The Lycée Times

The end of an Educational Era

2011-06-26T12:00:00.000+02:00

A letter from The Editor

Dear Readers,

I set up The Lycée Times in March 2009 with one, simple objective – to help me, the Editor, practice writing articles. However, sadly I couldn’t; I have found that there’s just not enough news in the French education system to write about on a weekly basis. Therefore, I found myself running out of ideas for articles and posts, and recently, as you may have observed, I have resorted to re-posting articles from ex-pat newspapers. It is for this reason, that I have decided to cease publishing on this blog. I have realised that I have come to the end of an inspirational road, that has lead me to realise what a powerful and useful tool the internet is, and how you can use it to help others.

The Lycée Times will not just die. This blog will stay live so it can continue to help ex-pats in the future and I have decided to let this blog become user-generated. By this, I mean that you can send in your own articles and get them published here, under your name (if you wish). Your articles will help future ex-pats and those already living in France. I know it helps because I’ve experienced it first-hand on both sides of the fence, both as the reader and as the writer! It was the useful articles that I found when doing research on French education before moving over, that inspired me to help others but going from a single site or blog where you can find every bit of information you want. Now that I’ve done it, and while I was writing it, I received many thank you emails from people in appreciation of my work. It feels great to give something back. No matter how simple or complicated the topic you want to write about is, there’s always at least one person out there who doesn’t understand it and needs your help. It’s also great writing practice and it doesn’t require a superhuman effort, so go for it! Submit your article! For more details, see the bottom of this post.

I found it very hard to organise interviews and be able to fit them in with school hours. I ended up just explaining the education system and not actually writing articles. Any news that came up, like the release of the dates for the baccalauréat, seemed more like a sort of ‘update’ than an article. Sure, it’s useful to many people, but it’s not what I wanted. I’m going into my last year of Lycée in September and seeing how much work it has been, keeping this blog running, while studying for the Bac, I just don’t feel it’s possible to keep it going at a respectable standard any longer. It’s a shame because this blog was only just beginning to grow, and the number of readers grows constantly. The blog has been used by many thousands of people in over 86 countries in just over a year. Unfortunately, the list of writing material is exhaustive.

The main concept of The Lycée Times was to help ex-pats living in France understand the education system here, hearing it first-hand from a student who goes through it on a daily basis. I am proud to say that in the short time of the year and four months that it’s been live, it has done just that and more. In its first few months, it was to be used by hundreds of people living not only in France, but in the USA, the UK, Australia and other countries all over the world. This proved that it was not only a useful tool for those already living here, but also for those who were thinking of moving to France.

I could see that the number of readers was increasing, but I didn’t know if it was of any use to any of them. It wasn’t until some of your emails of appreciation and suggestions started to come in that I realised I was onto something that could clarify many points of the French education system for many ex-pats in France. To think that some of you were taking the time out to email me to thank me for the helpful articles, was very encouraging and I thank you so much, from the bottom of my heart, for your support. Some asked questions about the education system, and in one case someone in Australia asked for help with a school project on the French system (they got a good grade!). People started to share links to articles on ex-pat forums and so, through all of these factors, I saw the number of readers explode. People were even subscribing to the blog through email to get all the latest posts sent straight to their inbox, something I honestly didn’t think would be used seeing as I personally never subscribe to email newsletters.

So, I would like to take the time out to thank you (as some of you have done for me) for reading my blog and for your words of encouragement over the last year and a bit. I’m not going to stop writing though. I will no longer be posting on The Lycée Times, nor will I be posting about education, but I have set my sights on helping more people through my blogging and this time in a looser fashion, without having to publish a post before a deadline. I’m still following the road to journalism and I’m proud to say that you’ve played a part in it.

If you have any questions you want to ask, anything you’d like to add, or if you would like some advice on how to set up an education blog and write articles, don’t hesitate to send an email to thelyceetimes@gmail.com. I’ll try my best to help out.

Thank you for this great experience and enjoy the summer holidays!

Yours,

The Editor

Submit your helpful article here: thelyceetimes@gmail.com

The Baccalauréat is well underway

2011-06-19T12:00:00.001+02:00

Dear Readers,

Just a short update with some useful links as there isn’t much to say this week with the end-of-year exams well underway. Next week’s post will be the last post of this school year!

This week came to a close with the Philosophy Bac for those in Terminale as well as the Maths Bac for those in 1ère L. Next weeks exams kick off with the French Bac for 1ère students in France Métropolitaine.

For the predictions on what could come up on the French papers for students in 1ère S, ES and L on Monday, click here.

For the full list of dates for every Bac exam this year, click here.

Best of luck to every student passing the Bac this year, whether they’re in 1ère or in Terminale, and we hope you get the results that you want! The same goes for those in 3ème passing their Brevet des collèges. Hopefully you’ll get a good result.

Article by The Editor

Read more

L’étudiant.fr - Lots more tips to succeed in getting a good note: http://www.letudiant.fr/bac/zoom-bac.html (in French)

More like this from The Lycée Times

The Bac Dates 2011 - For the full list of dates for every Bac exam this year, click here
Important tip-off for 1ère students - For the full list of dates for every Bac exam this year, click here

Religion lessons must be open

2011-06-12T12:00:00.000+02:00

Plans to introduce religious education into school drew a strong response from Connexion readers with many applauding the chance to show aspects of different religions.

Former Anglican priest Richard Hughes spoke of the two mutually exclusive roles that he held as both priest and, later, as a teacher of religious education. He said: "The role of the church is to convince. The role of the school is to educate. From a non-religious perspective, anybody seeing a painting of the Madonna and child or a photograph of the Dome of the Rock should know something of its provenance. "I ended up writing series of schools' textbooks for Oxford University Press, used and accepted widely but controversial among the people who wished to promote a particular religious perspective […] But the lessons were not designed to tell people what to believe. Their purpose was to promote lively classroom discussion."

Terry Westroby feared children could become confused with discussion of the wide range of religions and felt that French children would know of their Christian heritage and that would lead their studies. He added: "The Christian understanding is of a relationship with God. Religion can get in the way! But overall I think that to have some facts to start with is a good thing. The Bible stands up to honest study." Not for Christopher Thompson who said: "Religious education with its blatant disregard for, and denial of, scientific knowledge and its perpetuation of outdated mythology has no place in the state education of children, either in France nor anywhere else. "It is quite unbelievable that in the 21st century children should be taught these unscientific fairy tales, but if this nonsense must be perpetuated let it be outside the state system."

Kathleen Fourches in the Corrèze highlighted that we mentioned only Bible stories in our newsletter article and added that if there was to be any teaching, it would have to "englobe not only the Jewish religion and Christianity but also Islam, Buddhism, Shintoism and why not animism, not to mention all the other religions ancient or modern. Nothing stops parents giving their offspring the religious education they choose; that is why there is free time on Wednesdays."

Cathy Shore in Maine-et-Loire remembered with pleasure the old parables (the Good Samaritan etc.) and saw them as interesting tales or stories with a moral "which I don't think is a bad thing at all". She went to a Church of England school which had chapel every day and said: "It didn't make me more religious but I did take pleasure from the communal aspect of 'chapel'."

Roger Cope, a 68 year old agnostic in Saone et Loire, thinks France does not know how lucky it is to have an education system where religion is not taught and compared religions to computer viruses for the way they can mess up people's lives.

Article from The Connexion

The Bac de Français (French Bac)

2011-06-05T12:00:00.000+02:00

Dear Readers,

The Bac de Français is fast approaching with under two weeks left until the written exam on 20th June 2011. Revision has started for many students and others are soon to join them. But what is the Bac de Français and what does it consist in?

