France Education System (2026): Structure, Quality, and Performance

The French education system operates through national curricula, state-recognized qualifications, and territorial administration covering early childhood education, compulsory schooling, vocational routes, and higher education. In the 2025–2026 school year, national reporting counted 12,459,500 pupils and second-level apprentices across the main first- and second-degree education totals, including learners under the ministries responsible for agriculture and health. The same annual publication recorded 1,219,600 personnel working in National Education and 57,700 schools and secondary establishments.^[DEPP]

Governance and System Architecture

The French education system is defined by national curricula, state-issued qualifications, and a territorial network of académies. Compulsory education runs from age 3 to age 16. Since 2020, a separate training obligation applies to young people from 16 to 18 who are not already in education, training, employment-related preparation, or another recognized route.^[Ministry]

National authorities define programs, qualification rules, examination requirements, teacher employment rules, and many funding arrangements. Recteurs, académies, local authorities, school leaders, and inspectorates handle territorial delivery. Municipalities have responsibilities linked to primary schools, departments support collèges, and regions have major responsibilities for lycées, including buildings, equipment, and related services.

Levels, Ages, and Main Credentials

Early Childhood Education and Care

École maternelle is part of compulsory education from age 3. It covers the petite section, moyenne section, and grande section and develops oral language, early literacy and numeracy, motor skills, social learning, and preparation for elementary school.

At the start of the 2025–2026 school year, 2,231,600 pupils were enrolled in pre-elementary education. The average number of pupils per pre-elementary class was 21.7, compared with 25.8 in 2010. The reduction reflects both demographic change and changes in staffing and class organization.^[DEPP]

PISA 2022 reported that 97% of French 15-year-olds had attended pre-primary education for at least one year. This is a retrospective indicator for the PISA cohort rather than a current administrative enrollment rate, so it is best used as a measure of early education exposure for that cohort rather than as a current preschool count.

Primary Education: Enrollment, Staffing, and Learning Cycles

The first degree includes pre-elementary and elementary education. In 2025–2026, France recorded 6,154,900 pupils in the first degree, including 3,923,300 in elementary education and ULIS and 2,231,600 in pre-elementary education. Public schools enrolled 5,315,600 pupils, or 86.4% of the first-degree total. The system employed about 366,100 first-degree teachers, including 326,500 in the public sector.^[DEPP]

Class size indicators have declined over the long term. The average elementary class had 21.1 pupils in 2025, compared with 22.7 in 2010. The separate pupil-to-teacher indicator was 17.9 pupils per teacher in elementary education in 2023–2024; this measure should not be interpreted as average class size because teacher counts include staffing that does not map one-to-one to individual classes.

National assessments are administered at several stages to provide teachers and the ministry with comparable information on pupil achievement. In the 2025 beginning-of-year assessments, for example, 83.7% of pupils beginning CP demonstrated satisfactory mastery in manipulating syllables, while 69.3% met the stated benchmark for solving mathematical problems. These measures are diagnostic indicators rather than school-leaving examinations.

Current Curriculum Changes

New French and mathematics programs began in the 2025–2026 school year from maternelle through sixième, with the cycle 3 rollout applying to CM1 and sixième first. In 2026–2027, the new cycle 3 programs also apply to CM2. A new cycle 4 French and mathematics program starts in cinquième in 2026–2027, before extending to quatrième in 2027–2028 and troisième in 2028–2029.^[Ministry]

From the 2026 school year, French and mathematics teaching in sixième and cinquième also uses a reinforced support arrangement that allows schools to organize smaller groups or groups formed around identified learning needs. Students remain subject to the same national programs and expected outcomes.^[Ministry]

Annual Expenditure per Pupil

The 2024 domestic education accounts show higher annual expenditure as students progress through the school system, with vocational lycée carrying the highest school-level amount among the categories published below. These figures use the French domestic education expenditure definition and should not be mixed directly with OECD PPP measures.

