French education

French educational system

The French educational system is build into three main educational stages:

• Primary school (3 - 10 years old)

• Middle school (11 - 15 years old)

• High school (16 - 18 years old)

School is mandatory from 3 to 16 years old.

"Ecole primaire": primary school

Separated in two stages:

• Ecole maternelle : preschool from 3 to 5 years old.

• Ecole élémentaire : primary school from 6 to 10 years old.

"Collège": middle school

A four-year course in order to get the national diploma the Brevet des collèges. This diploma is mandatory to go to high school.

"Lycée" : high school

A three-year course to prepare the pupils for the Baccalauréat also known as "Bac", to do higher education studies or directly go to professional life.

A pupil has four possibilities:

• The Bac professionnel: a three-year vocational training with internships.

• The CAP (certificat d'aptitude professionnel): a two-year course which also provide a vocational training. It leads to the possibility of doing a Baccalauréat professionnel in order to get access to higher education studies.

• The Bac général

• The Bac technologique