The Bac de Français is an exam that’s split into two parts. The first part is the written exam, which is on Monday 20th June this year. The written exam papers are assembled and printed around January and stored in a secret location, ready to be distributed in June. These papers are based around one of the “Thèmes” (or chapters) that you covered in class through the year. For example, poetry. To get the predictions on what the “Thème” the papers will be based around this year, click here. The written exam itself is also in two parts. You are given a group of four to six texts called a “corpus de textes” or “corpus”. The first part of the exam is the “Question Corpus” noted out of 4 points. This question sometimes consists in comparing the texts of the “corpus”, finding similarities and differences. This question needs to have an introduction where you’ll present the texts of the “corpus”, the main body of your question in two parts and finally, a short conclusion. The second part of the written exam is the “Travail d’Ecriture”. This part is marked out of 16 points and you have to choose one of the three questions given; either the “Commentaire”, the “Dissertation” or the “Ecriture d’invention”. For the “Commentaire”, you have to analyse the text referred to in the “Commentaire” question while answering a question that you will have to formulate yourself. The “Dissertation” requires a good knowledge of literature and you need to have a few good examples in order to get the maximum of points. For the “Dissertation” you have to make a question out of the phrase given to you on the paper and then answer it through an introduction, main body of two parts and a conclusion. The “Ecriture d’invention” is creative writing. Some correctors don’t like to correct the creative writing question and some even think it shows that the student hasn’t worked throughout the year. Nevertheless, some people get really good marks for this one, going up to 18 or even 20 out of 20.

The oral is the next part of the exam. These aren’t held on the same day as the written exam and normally you will have already received your “convocation” (the paper which tells you the date and time at which you will be summoned to the oral exam). The oral is noted out of 20 also, and when combined with the written exam, gives you your overall French exam note out of 40. You can be questioned on any text you’ve done throughout the year in the oral and there is no set “Thème”. Just because you might have had poetry for the written, it doesn’t mean you’ll have it for the oral! Revise everything for this.

Normally you’ll have been told all of the above by your teacher, but I know that not all teachers are very switched on when it comes to preparing students for the Bac!

Article by The Editor

More schools join timetable pilot

2011-05-29T12:00:00.000+02:00

Dear Readers,

A new school routine in which children work in the morning and practise sport after lunch will be extended to another 125 secondary schools in September, the education ministry has announced. Some 7,000 pupils have been taking part in the experiment at 125 schools around France since the start of the academic year. This will be doubled to 250 schools and 14,000 pupils after the summer break.

It will be up to schools to decide whether to join the experiment - and whether it should apply to the whole school or a handful of classes. Some headteachers say the scheme is not suited to children in the earlier years of secondary school - 6ème and 5ème (around 11 and 12 years old). However, education minister Luc Chatel said that there were no plans for the new timetable to become the norm at every school in France, not least because there were not enough sports facilities available for all pupils to use at once.

The scheme will be made more flexible this year to allow pupils with no interest in sport to move into a class not taking part in the experiment - or to take up a cultural activity instead, if the whole school has moved to the new timetable. "Last year the experiment was launched a bit late," Chatel told 20 Minutes. "Between now and the rentrée in September, headteachers will have the time to discuss with pupils and parents and ensure that the sport classes are attended by those who want to be there the most."

The experiment, which spreads classes over six days but only in the morning, was introduced following complaints from teachers, parents and doctors that French schoolchildren are left exhausted by long working days following the move to a four-day week. A survey by the education ministry found 85% of parents approved of the new routine, and more than two thirds of headteachers found it boosted motivation and improved relations between staff and pupils.
Chatel also claimed the experiment had led to better results and a decline in absenteeism.

Article by The Connexion

Dates for the BAC 2011

2011-05-22T12:00:00.000+02:00

Source : Direction générale de l'Enseignement scolaire - MEN - December 2010

Here are the dates for those passing their Baccalaureate this summer.

BAC ES

BAC L

BAC S

BAC S.T.G.

BAC STI

BAC S.T.L.

BAC Hôtellerie

BAC S.T.2.S.

Grandes écoles, grand designs: France told to think global

2011-05-15T12:00:00.000+02:00

Clea Caulcutt on elite group chief's contentious plans to attract high-fee-paying foreign students

Credit: Ramon Haazen/Alamy

Pierre Tapie's proposal sounds like a call to arms. The president of the Conférence des Grandes Écoles has urged France's universities to embrace globalisation and tap into the rapidly growing and increasingly mobile student populations of India and China.

In a recent editorial in the daily newspaper Le Monde, Dr Tapie advocates trebling the number of foreign students in French higher education, boosting the proportion from 12 per cent of the total number of students to 30 per cent in the next 10 years.

His plans would see students from outside the European Union charged fees close to £12,000. A system of scholarships would be introduced for outstanding students who could not afford to pay their way.

Dr Tapie, who heads ESSEC Business School, argues that it is crucial to act quickly.

"The opportunity for growth is now. If we don't grasp it, in 10 years it will be too late and France will have failed to position itself as one of the world's key destinations."

The course of action advocated by Dr Tapie makes him something of an iconoclast in a country that is run by a tightly knit elite of leaders, businessmen and engineers who were all educated in the country's grandes écoles.

But Yves Poilane, director of Telecom ParisTech, another of the grandes ecoles, has argued that the expansion of courses taught in English rather than French is an important step in boosting higher education enrolment.

"In computer sciences and telecommunications, we struggle to recruit the best students available because competition is so very, very intense," he said, adding that the students he would like to recruit do not necessarily speak French.

Dr Tapie goes as far as calling for the Toubon law, which restricts the use of English in France, to be repealed in higher education.

Under the terms of this law, all university courses must be taught in French, with the exception of language courses and those offered by institutions that welcome foreign students or provide "international courses".

The law's vagueness offers the grandes écoles room to manoeuvre. But the elite institutions know they are treading on sensitive ground, and they have felt forced to issue denials that they are turning their back on the French language.

Many insist that their English-speaking foreign students leave university with a better grasp of the French language, and even more importantly, a love of French culture.

"France has nothing to lose, because our lifestyle will not only be more protected than if it were kept in a museum, but it will be more vivid if we share it with others," said Dr Tapie.

"France is exactly like China. We have a very robust culture that is several thousand years old. At ESSEC, foreign students enrich the life of the school. Instead of diluting our culture, they make it more universal."

Scholarly use of French defended

Nevertheless, Dr Tapie admitted that calling for France to embrace globalisation was an extremely unpopular idea.

"When we first presented our ideas at a press conference in March 2010, they were perceived as very embarrassing," he said.

Le Monde waited six months before publishing the editorial it commissioned from Dr Tapie on the issue. Staunch advocates of the French language were quick to criticise his proposals.

In a rebuttal also published in Le Monde, Bernard Sergent, a researcher at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), accuses Dr Tapie of giving up on the French language and of playing into the hands of the far-right National Front.

"French is the world's second most important scientific language and Dr Tapie's proposals will destroy it," he wrote.

While such arguments do not hold water with the majority of France's scientists, others have campaigned to defend the scholarly use of French.

In 2008, several thousand researchers signed a petition calling on the AERES, the French equivalent of the UK's Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education, to stop snubbing academic work published in French.

Christine Solnon, president of the French Association for Constraint Programming, has denied prioritising the use of French over opportunities for international impact, but said that her efforts are meant to support young researchers who are not yet fluent in English.

"I'm not asking for AERES to rate scientific journals written in French as highly as international journals, but our work should be taken into account," she said.

