7.12 Le système scolaire français — Epoché
What you will be able to do Read an informative text about the French school system, written in simple French from the French Wikipedia article on the subject. Follow the structure of an explanatory text: headings, principles, stages, figures and a closing problem. Recognise the language of definitions: c'est-à-dire , cela veut dire que , s'appeler , se diviser en . Explain in French how a French child goes from l'école maternelle to le bac . Sentences from this text, before the notes. Read the French aloud; all of them come back below. French English ces programmes sont les mêmes dans tout le pays these curricula are the same throughout the country D'abord, l'instruction est obligatoire. First, education is compulsory. Enfin, l'école publique est laïque depuis les lois de 1882 et de 1886. Finally, state schools have been secular since the laws of 1882 and 1886. Environ un élève sur six va dans un établissement privé. About one pupil in six goes to a private school. À côté des écoles publiques, il existe aussi des écoles privées. Alongside state schools there are also private schools. au lycée, en apprentissage ou dans un autre programme at upper secondary school, in an apprenticeship or in another programme Prerequisites : 7.11 and 5.8 — this reading follows 7.11 Reading , and its vocabulary is the vocabulary of 5.8 Vocabulary : le collège , le lycée , la note , la moyenne , redoubler , la rentrée , les grandes écoles . About this text This text was written for this course, about 670 words long, as a simplified version of part of the French Wikipedia article Système éducatif en France , consulted in October 2026. The full article is more than twenty thousand words long; this version keeps its main facts and puts them in short sentences in the present tense, with the vocabulary of 5.8 Vocabulary . Because it is adapted from Wikipedia, it carries Wikipedia's licence, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike, and so do any further adaptations of it. The figures in the text come from the article and change from year to year: about sixty thousand schools, more than fifteen million pupils and students, about one pupil in six in a private school. The dates are fixed: free public primary schooling from 1881, compulsory schooling from 1882, secular public schools in two steps, religious instruction taken out of the curriculum in 1882 and lay teachers only from 1886 (the text names both laws), and compulsory instruction from the age of three since 2019. The text is the most straightforward of this phase's readings: no story, no dialogue, no literary tense. Its difficulty is the density of information, and the many school terms that have no exact English equivalent. Read it with the table of school years from 5.8 Vocabulary in front of you. The language of explanation The present of general truth. The whole text is in the present, because it describes how things are: l'école publique est gratuite , les notes vont de zéro à vingt . Dates of past changes are given with depuis and the present: l'école publique est laïque depuis les lois de 1882 et de 1886 . Definitions. The text explains its own terms, in three ways: c'est-à-dire , that is , cela veut dire que , this means that , and the colon. Il faut avoir la moyenne, c'est-à-dire dix sur vingt. Learn these devices: you will use them in your own writing in 9.1 Writing . Structure words. The paragraph on principles uses the connectors of 4.26 Grammar : d'abord , ensuite , enfin . The paragraph on stages announces its plan, l'école en France se divise en trois grandes étapes , and then follows it. Impersonal and general subjects. Il existe , from 4.25 Grammar , introduces what there is; on describes what people do: on y apprend à vivre avec les autres , on commence en sixième . Reading it a second time, section by section The introduction. The central fact: the state decides what is taught, and the same programme applies everywhere. Une affaire d'État means a matter for the state . The principles. Compulsory instruction from three to sixteen, training until eighteen; free public schools; secular public schools. Laïque is explained at once: neutre en matière de religion . You will read more about la laïcité in 7.16 Reading . Private schools under contract follow the same programmes, and their teachers are paid by the state. The stages. Primary, secondary, higher. The text names the first and last years of primary school, le CP and le CM2 , and the descending years of collège . After collège comes a choice between a general or technological lycée and a vocational one. Marks and the school year. Marks out of twenty, the pass at ten, repeating a year; la rentrée in September and the holidays through the year. Figures and a problem. The size of the system, average results, and the influence of social origin on success, which the text calls un des grands défis de l'école française . Full translation An English translation of the whole text, made for this course and kept close to the original. The numbers are the paragraph numbers of the original text, so you can move between the two. The French School System In France, school is a matter for the state. The Ministry of National Education decides the curricula, that is, what pupils learn in each class, and these curricula are the same throughout the country. A pupil in Paris and a pupil in Marseille therefore study the same subjects, with the same timetables, and sit the same exams. A Few Major Principles The system rests on a few major principles. First, education is compulsory. Since 2019, all children must receive an education from the age of three to sixteen. Between sixteen and eighteen, young people must continue some form of training: at upper secondary school, in an apprenticeship or in another programme. Next, state schools are free. Families do not pay to send their children to a state primary school, collège or lycée . This principle has existed since 1881 for primary school. Finally, state schools