriculum customisation. Teachers compose syllabi per precise government educational regulations and choose textbooks accordingly, and every major French publishing house has a textbook branch.
Process and purpose
Usually a different Template:Lang or teacher teaches each subject; most teachers teach several different age groups. Template:Lang 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 Template:Lang ('main teacher' or 'class tutor') who acts as the link between the teaching staff, administration and pupils.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Ultimately, the Template:Lang has the task of preparing students for the advanced subjects of the Template:Lang. At the end of the Template:Lang class, students sit for Template:Lang, an end-of-Template:Lang examination. The Template:Lang is not required for entrance to the Template:Lang, and passing it does not guarantee that a pupil will progress to the higher-level school.
During the last Template:Lang 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, participation, and behaviour. One of three outcomes is possible:
- The student progresses to the next grade.
- Their Template:Lang (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 said decision. The decision of the appeals council is final. Template:Clr
Lycée
Template:Redirect The Template:Lang (Template:IPA) is the second and last stage of secondary education in the French educational system. The City of Paris refers to a Template:Lang in English as a "sixth form college".<ref name="Parisschools"/> A pupil attending a Template:Lang is a Template:Lang (masculine) or a Template:Lang (feminine).
Until 1959, the term Template:Lang designated a secondary school with a full curriculum (seven years, the present Template:Lang + Template:Lang) directly under the supervision of the state, then from 1959 to 1963 any secondary school with a full curriculum.<ref>Jean-Michel Chapoulie. Les professeurs de l'enseignement secondaire : Un métier de classe moyenne. 1 January 1987. Maison des Sciences de l'Homme. p3. Template:ISBN.</ref> Older Template:Lang still include a Template:Lang section,<ref>Perhaps the best known example is Paris's Template:Lang.</ref> so a pupil attending a Template:Lang may actually be a Template:Lang.
At the end of the final year of schooling, most students take the Template:Lang diploma. There are three main types of Template:Lang, which are completely different from each other: the Template:Lang (general baccalaureate), the Template:Lang (technological baccalaureate), and the Template:Lang (professional baccalaureate).
| Age | Name | Abbreviation |
|---|---|---|
| 15–16 | Template:Lang | 2de |
| 16–17 | Template:Lang | 1re |
| 17–18 | Template:Lang | Tle |
Template:Lang are divided into (i) the Template:Lang, leading to two or more years of post–Template:Lang studies, (ii) the Template:Lang, leading to short-term studies, and (iii) the Template:Lang, a vocational qualification leading directly to a particular career. General and technological education courses are provided in "standard" Template:Lang, while vocational courses are provided in separate professional Template:Lang.
In practice, competent pupils at a vocational Template:Lang can also apply to take short-term, post–Template:Lang studies leading to the Template:Lang (BTS), a vocational qualification. That option is available also to pupils at a Template:Lang.
General streams (Template:Lang)
In France, the Template:Lang is the usual stepping stone to university degrees.
Before 2021, the students of the general baccalaureate chose one of three streams (termed Template:Lang) in the penultimate Template:Lang year (S for Sciences; ES for Economics and Social sciences; and L for Literature). During the Template:Lang, 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 Template:Lang or the Template:Lang.
The Template:Lang examination is different for all three Template:Lang, and subjects are weighted according to the course taken.
| Stream | Description |
|---|---|
| S Template:Lang (sciences) |
The science stream (Template:Lang) requires a high level in mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, geology and, if available, engineering sciences and computer science. |
| ES Template:Lang (economics and social sciences) |
The Template:Lang (Template:Lang') requires a high level in economics and social courses of studies; also in mathematics, history and geography. |
| L Template:Lang (literature) |
The Template:Lang (Template:Lang) weighs French literature, philosophy, foreign languages and the arts heavily. Students in Template:Lang (Template:Lang or Template:Lang) have no maths and only a small amount of sciences unless they choose the 'maths' option. Students in Template:Lang (Template:Lang or Template:Lang) have no maths, physics and chemistry or biology unless they chose the 'maths' option in 1L. |
According to the official statistics, Template:As of, 33 percent of all students chose Template:Lang; 19 percent chose Template:Lang; and 11 percent chose Template:Lang.<ref>official statisticsTemplate:Dead linkTemplate:Cbignore</ref>
All students take philosophy courses in Template:Lang, while French language classes end in the Template:Lang, excepting the Template:Lang, where they become French literature 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 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 Template:Lang, although it is restricted to the chosen course. For example, a student in Template:Lang can choose to specialise in mathematics, physics, "Template:LangTemplate:-" (biology and geology) or "engineering sciences" but not in philosophy.
A student in Template:Lang can choose to specialise in one of their foreign languages (English being the most popular), a third foreign language or an extinct language such as Latin, or one of the following arts: music, theatre, circus, Template:Lang. Specialisation adds a separate, weekly two-hour class in the chosen discipline; also, it increases the weight of the chosen subject at the Template:Lang. The syllabus 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 university, except for a few courses aimed for students from a given Template:Lang that can also accept students from other Template:Lang if they have taken a given specialisation.
Starting from the 2020–21 academic year, the S, ES and L streams of the general Template:Lang were retired. Students of the general baccalaureate now choose three specialty courses, then keep two in the final year. There are 12 specialties, which vary in their availability depending on the school: arts, ecology, history & geography, humanities, languages, literature, mathematics, computer science, physics & chemistry, economic and social sciences, engineering sciences, biology & geology. These specialties are added to a part common to all: French, philosophy, history & geography, languages, sciences, sport. 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 (Template:Lang)
After the Template:Lang, students can also go on the Template:Lang to obtain the Template:Lang. It includes eight other streams, called Template:Lang:
- Template:Lang (Management Sciences and Technologies, STG — replaced Template:Lang (Service Sciences and Technologies, STT) for the June 2007 exam
- Template:Lang (Industrial Science and Technologies and sustainable development, STI2D)
- Template:Lang (Laboratory Science and Technologies, STL)
- Template:Lang (Health and Social Sciences, SMS): The name was changed in 2007 and became: Template:Lang (Sciences and Technologies in Health and Social, ST2S)
- Template:Lang (Food Science and Technologies, STPA)
- Template:Lang (Agronomy and Environment Science and Technologies, STAE)
- Template:Lang (Music and Dance Techniques, TMD)
- Template:Lang (Hospitality management)
The STPA and STAE stream are available only in Template:Lang, speciality schools for agricultural sciences.
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.).
The Template:Lang leads to the Template:Lang. 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.
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 Template:Lang (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, such as 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" Template:Lang and Template:Lang, 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
See also
- Template:Lang
- Template:Lang
- Education in France
- Agency for French Education Abroad
- French language education in Egypt
- Literary Commentary in the French Baccalaureate