AERES insists, however, that the language of publication does not figure among the criteria its evaluators use to assess scientific journals.

Dr Tapie has found some allies beyond the elite classrooms of the grandes écoles, but has yet to recruit the full support of the academy.

Jean-Charles Pomerol, president of Pierre and Marie Curie University, France's largest scientific complex, said that while he believes in increasing tuition fees for non- European students, he has held back on introducing any new policies.

"We take our cue from the state, so we are waiting to find out whether we should impose higher tuition fees on foreign students," he said, adding that he believed it was unfair to ask French taxpayers to fund the education of wealthy foreigners.

Professor Pomerol acknowledged that tuition fees are a sensitive question, and said that academic and student unions would battle hard to prevent a fee hike for foreign students.

"They would say that it was just the first step before introducing fees for everybody," he said, adding that it was difficult to tell if their fears were justified.

Meanwhile, the academic union SNESUP (Syndicat National de l'Enseignement Supérieur) argues that offering classes in English is a luxury few universities could afford, even if foreign students paid higher tuition fees.

"Universities are so underfunded today that I can't imagine opening such courses, because we struggle to pay our regular language teachers," said Stephane Tassel, the union's secretary general.

Damaging to research

Mr Tassel claimed the decision of the grandes écoles to target more foreign students would damage research and higher education in France.

"We are going to see four to five ivory towers emerge in an academic desert in which it will be impossible to do any proper research," he said.

Mr Tassel also argued that in the race to woo international students, the grandes écoles have a head start.

"It's interesting to note that these proposals come from the grandes écoles, which receive two to three times the funds allocated to (non-elite) universities," he said.

In a sector known for strikes and demonstrations, it would appear that all the ingredients for unrest are in place. But most observers feel it is unlikely that any will occur before the next presidential elections.

It is more likely that the grandes écoles, some of which are private institutions, will continue to quietly usher in change.

Business school HEC Paris, for example, has long embraced globalisation and high tuition fees. Overall, the institution's enrolment is 24 per cent non-European. And of the students on its prestigious MBA programme, 70 per cent are non-European and an additional 15 per cent come from European countries other than France.

"We're already there," said HEC Paris general director Bernard Ramanantsoa. "For us the change was progressive."

He added that the internationalisation of higher education had already blurred divisions between grandes écoles and universities. While some universities are entering the fray of international competition, others are stalling.

"It's a question of willpower for some," he said, "but for others it's a question of resources."

Article from The Times Higher Education (www.timeshighereducation.co.uk)

Important tip-off for 1ère students concerning the BAC de Français

2011-05-08T12:00:00.003+02:00

Dear Readers,

For those of you in 1ère, as you know, there’s the BAC de Français at the end of the year. But what will be on it? This article will help you guess what is more likely to come up on the day.

Key:

Y Was the paper on this year

N Wasn’t the paper on this year

★ More stars means it’s more likely

Bac L

Thèmes	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	Probable in 2011?
Le roman et ses personnages	N	N	Y	N	Y	★★★★☆
La poésie	Y	N	N	N	N	★★★★☆
Le théâtre : texte et représentation	N	N	N	Y	N	★★★☆☆
L’argumentation : convaincre, persuader et délibérer	N	N	N	N	N	★★★☆☆
Un mouvement littéraire et culturel	N	N	N	N	N	★★☆☆☆
L’autobiographie	N	Y	N	N	N	★★★★☆
Les réécritures	N	N	N	N	Y	★★★☆☆

Bac ES & S

Thèmes	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	Probable in 2011?
Le roman et ses personnages	N	N	Y	N	N	★★★★☆
La poésie	N	N	N	N	N	★★★★☆
Le théâtre : texte et représentation	N	N	N	Y	N	★★★☆☆
L’argumentation : convaincre, persuader et délibérer	Y	Y	N	N	Y	★★★☆☆

How can you predict which ‘Thèmes’ are less likely?

L’Etudiant.fr conducted a survey on some teachers earlier this year. From their results, it’s less likely that a paper treating a literary and cultural movement will appear in the BAC this year. The teachers interviewed said that this type of paper would be “Too difficult”, “Too restricted” and others said “Not all teachers study the same movements with their students”. But in any case, it is highly recommended to revise the authors, examples of their work and what literary movement and period they belong to. This would be important whatever the paper is. “A student must know where to situate authors in history, in a literary movement and of what period”, says Caroline Reys, teacher at Ribeauvillé. Sophie Saulnier, teacher at the Lycée d’Argenteuil stated “It’s fundamental to know the major literary movements, to know where to place the authors within it – this knowledge will help a student to do well in the other papers to do with other ‘Thèmes’ ”.

What’s most likely and why?

Part of the programme since 2007, ‘le roman et ses personnages’ is a classic. Even though it was the paper in 2010 for the S and ES séries, it could well come back. It covers all the fundamentals of French literature, such as the great authors of the 19^th century like Stendhal, Balzac, Flaubert and Zola, right up to modern literature, such as Duras, Sarraute and Céline. It also refers to some collège classwork. The student will have to have read at least four classics and have around ten different characters revised.

This year, ‘la poésie’ is highly expected because it hasn’t been on the papers since 2006. For this, you should revise some poetry by Baudelaire, Rimbaud, Apollinaire, Hugo, Eluard, Aragon and Char, for the best possible results. In this ‘Thème’, it’s not essential to write page upon page for the Commentaire. What you need to do, to do your best, is to have all the techniques well-revised. This means, to be able to talk about ‘la versification’, metaphors and what they signify, the way the poet creates an image in your mind, to be able to talk about rhymes and rhythms, etc. For the Commentaire in this paper, it’s all about quality, not quantity!

For the students in 1ère L, ‘l’autobiographie’ seems top of the list of probabilities. The texts that would almost certainly appear would be “Les Essais” by Montaigne, “Les Confessions” by Rousseau and “Les Mémoires d’outre tombe” by Chateaubriand. Sophie Saulnier, teacher at the Lycée d’Argenteuil, said that “This paper won’t exist from next year onwards. Why not finish the old programme with this very literary subject… for those in L, who should be capable of differentiating the different forms of autobiography: memoirs, diaries, auto fiction…”

Despite the fact that last year’s predictions were right, you still need to revise everything! Better safe than sorry!

Article by The Editor

Read more articles like this

L’étudiant.fr - Lots more tips to succeed in getting a good note: http://www.letudiant.fr/bac/zoom-bac.html (in French)

Leave timetable alone, says poll

2011-04-10T12:00:00.000+02:00

Most people who took part in an internet debate on possible changes to school timetabling want things to stay as they are.

While key topics such as shortening the summer holidays (balanced by lengthening other ones) or axing the four-day week generated opinions for and against, a majority opposed change. Five thousand took part in the consultation organised by Education Minister Luc Chatel, of whom 49 per cent were parents of pupils, 22 per cent were teachers and 11 worked in education in other capacities.

The length of the summer holidays was the topic that drew the most interest (2,000 comments collected); however, only 46 per cent thought they should be reduced. Those in favour said some children forget what they have learnt over the summer and that the All Saints and Christmas holidays were too short in comparison. However, arguments against shortening included problems with attending school in hot weather or the fact that the current arrangements fit with business closures in July or August and immigrant families take advantage of the long break to visit relatives abroad. Only 33 per cent of people taking part wanted to change the controversial four-day primary school week (brought in two years ago), which has been criticised as tiring by some parents’ and teachers’ bodies, the national Academy of Medicine and a recent parliamentary report. Those in favour of five days thought the current arrangement compressed the lessons into too short a period (with both overly long days and excessive breaks from work), and did not “respect the children’s natural rhythms”; others thought it benefitted them to rest on Wednesdays.

