school Education in France

Primary School consists of Nursery school and Elementary school. At the start of the 2019 school year, schooling will be obligatory from age 3. Nine out of ten French pupils already begin their schooling at Nursery school, age 3.

Primary school begins at age 3 with Nursery School and continues on into elementary school.Students progress to Lower Secondary School at age 11 to Upper Secondary School at age 15 where they have the option of choosing between three baccalaureate programmes: general, technological, and vocational.

After successful completion of lower secondary school, pupils advance to upper secondary school where they complete three years: seconde, première, and terminale. A general education is provided to all students during the seconde level, after which they choose more specific routes in première which will lead to their baccalaureate exam at the end of terminale. Students have the choice between three potential schooling routes: general, technological, and vocational.

The French constitution states that it is ‘the duty of the state to provide free, compulsory, secular education at all levels'. The French school system was founded on general principles that were inspired by the 1789 revolution, and were added to and have taken shape with a set of legislative texts from the 19th century to the present day.

The following pages present the French education system in English. You can find key information on its organisation and implementation of current policy.