DDEC
What is a Diocesan Directorate of Catholic Education ? (DDEC)
Catholic education
French catholic education is organized according to an associative model (law 1901) which has two main features:
A great autonomy of its establishments
A departmental framework
It ensures the schools an entirely autonomous administration and funding.
Each Catholic school, college, and high school are organization recognized by the prefecture Law 1901 and therefore, are run by an organization of parents of pupils (also recognized by the prefecture), called OGEC (French acronym for: “Catholic Education Management Organization”).
The OGEC pays for the head teacher work, hires and manages non-teaching staff and makes the school live economically. The teachers are paid by the State since the Debré Law (1959).
There is a departmental structure UDOGEC (Departmental Union of OGEC) who assists and coordinates the members of these organizations but respects the autonomy of each local OGEC.
Diocesan Director of Catholic Education
The day-to-day management of schools is delegated from the bishop himself to a person of his choice: Diocesan Director of Catholic Education. He is appointed to promote, coordinate, assist all Catholic schools and ensure their pedagogical quality.
The Diocesan Directorate of Catholic Education (DDEC) is therefore composed of the Diocesan Director and his collaborators. The DDEC are all recognized organizations of type 1901 and presided over by the bishops and the diocesan directors. Diocesan directorates are financed entirely by contributions from all schools, colleges and high schools in its territory.
The two main missions of the DDEC
Human resources
Diocesan directorates recruit, train and support head teachers, non-teaching staff, substitutes … The recruitment and initial training of teachers’ Catholic education are jointly managed by the diocesan directorates and the State.
Pedagogical animation
Pedagogical animation is the main task of diocesan directorates. They also have a role similar to the State's educational services for public schools such as providing psychologists for pupils with special educational needs (there are 14 psychologists at the DDEC of Nantes for instance.) or the support all educational projects (arts and culture, international openness, sports, computing...).