Some opponents said the four-day week suited families who could afford to provide a range of activities for their children, while in poorer families they often spend their time off in front of the television; five days is therefore better overall, according to this view.

Another topic creating discussion was homework, with 45 per cent saying children’s personal work should be integrated into the school day at primary school. Many people said there was too much homework, tiring children unnecessarily, and that it is a burden on parents, who end up having to help. A majority felt homework should remain, though some said there should be less handed out. “There should be a reasonable amount, not too much,” said one mother, who added the amounts given at present “affect family life”. Some respondents felt the four-day week had resulted in teachers giving more homework to compensate for the shorter week. While the government will continue to consider timetabling this year, another priority will be violence and harassment in schools. An inquiry into the problem is being launched next month, to be repeated every two years. Seventy per cent of heads of the 184 schools identified as having the worst problems have now had special training, and the rest are to receive it during the first few months of this year. By the end of the year, all trainee teachers will be given new training in class management.

Article from www.connexionfrance.com

Here’s how it’s working out in America. Although the aim isn’t to save money, the basic concept remains the same.

Revolt stirs in France's schools against 'elitist' education system

2011-04-03T12:00:00.000+02:00

The French government is experimenting with introducing more cultural activities in schools and has reformed the grading system in primaries. Photograph: Alamy

Classrooms experiment with catering for diverse needs of pupils in move away from marks-based system

It's hard to believe, when lessons are under way, that there are 700 children at Lou Redounet high school in Uzés, southern France. The corridors are silent; not a single pupil is out of place.

But behind the classroom doors a series of revolutionary experiments is under way. Children falling behind in maths, French and English are being taken aside for extra tutoring. In a few classes the tough marking system that dominates French schools has been quietly dropped. Teachers are encouraged to treat every pupil as an individual. By British standards these changes seem uncontroversial, but in France they are deemed so radical that they have already cost one headteacher his job.

In one class, 11-year-olds are asked to come up with verbs to describe what they have just read in The Odyssey. Twenty-nine hands shoot up in the air vying for the teachers' attention, every pupil in the room clamouring to take part in the debate.

Abdul Berthelot, an English teacher who is working on the experiments, says: "We have changed the marks to focus more on skills and knowledge, and not just knowledge. There is less pressure. It means the children are confident and enjoy the class. You won't see this level of engagement in many other classes. It ends the psychological dependency these children have on marks.

"This is a little revolution. Our system is elitist. Marking is everything. It used to be that at the end of each year the kids were ranked in each subject. That doesn't happen any more but we still have that spirit."

Paul Robert, the headteacher, describes the experiments as "tiny and shy" in the face of fierce opposition to change from the education authorities and some staff. He was forced out of his last job after a backlash. There, his ambition had been to reduce grade repetition – children being held back a year – by giving them individualised lessons.

Robert says the system conspires against change; because teachers are employed by the state rather than the school, they are more concerned with inspectors' opinions than those of headteachers. Meanwhile, the unions resist reform and the government provides no consistent strategy. He describes the French education system as a "huge prehistoric animal unable to walk due to its own weight".

There are several things that typify the French education system. First, it is intensely academic, driven by a grading system that marks out of 20 and rules with an iron fist. Children repeat years if they fall behind and have among the longest school days in Europe. Second, most teachers consider themselves to be academic instructors rather than educators in the wider sense. From an early age lessons look more like university lectures than nurturing learning environments. Thirdly, it is incredibly uniform. Enter a grade-one science class in any part of the country, and you will see a very similar lesson. Variation is fiercely frowned upon.

But many now believe this system is no longer working. France is rapidly falling behind in international league tables. The last major international study, by the OECD last year, found the performance of the lowest-achieving students in France had declined steeply, while the performance of the highest-achieving students remained the same. Boys in particular are seeing their grades fall.

For the British government, which in England is championing a more traditional curriculum with a French-style baccalaureate, it's worth asking why.

Eunice Mangado-Lunetta, director of Afev, the Association of the Student Foundation for the City, which works with children in the poorest areas, providing mentors to support them through school, says the problem is that an academically based, uniform system is struggling to cater for a diverse population, leaving those from the most troubled areas behind. "Our system is historically very elitist. Now we need a system that caters for all children – especially the children in more disadvantaged areas."

The organisation holds an annual event, journée du refus de l'échec scolaire – the day of refusal of school failure – when they publish the results of a survey that shows the damaging effects of the system.

"Kids from an early age of school are convinced they are not going to succeed. They think highly of their teachers, but they think it's their fault that they fail. They feel guilt and failure," she says. "We tend to confuse effort and suffering. We think harsh school is normal but we think that it's OK to be harsh."

France's decline in the international rankings has focused minds. A book by the Paris-based British academic Peter Gumbel published last year titled On achève bien les écoliers? (They shoot schoolchildren, don't they?) sharpened attention further. In it he argued that the education system was systematically undermining children's confidence.

"By every international comparison kids here have a low level of self-confidence and lack of self-esteem and fear of failure and no fun at school," he says. "Even people who have done well have a nasty butterfly feeling in their stomach when they think of school."

A disconnect between the traditional academic education system and the diverse needs of the pupils it caters for is increasingly recognised. The grading system has been reformed in primary schools to make it more diagnostic than a simple mark out of 20, although many teachers have continued the old system anyway. The government is experimenting with introducing more arts and cultural activities in schools. There are moves to give headteachers more freedom over the curriculum.

Luc Chatel, the education minister, has also acknowledged that the long schools days are outdated, saying schools "are still revolving around late 19th century lifestyles which are no longer relevant".

But in France, as in England, education is tightly bound to political ideologies that can hamper change. The right argues the answer is more academic rigour, while the left says the system needs to be changed to cater for young people's needs and skills. This is counter-interpreted as a move to "dumb down". Some headteachers argue this leaves no room for policy-making based on evidence. Others say the problem of trying to change the education system runs to the heart of French culture.

Sitting in the wood-panelled offices of the director of one of France's most elite universities might be the last place you might expect to have every stereotype about the snobbery of the French openly aired and confirmed. But Richard Descoings, the softly spoken director of Sciences Po, the institute for political studies in Paris, says: "In France it's like if you don't belong to a certain part of the population you are considered not as clever or hard-working. This is not true. It is unjust."

Obituaries in Le Monde habitually include the deceased's success in university entrance exams as a mark of their status. "It's crazy, your ability at 18 is not a mark of your life's work," he says. "It's not that we have a bad system; it's a system that is dated. Historically dated and sociologically marked."

Descoings' institution has adapted the admissions system to actively recruit and give extra grants to pupils from poorer homes. He thinks the single thing that could make a difference is improving teacher training. 'We need to tell them that their job is not only to teach but to educate; In France we don't make a difference between teaching and learning. We use the same verb "apprendre". They need to become educators in the widest possible sense."

Back in Uzés, Robert is trying to tackle this problem on the ground. "I try to encourage teachers to take a wider role. The foundation of the teacher is exclusively academic. But children's needs have radically changed. So we have an evolution of pupils' needs and the job of teacher has not changed," he says.

Patrick Gonthier, secretary general of the Unsa education union, admits some teachers are resistant to change, but says this is partly because education has become so politicised that changes are rarely effective or sustained.

He cites a particular example. Last year the government scrapped teacher training colleges, themselves an experiment by a previous government, meaning that in September teachers started work with no training, only an academic background and a mentor to oversee them. Because many new teachers are sent first to the most difficult schools, this is entrenching problems with a new generation of untrained teachers, he says.

