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Secondary education in France - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Secondary education in France

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In France, secondary education is in two stages:

collges (French pronunciation: [kl]) cater for the
first four years of secondary education from the ages of
11 to 15
lyces ([lise]) provide a three-year course of further
secondary education for children between the ages of 15
and 18. Pupils are prepared for the baccalaurat
([bakalorea]) (baccalaureate, colloquially known as le
bac). The baccalaurat can lead to higher education
studies or directly to professional life.

A high school in Vesoul, France

Contents
1 Organization of the school year
2 Collge
2.1 Curriculum
2.2 Process and purpose
3 Carte scolaire
4 Lyce
4.1 Lyce gnral and lyce technologique
4.1.1 General streams
4.1.2 Technical streams
4.2 Lyce professionnel
5 French secondary education outside France
6 See also
7 References
8 External links

Organization of the school year

The school year starts in early September and ends in early-July. French school holidays are scheduled by the
Ministry of Education, by dividing the country into three zones (A, B, and C) to prevent the overcrowding by
family holidaymakers of tourist destinations such as the Mediterranean coast and the ski resorts. Lyon, for
example, is in zone A, while Marseille is in zone B, and Paris and Bordeaux are in zone C.
In contrast to the practice in most other education systems, the various school years in France are numbered on
a decreasing scale. Thus, pupils begin their secondary education in the sixime (6th class), and transfer to a
lyce in the seconde (2nd class), while the final year is the terminale.
In French, the word for "tudiant(e)" is usually reserved for university-level students, while collge and lyce
students are referred to as lves (pupils or students in English).
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The curriculum (le 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'ducation Nationale (BO), the official reference bulletin for educators.

Collge
The collge is the first level of secondary education in the
French educational system. A pupil attending collge is called
collgien (boy) or collgienne (girl). Men and women
teachers at the collge- and lyce-level are called professeur
(no official feminine professional form exists in France
although the feminine form "professeure" has appeared and
seems to be gaining some ground in usage). The City of Paris
refers to a collge in English as a "high school."[1]

Collge
Age

Name

Abbreviation

11-12

Sixime

6e

12-13

Cinquime

5e

13-14

Quatrime

4e

Entry in sixime occurs directly after the last year of primary 14-15 Troisime
3e
school, called cours moyen deuxime anne (CM2). There
is no entrance examination into collge, but administrators have established a comprehensive academic
examination of students starting in sixime. The purpose of the examination is evaluating pupils' level on being
graduated from primary school.

Curriculum
The table at the right details the
Subject
Remarks
French curriculum. Along with threeto-four weekly hours of physical
education, a typical school week
Humanities and Languages
consists of some twenty-six (26)
Features French and translated
hours of schooling. French language French Language and
foreign works; concentrates on
and literature occupy the most time, Literature
grammar and spelling
45 hours per week, followed by
mathematics, 4 hours per week;
French-based, but includes foreign
other subjects occupy some 1.0-3.5 History and Geography
history and geography
hours per week.
The curriculum is devised by the
French Ministry of National
Education and applies to all collges
in France and also for AEFEdependent institutions. Acadmies
and individual schools have little
margin for curriculum customisation.
Teachers compose syllabi per
precise government educational
regulations, and choose textbooks
accordingly; every major French
publishing house has a textbook
branch.

Process and purpose

Starting
in

6e

6e

A first foreign language1

Known as Premire langue

vivante (LV1)

6e

A second foreign
language1 or a French
regional language

Deuxime langue vivante (LV2)

6e or 4e

Arts and Crafts

6e

Musical Education

6e

Civics

ducation civique

6e

1 Available

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

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Each subject is usually taught by a

different "professeur" or teacher;
most teachers teach several different
age groups. Collge 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 is rare.

Secondary education in France - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

as second foreign language.

Natural and Applied Sciences

6e

Mathematics
Biology and Geology

Sciences de la vie et de la Terre

(SVT)

6e

Technology

6e

Physics and Chemistry

5e

Physical Education
Class size varies from school to
school, but usually ranges from 20 to
35 pupils. Each class has a
professeur principal (main teacher Latin
or class tutor) who is the link
Ancient Greek
between the teaching staff,

Compulsory Courses
6e
Optional Courses
5e
5e

administration, and pupils.[2]

Ultimately, the role of the collge is to prepare students for the advanced subjects of the lyce. At the end of
the troisime class, students sit for le diplme national du Brevet, an end-of-collge examination; The brevet
is not required for entrance to the lyce, nor does passing it guarantee that a pupil will progress to the higherlevel 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, participation, and behaviour.
Three outcomes are possible:
1. the student progresses to the next grade;
2. his or her redoublement (repeating the year) can be required;
3. 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.

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 which 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
inadequate, particularly if they do not like the idea of their children mixing
with some of the other pupils at the school. This is especially the case in
poor neighbourhoods with large foreign immigrant populations. In any

A lyce in Rennes, from the 19th

century.

city, there are "better" lyces and collges, which parents would prefer their children attend (usually dating from3/7

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city, there are "better" lyces and collges, which parents would prefer their children attend (usually dating from
the 19th century, in the city centre). The two main methods used in such circumstances to get children into a
school other than their assigned school are:
paying for partly subsidised private schooling;
having the child choose an unusual option (e.g. Ancient Greek) available only in the preferred school.
A similar trick is used in cases where 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. These typically include classes taking German as a first foreign language, or Latin or
Ancient Greek as options.

