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Structure of education in France.

Now we shall proceed directly to structure of education in France. In France there is a plenty of educational, preparatory and examinational educational institutions. The modern method of French education begins at the end of the nineteenth century. After it has gone through some reforms. The French educational system is highly centralized, organized, and ramified. All educational programs in France are regulated by the Ministry of National Education but nevertheless the structure allocates 3 main stages of training, namely:

primary education (enseignement primaire);
secondary education (enseignement secondaire);
higher education (enseignement supérieur)

Primary and Secondary education is predominantly public, while higher education has both public and private elements. At the primary and secondary levels, the curriculum is the same for all French students in any given grade, which includes public, semi-public and subsidized institutions. After kindergarten, the young students move on to primary school. It is in the first year that they will learn to write and perfect their reading skills. French primary school students usually have a single teacher (or perhaps two) who instructs in many different disciplines, such as French, mathematics, natural sciences, history and geography to name a few (the latter two are seldom separated). Secondary education follows further. The secondary education in France is divided into 2 schools:

the collège for the first four years after primary school;
the lycée for the next three years.

After the college the student receives the first diploma. It is not required to enter the high school. But it is not enough for going to a higher educational institution. After leaving the high school the students are required to pass the special preparation for the University preliminary examination. The baccalauréat (also known as bac) is the end-of-lycée diploma students sit for in order to enter the university, a classe préparatoire, or professional life. The term baccalauréat refers to the diploma and the examinations themselves. Most students sit for the baccalauréat général which is divided into 3 streams of study, called séries. The série scientifique (S) is concerned with the natural sciences, physics or mathematics (a lot of streams exist, one of which is called série scientifique sciences de l'ingénieur (SSI), a série scientifique baccalauréat with two more specializations, génie électrique and génie mécanique; there is also the Bac STI, Sciences & industrial technologies; also, there is the option called génie mécanique & the options electrotechnique), the série économique et sociale (ES) with social sciences, and the série littéraire (L) focuses on French and foreign languages and philosophy. After sitting the special preparatory examinations, about which was told above, student goes to University. Higher education in France is divided into grandes écoles and universities. Grandes écoles are considered more prestigious than universities and their selection procedure is highly competitive. The Grandes écoles of France are higher education establishments that outside of the mainstream framework of the public universities. First year CPGE students are called the 'Math Sup' - or Hypotaupe. Both the first and second year programs include as much as sixteen hours of mathematics per week, ten hours of physics, two hours of philosophy, two to four hours of (one or two) foreign languages and two to three hours of minor options: either SI, Engineering Industrial Science or Theoretical Computer Science (including some programming using the Pascal or CaML programming languages, as a practical work). There are also CPGEs which are focused on economics. The amount of work required to be done by students is exceptionally high. In addition to class time and homework, the students spend several hours each week completing exams and 'colles' (very often written 'khôlles' to look like a Greek word, this way of writing being initially a khâgneux joke). The so called 'colles' are unique to French academic education in CPGEs. next ...