Some 70,000 teaching posts have also vanished under the government's policy of not replacing one out of two civil servants in an effort to cut costs. French teachers have adopted a British term for the stress they are experiencing: "burn-out".

Gonthier says the crisis is mounting and that France must acknowledge its republican, one-size-fits-all system is no longer appropriate for all children. "French education is not failing, but it is approaching failure. It is very difficult for the French to accept that the republican system is inefficient to compensate for the difficulty of people's background. We live on the ideal that the public system is here to open the opportunities for you. It's not living up to that ideal."

Article from The Guardian

Organize a minute of silence in your school for the Japan disaster

2011-03-27T13:00:00.000+02:00

Dear Readers,

As there is probably no need to point out, Japan was hit by it’s worst disaster since 1945, earlier this month. Thousands upon thousands of people have lost everything they own. Many have only the clothes on their backs. Hundreds of thousands whose homes were destroyed still have no power, no hot meals and in many cases have not showered in two weeks. Latest official figures show that over 10,000 people have died, over 17,000 people are missing and thousands more are injured as a result of the earthquake and tsunami. However, Japan also faces a different kind of threat. As you probably know, the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant overheated and huge explosions were seen as the hydrogen that had built up inside combusted. This was because the fuel tanks and other equipment for the back-up generators that were in place to keep the water circulation moving, were washed away in the tsunami after the earthquake. Japan is now praying for a miracle as a massive nuclear disaster and the menace of a nuclear meltdown looms.

So, The Lycée Times has decided to encourage the students of France to organize a minute of silence in their schools. Whether it’s a primary school or a university, just one class or the whole school, you would be showing your support for the thousands of emergency service staff and relief workers, as well as the victims of this terrible disaster.

If you’re planning on making it a school event, you can download a ready-made promotion poster here, to post around your school. Although please make sure you have permission from the schools principal before doing so. You can hold your minute of silence on whatever day you like (you just need to fill in the blanks on the poster) and if it’s just for your class, you only need the permission of the teacher you have at the time.

If you want to take it further and do a sponsored silence or just make a donation, visit the official Croix Rouge Française website at www.croix-rouge.fr or go directly to the donation page at www.bit.ly/CRF-Japon.

If you are going to organize this event in your school, or have organized it, we would love to know how it went and how many took part. Send us a quick email at thelyceetimes@gmail.com. If you include the name of your school, we’ll add it to the Japan Disaster page of our website. If your feeling sceptical about how many people would be willing to take part, don’t be. Even if no-one has been talking about it, they know about it and the chances are they want to do something about it! You’d be surprised!

Good luck do-gooders!

The Editor

England or France for university?

2011-03-20T12:00:00.000+01:00

The big dilemma in our lives at the moment is helping older daughter decide where to go to university, and so far we’ve not been much use.

The first decision is whether England or France is the ‘best’ option and there doesn’t seem to be an easy answer…each have their own merits, and expats with university level children all have a different story to tell. Whatever the reasons, a great deal of expat children return to the UK to go to university.

I’ve tried to list the advantages of each below, as I understand them. Since these are based as much on gossip and hearsay as factual information, all useful input and guidance is very welcome, especially where what I’ve been told is completely wrong!

Benefits and disadvantages of going to university in England

There is said to be more ‘open discussion’ between lecturers and students in UK universities

Better student environment and more extra-curricular activities – many students in France go to university close to home and go home at weekends, which means university social life is less exciting.

It will ensure that her level of written and spoke English is comparable with any other UK based student

Benefits and disadvantages of going to university in France

Universities in France are much cheaper, and students don’t leave university with a large debt. Bourses are also sometimes available (but means-tested). Undoubtedly it will be much cheaper for us as well as her if she stays in France, but I’m trying to ignore that for the moment!

Learning tends to be by rote in French universities, more like an extension of school, with lecturers less open to discussion and criticism. Although this sounds like a disadvantage, getting down to actual ‘learning’ isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it’s a question of degree!

Large class sizes – in France universities tend to use success in courses as selection criteria rather than interviews etc., so it’s generally easier to get in – but there is a higher dropout rate, especially in the first year.

It will ensure complete fluency in French at all levels

Overall

I’m guessing that a degree from a respectable French university carries the same weight for future career prospects as a degree from a similar quality university in Britain, and the subjects will be taught to a reasonably similar level…

…but it is also often said that because the UK school system is quite poor, despite A grade exams being awarded to a high percentage of students, universities need to spend the first year ‘catching up’ to the level that schools used to reach. Presumably if true this means that the degree also ends up being lower quality.

…and I also suspect it will be easier to get a job in an English company with a degree from France than vice-versa – the French are quite protective about their job market and I have a feeling they will often tend to opt for someone with a degree from France, whereas English companies will just choose the best candidate, regardless of which country the degree comes from. So might a degree from England be ruling out future job prospects in France?

In recent discussions about university choices in her class at lycée, our daughter was startled by how many people said they were going to a nearby university so they didn’t have to be away from home too much. (Sounds a bit unimaginative perhaps, but also shows how important family is in French society, much more so than in the UK, which is no bad thing.)

Of course, the real answer is perhaps for a student to just go where they like, according to the course on offer. Things usually turn out OK anyway, but it would be interesting to hear any experiences that might help me sound like a more useful and knowledgeable parent!

Article from www.francethisway.com

Starting school in France

2011-03-13T12:00:00.000+01:00

Dear Readers,

Deciding to move to France with children can be a hard decision to make. Will they find it too hard? Will they be able to keep up in school? Will they struggle to make friends? In this article, we’ll try help you make that decision wisely.

1. Getting into a French school

To get into a collège or lycée in France, you can do it through an exam. This exam tests your abilities in maths and French. You can easily pass this exam and get into the class you want to get into. The aim of it is to be able to give your future school an idea of what kind of student you are, and how you are in maths and French. The French test might be a few lines of translation or some questions on a document. This exam determines what class you’ll go into. Not all schools will want this done, so it’s better to arrange an appointment with the school and meet the principle to talk about it. The exam option isn’t worth doing unless the school require it. In any case, the school will arrange the exam for you, so you could find it hard to organise it when you have no official papers from the school to say they’re interested.

If your school doesn’t want you to pass an exam, they’ll probably still want to see your results from the previous school. In any case, make sure that from the first meeting onwards, you have your latest school report from your current school, some form of ID could be useful (passport, driving licence…), you may want to ask your current school’s principal for your records etc. as this may be asked for. With this paperwork, you should be ready for your first meeting with the French school’s principal.

2. Which is best? ‘Privé’, ‘public’ or international school?

If you are unsure whether public or privé is better, click here to read our article which explains the two and compares one to the other.

For the list of more common, everyday schools, funded by the government, click here.

Here is a directory of private international schools in France: link on www.frenchentree.com.

In addition to the International Schools listed in the directory you may also be interested to learn about the international sections within certain French lycées. There are 12 British sections and 7 American. In addition to teaching the French curriculum students are also taught to A level standard in English. This allows successful students to go on to study for the ‘Option Internationale Baccalaureate’ (not the same thing as the International Baccalaureate). A full list of these lycées can be found on the official government CIEP site (Centre International d'Etudes Pédagogiques). Here are the direct links to lists of the international schools in France: Primaire (Primary); Collège (Secondary); Lycée (College).

3. How will my children get on in a French school?

The answer to this question varies quite a lot and it really depends on how willing they are to integrate. New foreign students have to make big efforts (especially in their first year), to be accepted by the native students as ‘willing’ and also to learn the language. It’s all too easy to just stay in a group of English-speaking students and if you do this, you’ll be at a massive disadvantage later down the line, moving on to lycée or university with a level of French that could have been better had you spoken to more French students.