Across the first degree, expenditure averaged €9,080 per pupil. The corresponding second-degree figure was €11,660 per pupil or apprentice. ^[DEPP]

Lower Secondary Education: Collège and the DNB

Collège covers sixième, cinquième, quatrième, and troisième. At the start of the 2025–2026 school year, 3,359,900 pupils were enrolled in collège and Segpa. This total was lower than the previous year as smaller age cohorts moved through the system.^[DEPP]

The Diplôme national du brevet (DNB) remains the national diploma at the end of collège. The 2026 session introduced a revised calculation method: continuous assessment now accounts for 40% of the final mark and terminal examinations for 60%, replacing the previous 50/50 balance. The former 800-point system was also replaced by a final average expressed out of 20, with an overall average of at least 10/20 required for the diploma.^[Ministry]

In June 2026, 834,000 candidates sat the DNB and 680,400 passed, giving an overall success rate of 81.6%. The general series recorded an 83.5% pass rate and the professional series 64.8%. The DNB certifies achievement at the end of collège, but obtaining it is not required in order to progress to lycée.^[DEPP]

Upper Secondary Education: Lycée Pathways and the Baccalauréat

At the start of the 2025–2026 school year, France had about 2,261,100 lycée students: 1,599,400 in general and technological programs and 661,600 in vocational programs. General and technological enrollment was almost unchanged from the previous year, while vocational enrollment increased by about 11,500 students, or 1.8%.^[DEPP]

• General lycée prepares mainly for university, CPGE, and other higher-education routes.
• Technological lycée combines general subjects with fields organized around technological series and commonly leads into applied tertiary study.
• Vocational lycée combines general education with occupation-linked teaching, workshops, and workplace periods leading to qualifications such as CAP and the professional baccalauréat.

Baccalauréat 2026 Results

In the June 2026 session, 744,600 candidates sat the baccalauréat and 680,600 passed, producing an overall success rate of 91.4%. The general baccalauréat pass rate was 95.9%, the technological rate 90.3%, and the professional rate 84.3%.^[DEPP]

The provisional share of a generation obtaining the baccalauréat reached 79.0% in 2026. This consisted of 42.2% through the general route, 15.5% through the technological route, and 21.3% through the professional route.

Apprenticeship

Apprenticeship remains a large work-based route in French education. National reporting counted 391,900 second-degree apprentices in 2025–2026, up from the 380,900 reported one year earlier. Apprentices combine instruction in a training center with employment-based training under an apprenticeship contract.^[DEPP]

Education Workforce and Institutional Footprint

National Education employed 1,219,600 personnel in 2025–2026. Of these, 851,500 were teachers: 711,600 in public institutions and 139,900 in private institutions under contract. Another 357,200 personnel worked in educational assistance, administration, leadership, pedagogical support, inspection, and related functions.^[DEPP]

The same publication recorded 57,700 schools and secondary establishments, including approximately 47,000 schools, 7,000 collèges, and 3,700 lycées. This was lower than the 58,100 units reported one year earlier, consistent with continued demographic contraction and changes in the school network.

Education Financing

France devoted €197.1 billion to domestic education expenditure in 2024, equal to 6.8% of GDP. In current euros, expenditure was €6.8 billion higher than in 2023. After adjustment for prices, the increase was 1.4%. Average domestic expenditure across pupils, apprentices, and students was €10,920.^[DEPP]

Funding Sources

The state remained the largest initial funder, while local authorities accounted for almost one-quarter of expenditure. Local-government responsibility differs by stage: municipalities have a larger role in primary education, departments in collèges, and regions in lycées and selected higher-education responsibilities.

Where Education Expenditure Goes

In the 2024 accounts, 72.0% of domestic education expenditure went to salaries, employer contributions, and pensions, including 48.4% for teaching personnel and 23.6% for non-teaching personnel. Other operating expenditure represented 19.5% and investment 8.5%.

By education stage, the first degree accounted for 29.7% of domestic education expenditure, the second degree 37.1%, higher education 22.8%, and continuing or extracurricular education 10.4%.

OECD international accounts use a narrower measure focused on educational institutions. Under that definition, France invested 5.4% of GDP from primary through tertiary education in 2022, compared with an OECD average of 4.7%. Government expenditure from primary through post-secondary non-tertiary education was USD 12,321 per full-time-equivalent student in purchasing-power-parity terms.^[OECD]

Learning Outcomes: PISA 2025

PISA 2025 is now the latest OECD assessment cycle for France. Fifteen-year-old students scored an average of 458 in mathematics, 456 in reading, and 483 in science. France also scored 497 in computational problem solving. The corresponding OECD averages were 463 in mathematics, 461 in reading, 482 in science, and 500 in computational problem solving. French performance was therefore close to the OECD average across all four measures.^{[OECD PISA]}

Compared with 2022, France fell by about 16 points in mathematics and 18 points in reading. Science declined by about four points, a difference that OECD describes as broadly stable in statistical terms. Relative to 2015, the share of students performing below Level 2 rose by 12 percentage points in mathematics, 11 points in reading, and four points in science.