Lyce
The lyce is the second, and last, stage of secondary
education in the French educational system. The City of Paris
refers to a lyce in English as a "sixth form college".[1] A pupil
attending a lyce is a lycen (boy) or a lycenne (girl).

Lyce
Age
1516

Until 1959, the term lyce designated a secondary school with

1617
a full curriculum (7 years, the present college + lyce) directly
under the supervision of the State, then from 1959 to 1963
1718
any secondary school with a full curriculum.[3] Older lyces

Name

Abbreviation

Seconde

2de

Premire

1ere

Terminale

Tale

still include a collge section,[4] so a pupil attending a lyce may actually be a collgien.
At the end of the final year of schooling, most students take the baccalaurat diploma.
Lyces are divided into (i) the lyce gnral, leading to two or more years of postbaccalaurat studies, (ii) the
lyce technologique, leading to short-term studies, and (iii) the lyce professionnel, a vocational qualification
leading directly to a particular career. General and technological education courses are provided in "standard"
lyces, while vocational courses are provided in separate professional lyces.
In practice, competent pupils at a vocational lyce professionnel can also apply to take short-term, post
baccalaurat studies leading to the Brevet de technicien suprieur (BTS), a vocational qualification. This
option is also available to pupils at a lyce gnral.

Lyce gnral and lyce technologique

In France, the lyce gnral is the usual stepping stone to university degrees. During their year in Seconde
students make their final choice of srie (course) for the final two years. 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 premire or the terminale.
General streams
After the seconde, most French students choose a general course. In all courses, some subjects occupy more
hours in the student's timetable. The baccalaurat examination is different for all three sries, and subjects are
weighted according to the course taken.
ES
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Streams

S
scientifique
(various hard
sciences)

conomique
et social
(economics
and social
sciences)

The srie
ES is
balanced
The sciences
between
course heavily
literary and
weights high-level economics
Description mathematics,
courses;
physics-chemistry students
and biologymust take
geology.
economics
and social
sciences
exams.

L
littraire
(humanities)

The srie L heavily weighs French language, French

literature, Foreign literature in foreign language and
Philosophy, and to a lesser extent, history, geography and
foreign languages. Students must take examinations in one to
three modern languages. They also have the option of taking
examinations in Latin, ancient Greek, or both. Students in
premire littraire (1reL or 1L) don't have maths and
only a small amount of sciences, unless they choose the
'maths' option. Students in Terminale Littraire (TleL or
TL) don't have neither maths nor physics&chemistry nor
biology, unless they had chosen the 'maths' option in 1L.

According to the official statistics, for the 20032004 school year, 33 per cent of all students chose srie S; 19
per cent chose srie ES; and 11 per cent chose srie L.[5]
All students take philosophy courses in terminale, while French language classes end in the premire, excepting
the srie L, 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
20072008, or The Leopard from Italian author Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa).
There also is a required option for further specialisation in all sries, although it is restricted to the chosen
course. For example, a student in srie S can choose to specialise in mathematics, physics, "SVT " (biology and
geology) or "engineering sciences", but not in philosophy.
A student in srie 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, one of these 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 baccalaurat. 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 postsecondary career or
subject at university, except for a few courses aimed for students from a given srie that can also accept
students from other sries if they have taken a given specialisation.
Technical streams
The lyce includes eight other streams, called sries 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 dveloppement durable (Industrial Science and
Technologies and sustainable development, STI2D)
sciences et technologies de laboratoire (Laboratory Science and Technologies, STL)
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sciences mdico-sociales (Health and Social Sciences, SMS): The name was changed in 2007 and
became: Sciences et technologies de la sant 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)
htellerie (Hotel and restaurants management)
The STPA and STAE stream are only available in lyces agricoles, speciality schools for agricultural sciences.

Lyce professionnel
The lyce professionnel leads to several different vocational diplomas. 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 handson educational approach than in academic schooling.

French secondary education outside France

See also
Baccalaurat
Grandes coles
Education in France
Agency for French Education Abroad

References
1. "Children & families (http://www.paris.fr/portail/english/Portal.lut?page_id=8145&document_type_id=5&docu
ment_id=33668&portlet_id=18796)." (Archive (http://www.webcitation.org/6Ab4dRjru)) City of Paris.
Retrieved on 20 July 2010.
2. H. D. Lewis (1985). The French Education System. Routledge. p. 58. ISBN 0-7099-1683-3.
3. Jean-Michel Chapoulie. Les professeurs de l'enseignement secondaire : Un mtier de classe moyenne. 01/01/87.
Maison des Sciences de l'Homme. p3. ISBN 2-7351-0203-3.
4. ex : Lyce Henri IV
5. official statistics (ftp://trf.education.gouv.fr/pub/edutel/dpd/rers2004/chap4_12.pdf)

External links
French Ministry of Education (in French) (http://www.education.gouv.fr/index.php)
Bulletin Officiel (in French) (http://www.education.gouv.fr/bo/default.htm)
Centre national de documentation pdagogique website (in French) (http://www.cndp.fr/secondaire/)
The school system and education in France (in English) (http://about-france.com/primary-secondary-scho
ols.htm)
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?
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