Some schools participate in the FLE (Français Langue Etrangère) program. This is basically French classes for English-speaking students during school hours, in the school. However, if you have GCSE level French, you may not benefit from it a lot, but it’s definitely worth going to. The more French you can listen to and speak, the better you’ll get on.

You’ll have to bear in mind that there’s always that minority that will reject a foreigner at first sight, no matter what your level of French is. This is experienced by anyone, of any age, moving to any foreign country (Britain included). It’s an unavoidable situation and you’ll have to learn to cope with it. Showing you’re willing to learn the language and try to speak it can help you to be accepted by the majority of these people. You just need to prove their prejudices wrong.

Article by The Editor

It’s our birthday!

2011-03-06T12:00:00.001+01:00

Dear Readers,

It’s our first birthday! Yes, The Lycée Times started out exactly one year ago today! Here’s a thank you video for our readers, which also contains a few sneak-peeks for what’s coming up in 2011.

Teachers outside digital divide

2011-02-13T12:00:00.000+01:00

Dear Readers,

Despite France being one of the leading suppliers of information technology and communications equipment it is still firmly low-tech when it comes to its use in schools.

A report to education minister Luc Chatel has shown that while France is eighth in Europe for hi-tech supplies it is third bottom of the class – or 24th – for actually using the same equipment in the classroom. Only 66 per cent of teachers here could say in the survey that they had used a computer in class compared to 96 per cent of teachers in the UK and 90 per cent in Denmark. The survey also found the average school computer was seven years old.

Mr Chatel is not impressed. He said during a debate on the state of technology in schools that “the future of school will not be written on a blackboard”. He was revealing a €60 million investment over three years in training teachers in modern hi-tech methods and said: “The lack of proper training of teachers in digital technologies is the single major obstacle to its use in the classroom”. With many pupils being used to having digital technology at their fingertips it is seen as absurd that the education system has fallen so far behind everyday life.

Educationists say technology in the classroom helps boost student motivation and allows teachers to make rapid changes to teaching materials to respond to pupils’ needs and abilities. It also allows for greater communication between teachers, pupils and parents. However, some teachers claim never to have used computers or digital whiteboards in class, with 53 per cent of them believing installing computers wastes class time; 35 per cent fear they will disrupt classes, and 32 per cent doubting their effectiveness as teaching aids. Some practical concerns were also put forward with 32 per cent saying they did not have computer resources and 20 per cent saying they had never had training to use the new technology. Schools also highlighted the problem of maintaining the equipment with teachers often being left with the job of fixing or finding workarounds to IT problems; and then having to prepare alternate lesson plans in case of IT failure.

Mr Chatel has set five main objectives: ease the access to digital resources by setting up a central database; putting in place better training of teachers, create widespread access to digital resources and work areas, rebuild links with local communities and teach pupils in the use of digital technology and communication.

Article from The Connexion (www.connexionfrance.com)

Pupils test new school routine

2011-02-06T12:00:00.000+01:00

Dear Readers,

This weeks recommended read is in The Connexion paper for ex-pats.

More than 100 collèges and lycées have been testing out a new timetable since September that gives pupils traditional classes in the mornings while the afternoons are dedicated to sports and cultural activities.

Promoted by education minister Luc Chatel, the project aims to cut truancy and violence by rethinking the school “rhythm” or number of hours worked in a day. Subjects that need concentration will be done in the morning, with physical or leisure topics in the afternoons.

Launching it in June with a public debate around teaching hours, Mr Chatel insisted that other countries who had adopted such time-tables had observed good results in reduction of absenteeism and violence prevention. The Collège Fersen in Antibes was one of the four schools in the Nice academic zone that came forward to try out the new timetable, with two classes, a 6ème (11 year olds) and a 5ème (12 year olds) chosen for the experiment. In total, the experiment is being tried on some 60 out of the 470 pupils in the collège. Deputy head Sandra Etling said: “When we knew that the new school hours were going to be put in place, it became evident that the Collège Fersen would participate because we have had special sports sections for years. “A quarter of our students are in sports sections and we have already arranged flexible schedules for them, so there is a know-how in this school for finishing early, doing other activities and arranging the timetable around training. “It is also true that sports students are generally good students. So we thought, why not try it out for other students who, to start with, were not volunteers to do sports? “The odds are that this arrangement could bring something positive for them and could lead to good achievement in class.”

Each of the two test classes is divided between a special basketball section and a normal section. In the mornings, the whole class arrives at 8.00 for their normal lessons: maths, French, history, languages, sciences etc.
Between 12.00 and 13.00, the pupils have lunch and during the afternoon they do activities of their choice.
Twice a week, half the class goes to basketball practice, while the others go to the class they signed up for: music, theatre, writing, Formula 1 model-building or racket sports. Then the pupils come together again for the other two afternoons of music and art and the compulsory PE class. During all afternoon classes, the 6ème and 5ème experimental classes mix up. Wednesday afternoons are free. Mrs Etling said: “There are obvious advantages, because those pupils without the arrangement would have finished lessons when their classmates went to basketball training. “That would have been very early – about 13.00 or 14.00 – and they would have been left by themselves, whereas here they are supervised and we offer the possibility of doing activities they might not be able to do outside school. “Insofar as sports students who have a strong motivation for other activities do well at school, there is no reason why a student who has not understood something in the morning, but can work on it in the afternoon, would not do well.” Two other classes in the collège get flexible school hours; they are part of the swimming section who train at the local swimming pool every day from 15.00 to 17.00. The collège also has special arrangements for golf, sailing and trampoline sections.

As far as academic lessons go, children on the new hours follow the same state-imposed curriculum as children outside the experiment and are expected to reach the same achievement levels as them. “They do not miss anything. We have left absolutely all the official programme and added the activities on top of it, but it is concentrated in the mornings,” Mrs Etling said. Switching to the new hours for two classes did not involve serious reorganisation at Collège Fersen, but rather fitted it in what had been in place for years. Mrs Etling said: “It is the first year we have added the other activities, but, for the sports sections, we have been arranging their timetable so they have more lessons in the morning for a long time. “There are not any real drawbacks with only two classes, but would we be able to generalise it to all the classes, bearing in mind that we need the sports facilities every afternoon?
“It is more complicated.
“For us, it has not been a problem as we already did this before. The experiment has allowed us to obtain more time slots and better terms for the sports facilities.”
For children of 6ème, however, the move from elementary school to both a new collège and a new timetable meant that they faced quite a few adjustments, especially in becoming used to longer days. Nevertheless, most have shown enthusiasm for their new timetable, saying it allowed them to practise activities they enjoyed instead of imposed ones. It also meant they could concentrate better for the traditional classes in the morning. Mrs Etling said: “When we offered it to the children, we had no refusals. We told them about it at the rentrée and invited the families. No child or parents asked to leave and, while they did not choose it, they all adhered to it.”

In the music group, all the children from the younger age group expressed satisfaction with the new hours, which allowed them more freedom in choosing activities. However, older pupils from 5ème complained their schedule was too packed and that they often did not have enough time to do their homework.

The theatre pupils were very enthusiastic about their timetable, too. One girl said it was good to keep heavier subjects in the morning for better concentration and fun for later in the day, when they are more tired.
She said the afternoon activities offered them a new perspective on school and on their teachers, whom they could see in a different light.