Proficiency distributions show that 64% of French students reached at least Level 2 in mathematics, compared with 65% across the OECD. In reading, 67% reached Level 2 or higher, compared with an OECD average of 69%. Science was closer to the OECD distribution, with 74% reaching Level 2 or higher in both France and the OECD average.

The proportion of top performers was below the OECD average in mathematics, equal to the OECD average in science, and slightly below it in reading. Socio-economic differences remain visible: OECD reports that socio-economic status accounted for 14% of the variation in French science performance in 2025, compared with 12% on average across OECD countries.

Higher Education: Degree Structure and Student Numbers

France uses the Licence–Master–Doctorat (LMD) structure alongside BTS, BUT, engineering degrees, grandes écoles, health programs, arts programs, and other qualifications. A Licence normally requires 180 ECTS over six semesters. A national Master requires a further 120 ECTS, bringing the cumulative total to 300 ECTS. Doctoral study normally follows a master’s-level qualification and generally lasts at least three years of full-time research; access requires admission to doctoral study rather than simply accumulating a fixed undergraduate credit total.^{[Higher Education Ministry]}

Selective routes operate alongside universities. Classes préparatoires aux grandes écoles (CPGE) are usually two-year programs located mainly in lycées and prepare students for competitive admission to grandes écoles and related institutions. BTS and BUT programs provide shorter applied routes, while universities account for more than half of all higher-education enrollment.

In 2025–2026, French higher education enrolled approximately 3.05 million students, an increase of 1.1% from the previous year. Universities enrolled 1,672,900 students, up 2.6%. The private higher-education sector accounted for 25.8% of all higher-education enrollment, although its enrollment declined by 1.7% over the year.^[SIES]

Educational Attainment

OECD data show that 53% of 25–34-year-olds in France held a tertiary qualification in 2024, up from 48% in 2019. The share without upper-secondary attainment fell from 13% to 11% over the same period. A master’s or equivalent qualification was held by 26% of 25–34-year-olds, compared with 16% across the OECD.^[OECD]

Employment outcomes vary by qualification. Among economically active 25–34-year-olds in 2024, unemployment was 18.5% for those without upper-secondary attainment, 9.9% for those with upper-secondary or post-secondary non-tertiary education, and 6.3% for tertiary-educated young adults.

Enrollment Distribution and Demographic Change

The 2025–2026 school data show continued contraction in the first degree. Enrollment fell to 6.155 million, a decrease of 106,900 pupils, or 1.7%, from the previous school year. Elementary enrollment fell by about 72,600 pupils and pre-elementary enrollment by about 35,100. These changes largely follow the decline in births over preceding years.^[DEPP]

Second-degree enrollment declined more slowly. The 5.621 million pupils enrolled in secondary schools in autumn 2025 represented a year-on-year fall of 14,700, or 0.3%. The decline was concentrated in collège, while vocational lycée enrollment increased and general and technological lycée enrollment was nearly stable.

Higher education moved in the opposite direction. Enrollment exceeded three million for the first time in 2024–2025 and rose again to about 3.05 million in 2025–2026. The contrasting directions of school and tertiary enrollment mean that staffing and infrastructure pressures differ substantially by education stage.

How Official Education Data Are Reported

French education statistics use several datasets with different scopes. DEPP school statistics cover pupils, apprentices, personnel, institutions, examinations, and national education expenditure. SIES publishes higher-education enrollment and graduate data. OECD indicators standardize definitions for international comparisons, while PISA measures the performance of sampled 15-year-olds rather than administrative school outcomes.

The reference year therefore needs to remain attached to each figure. School enrollment and staffing figures above generally refer to 2025–2026; DNB and baccalauréat outcomes refer to the 2026 examination session; domestic education expenditure refers to 2024; higher-education enrollment refers to 2025–2026; and the latest international student assessment is PISA 2025. These measures describe different parts of the system and should not be merged into a single-year total without preserving their statistical definitions.

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