French School System Part 1
I really hope every question will be answered now....
Wikipedia.com
The
French educational system is highly centralized, organized, and ramified. It is divided into three stages:
- primary education (enseignement primaire);
- secondary education (enseignement secondaire);
- tertiary or college education (enseignement supérieur)
Primary and secondary education is predominantly public (private schools also exist, in particular a strong nationwide network of primary and secondary Catholic education), while tertiary education has both public and private elements.
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 calendar is standardized 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 is 2 September. The year ends on 4 July.
In French overseas departments and territories], the school calendar is set by the local
recteur.
Major holiday breaks are as follows:
- All Saints (la Toussaint), one and a half weeks around the end of October and the beginning of November;
- Christmas (Noël), two weeks around Christmas Day and New Year's Day;
- winter (hiver), two weeks starting in mid-February;
- spring (printemps), two weeks starting in mid-April;
- summer (été), two months starting in early-July.
All 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 one or two weeks to prevent families from crowding up in popular destinations such as ski and seashore resorts.
Primary education
Maternelle (
Kindergarten)
Age 3 - Petite section - PS
4 - Moyenne section - MS
5 - Grande section - GS
École primaire (
Primary school)
Age 6 - Cours préparatoire - CP
7 - Cours élémentaire première année - CE1
8 - Cours élémentaire deuxième année - CE2
9 - Cours moyen première année - CM1
10 - Cours moyen deuxième année - CM2
Schooling in France is mandatory as of age 6, the first year of primary school. Many parents start sending their children earlier though, around age 3 as kindergarten classes (
maternelle) are usually affiliated to a borough's primary school. Some even start earlier at age 2 in
pré-maternelle classes, which are essentially daycare centres. The last year of
maternelle,
grande section is an important 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 year (
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 two) who instructs in many different disciplines, such as French, mathematics, natural sciences, history and geography to name a few (the latter two are seldom separated). Note that the French word for a teacher at the primary school level is
instituteur, or its feminine form
institutrice.
Religious instruction is not supplied by public schools.
Laïcité (a term referring to the separation of church and state) is one of the main 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 March2004 ruling, the French government banned all "conspicuous religious symbols" from schools and other public institutions with the intent of preventing proselitization and to foster a sense of tolerance among ethnic groups. The law was not welcomed by all though, and some religious and libertarian groups showed their opposition saying the law hindered the freedom of religion, as protected by the French constitution.
Secondary education
Collège (
Junior high school)
Age 11 - Sixième - 6e
12 - Cinquième - 5e
13 - Quatrième - 4e
14 - Troisième - 3e
Lycée (
High school)
Age 15 Seconde - 2de
16 Première - 1e
17 Terminale - Term
French secondary education is divided into two schools:
- the collège (somewhat comparable to U.S. junior high school) for the first four years directly following primary school;
- the lycée (comparable to a U.S. high school) for the next three years.
The completion of secondary studies leads to the
baccalauréat.
Baccalauréat
For more details on this topic, see Baccalauréat. The
baccalauréat (also 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 British A-Levels, American SATs, the Irish Leaving Certificate and 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, the
série économique et sociale (ES) with economics and social sciences, and the
série littéraire (L) focuses on French and foreign languages and philosophy.
There is also the
baccalauréat technologique and
baccalauréat professionel.
End of Part 1