For teachers, however, the new timetable implied extra work and extra hours. Mrs Etling said: “We have chosen to work with willing teachers for the activities. We have only had to have one extra teacher to help out on the theatre classes.
“We had to find people who, on top of the basic timetable, were willing to do extra hours as part of this experiment.”
The lone music teacher, Monique Mortier, said she had to work an extra afternoon since the new arrangement was put in place. However, the positive side was she taught particularly motivated children and, thanks to the programme, the school had received some free equipment from the conseil general.

Class results for this trimester will be out soon. These, along with the regular reports to the area’s academy and the education ministry on the children’s progress, should allow preliminary conclusions to be drawn on the prospects of success for the scheme. Collège Fersen has not decided yet whether to continue the experiment next year but will continue to offer support to young sportspeople.

Article from The Connexion (www.connexionfrance.com)

Class equivalents in French Lycée and Collège

2011-01-30T12:00:00.000+01:00

Dear Readers,

Many ex-pats move over to France every year with their families. Getting their children into the right school year is one very important thing every family has to do. So, in this article, we’ll be taking a look at how the French education system is organised.

Click image to see in better quality

As you can see in the diagram, students go into 6ème at the age of 11, straight after primary school. They are now in collège (also known as the ‘premier cycle’). They will go through 5ème and 4ème before going into 3ème where they’ll pass the brevet at the end of the year. Their year average in 3ème will decide whether or not they’ll go through to lycée. The brevet doesn’t decide whether a student passes through to lycée, the decision is already made around 3 weeks before the student even enters the exam hall. To read more about collège and its subjects, click here.

After collège, lycée is reached and the student will have to decide whether they’ll take a lycée professionel course or go for the lycée général et technologique which is chosen by the vast majority of students. After the first year of lycée, 2nde, the student passes into 1ère. Some BAC exams are done in this school year but it depends on what the student has picked (S, ES, L, STG…). It is recommended to keep an eye on Onisep.fr for further changes to the lycée curriculum and exams. You can read more about lycée if you click here and learn about the lycée reform and its consequences by clicking here.

Article by The Editor

La réforme des classes préparatoires - After Lycée

2011-01-23T12:00:00.000+01:00

Dear Readers,

If you’re thinking of going onto further education after the BAC, you may be considering doing journalism, being an interpreter or translator, or even being a librarian. If any of those careers interest you, you may want to know about the changes in the system of the “Classes préparatoires littéraires”. Although these specialised courses aren’t the only way to access a university of journalism, for example, they do give you a head-start and also priority to a place there. However, only a select few make it through to these every year. Normally around 100 students from all of France. It’s a lot of work but it would pay off if you were willing to go for it. These schools don’t just look for good results, they want to be able to see that you were a good student who worked hard and paid attention in Lycée.

First of all, let’s take a look at the system and steps to take to get to where you want to be. After your BAC, providing you have done L, ES or S, you can go on to do what’s called a “Classe préparatoire littéraire”, also called “classe prépa” for short. In these classes, you do your first year of “Hypokhâgne indifférenciée”. The students of this year are called the “hypokhâgneux”. All “hypokhâgneux” must attend 5 hours of French literature, 5 hours of history, 4 hours of philosophy, 4 hours of the first modern language, 3 hours of ancient language and cultures (2 hours of Latin or Ancient Greek and 2 hours of antique culture), 2 hours of geography and 2 hours of a second modern language a week. Then comes a chosen subject which can be art, ancient languages, geography or another modern language. In khâgne, which is the second year which comes after “hypokhâgne indifférenciée”, the compulsory subjects and their respective tuition hours depend on the kind of speciality chosen:

in literature, in philosophy, in history/geography or in geography (explicit curriculum)
in classical literature (Latin and ancient Greek, ancient history)
in modern languages (two modern languages are to be studied)
in musicology, in art history, in cinematography or in theatre studies

Here is a diagram to resume the system:

Line Carpentier of Lycée Guez de Balzac talks about their classe prépa options

Useful:

Here is this years programme for the concours A/L de l’Ecole Normale Supérieure (ENS) for 2011. Click here to download. (In French).
Here is the site for the ENS: www.ens.fr
The inscriptions open for the ENS in April.

Article by The Editor

Related articles

www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1F9Ha8Ymfw

Parents call for boycott of tests

2011-01-16T12:00:00.000+01:00

Dear Readers,

The largest parents’ federation is calling for a boycott on tests to be held in the last year of primary school (CM2) next week.

The FCPE says the start-of-year tests for the CM2 classes, launched three years ago, are a “profound mistake”. A spokesman said: “It is not acceptable for children to be evaluated on things they have not been taught yet.” They are asking their members to write to schools saying they refuse to have their children’s results passed to the government.
The tests are to evaluate children’s level in French grammar, spelling and basic maths such as decimals or mental arithmetic. However FCPE believes it is inappropriate for the children to be tested at this early date before they have properly understood the new topics they have started this school year.

The leader of teachers’ union SE-Unsa, Christian Chevalier, said that the government held a consultation on the issue several months ago, but had not taken the union’s views into account. He said: “There should either be a test in September to work out where the gaps are in the children’s knowledge, or one in June, which would be a real evaluation of what they have learnt.”

Education Minister Luc Chatel said there was no question of not holding the tests. “Our system needs evaluations so as to allow each teacher to check on the progress made and pick up on weaknesses of certain children. It is also a performance indicator for our educational system, and over the long term shows us how things are evolving, so we can make adjustments.” He insisted the January date is suitable because it allows teachers to see how things are progressing, while leaving enough time to arrange extra support for children who need a boost before they move on to secondary school. He had listened to the teachers’ views, he said, and, for example, had made changes to the grading of the tests. “They are a more subtle tool now,” he said.

Article from The Connexion

School hours in French Lycée

2011-01-09T12:00:00.000+01:00

Dear Readers,

Many wonder about school in France and school hours. The times aren’t the same as the UK, so I hope to be able to clear up some of the questions you may have, in this article. However, school hours vary slightly around France, but the example I'll be showing in this article is the norm.

In France, Lycée students start the day at 8:00. Then, students normally have two hours of class before a 20 minute break, followed by two hours of class before lunch (to read about school dinners, click here). The afternoon follows the same model except that break is usually shorter. You can see an example of a timetable, below, for a French 1èreL student who’s taking Spanish and Advanced English as options, with English as LV1 and Spanish as LV2 (LV: Langue Vivante / Living Language).

KEY	*** VDC: Vie de Classe (class tutor meeting)
* SVT: Biology (Sciences de la Vie et de la Terre)	‘ TPE: Travaux Personnels Encadrés (a project that goes towards your BAC done in groups of 2 or 3)
** ECJS: Civic Education	² H/G: History and Geography

As you can see, the timetable is packed full some days, like Friday, and almost empty other days, such as Monday. But school starts at 8:00 and ends at 17:20. Many students, teachers and parents aren’t happy with the starting time. Some students have to get up at 5:30 to be able to get their bus in time. You can read more about insomnia in students and the effect on the wider population, by clicking here.

If you have any further questions, please don’t hesitate to email The Lycée Times at thelyceetimes@gmail.com to get a reply to your question in under 24 hours.

Article by The Editor

Choosing a Lycée or Collège

2010-12-12T12:00:00.000+01:00

Dear Readers,

We are approaching the New Year and so I thought that it would be a good idea to help those who are about to start school late. You would be surprised by the number of ex-pats who actually start school in January. So here are some helpful tips on how to choose a Lycée or Collège.

In France, there are two types of schools:

The Private schools (Lycées Privés)
The Public schools

There is a difference between the two, however it is an on-going debate as to which is better.

Public schools	Private schools
The public schools are government funded establishments	Private schools don’t rely on the state for funding, however the curriculum has to be the same as the public school’s
These are more common in France and they’re not the same as what you would call a public school in the UK (Eton etc.)	Private schools are rarer than public schools. These schools are the equivalent of public schools in the UK (Eton etc.)… welcome to France! Everything is the other way round!
These schools have no fees, although there are still books to be bought and canteen bills and so on	These private schools can cost hundreds even thousands of euros a term, not counting books, canteen bills etc.
The public schools sometimes have the possibility of boarding	Private schools almost always have the possibility of boarding. That is the case 99% of the time.
In public schools, the intellectual abilities of each student is respected. When you calculate the year average results for a Lycée and a Collège combined, you’ll usually find an average of around 10. This is normal. It doesn’t mean that it’s worse teaching, it’s just more realistic – Some students are better in science than others, and others in literature. Public schools sometimes have a SEGPA section – a learning difficulties class, for those who find learning a struggle.	Students in private schools are expected to be the next Einstein or Steven Fry. Year average results are expected to exceed 16. There is a student in my class who moved to our Lycée (public) last year because her average of 16 wasn’t enough to get her through to 1ère. I would not recommend a private school to any expat who has little or no knowledge of French.
Public schools only took 7 of the top 20 places for “Best schools in France” for the school year of 2009.	According to a government report, private Lycées dominated the results in 2009 for the best Lycées in France, taking 13 out of the top 20 places, and 62 places out of the top 100 Lycées.
The UNA pointed out in 2009 that 43% of state lycées professionnels have class sizes of at least 100 pupils. While UNA clearly have a point, pupils attending the lycées professionnels sit for a different type of baccalaureate examination than those in the general lycées, so their comparison is a slightly false one. Most general lycées do have larger class sizes than most private schools, but average around 35 pupils per class.	The UNA pointed out that 15% of private lycées have less than 15 pupils per class and 30% less than 19 pupils. However, school results are expected to be much higher than Public Lycées’.

Around 65% of school pupils sat for the baccalaureate in the school year 2009. Over 300,000 pupils passed a “baccalauréat général” examination, 163,085 the “baccalauréat technologique” and 127,662 the “baccalauréat professionnel”.

The pass rate was 88.8% for the “baccalauréat général”, 79% for the “baccalauréat technologique” and 87% for the “baccalauréat professionnel”. These pass rates are increasing each year.

Despite the shortcomings of the figures, as Marie Duru-Bellat, a university professor of sociology at Sciences Po Paris commented to Le Monde: ‘The notion of value added is incontestably progress, to which other factors could be added… but to refuse to examine the differences between schools is ostrich politics.’

Article by The Editor

“My son's experience in a French school was not a good one”

2010-12-05T12:00:00.000+01:00

The following article is borrowed with thanks from www.theguardian.co.uk.

As a new book lays bare the inadequacies of the French education system, Emily Barr relives her own disastrous experience of trying to settle her son into a French primary school: 'I felt sick with recognition'

Emily Barr with her family. Photograph: Guardian

In his first year at his new primary school in Cornwall, my son Gabe gave a talk to the class about his experience the previous year at school in France. "The teacher shouted all the time," he informed his fellow pupils. "She wrote a 'naughty list' on the board. She waved a bamboo stick around. And the reading book was really boring." To emphasise his point, he ripped up a picture he had printed from the offending book and threw it into the air, concluding: "I like English school."

Seven years ago, James and I were thirtysomething backpackers with two small children, not quite ready to stop the adventures. We moved to France because, as a Tefl teacher and a writer, we could, uprooting a two-year-old and a tiny baby and taking them to live near Europe's best surf. We bought the regulation crumbling house and did it up. We spoke French, went to village functions and drove to the beach every weekend. When Gabe turned three, we sent him to the maternelle (nursery) section of the village school, where he settled happily and became bilingual. Many of our friends in Brighton were mired in panic about getting their children into the right schools, whereas everyone knew that the French education system was among the best in the world. It was academically rigorous, dependable, secular. We may have been slightly smug.

But five years later we returned to the UK, desperate to get our children into a good primary, to send them somewhere without a "get it right or you're rubbish" ethos. By that point, I only wanted Gabe to go to a school at which someone would notice or care whether the children were happy or not.

When I read the interviews that the journalist Peter Gumbel has given to promote his new book, On Achève Bien Les Ecoliers (They Shoot Schoolchildren, Don't They?), published this week in France, I felt sick with recognition. Gumbel is a journalist and lecturer at the elite Institut d'Etudes Politiques (better known as Sciences Po) in Paris, and he has two daughters in the French education system. His book lays bare the system's inadequacies. "French children . . . are more anxious and intimidated in school than their peers in Europe or other developed countries," he writes. "They're so terrified by the idea of making mistakes and being lambasted for them, that they'd rather keep their mouths shut than put their hands up." He found his children and his students stressed, ill and massively lacking in confidence.

I remembered the seven-year-old girl who was so scared of not progressing to the next class that she stopped eating. The 10-year-old who was put up a year because she was bright, and found herself in the first year of secondary school in a class with 14-year-old boys who had been kept back repeatedly and who were frustrated and aggressive.

However, this reality did not hit us for several years. Pre-school provision in France is second to none, and we managed to carry on being smug while Gabe, and his little brother, were happy at maternelle. The younger ones would spend much of the afternoon napping on camp beds. Lunch was a three-course meal, and the children danced, painted and played all day long, learned to write their names on squared paper and to count, but with very little pressure.

We moved to a different village an hour's drive away, for James's work, just as Gabe reached six. When we went to visit the new school, the head showed us around, on a day when no children were present. He seemed to be an "Etre et Avoir" kind of superman, running the school, teaching the last year of primary, and also – did he mention? – he was mayor of the village. Alarm bells should have rung, but I ignored them because I wanted it all to be wonderful.

When the new school year started, it did not take long for it all to fall catastrophically apart. Gabe's class teacher, whom we liked, left three days into the school year. She was replaced by a young supply teacher whose heart was not in the job and who had no idea how to teach.

On his first day, Gabe clung to me. On his second day, he clung harder. I waited for him to settle, but it got worse. He cast around for reasons not to go. He invented headaches, stomach ailments. I sometimes let him stay at home, but often sent him in because I had to work. Once or twice I peeled his arms off me and flung him at the teacher. Although he made friends quickly, and his teacher assured me he was doing well, it was heartbreaking, and I look back on this period now and feel I failed him.

School in France has no assembly, no school plays, no music, no clubs. There is a hastily thrown-together entertainment at Christmas. There is no pastoral care. Children go through the system and emerge with a body of knowledge, and everything else is down to the parents.

In CP (cours primaire, aged six), Gabe and his class sat at individual desks, copying handwriting from the board and taking dictation. They learned by rote, and every child in the class would read the same two pages of the reading book on the same day. Some would be bored and frustrated because it was too easy, others stressed because they didn't understand it. The teacher came down harshly on anyone who did not get to grips with the subject, or did not behave acceptably: there was always a "naughty list" on the board, never a "good list".

Victoria, an English woman with a French husband and two children, lives in north-east France, where her eldest child is at a bilingual secondary school. Her daughter "sees huge differences between her native English-speaking teachers, trained in the UK or US, and her 'normal' French teachers," says Victoria. "The former engage with the class, teach creatively, encourage discussion and mark positively, whereas the latter (with exceptions) tend to lecture rather than teach, and mark with terrifying harshness and negativity." Victoria's daughter cannot bring herself to ask if she does not understand something. "In the past we have encouraged her to speak up in class when she hasn't understood," she says, "but other pupils have been greeted with frosty sarcasm by some teachers and the ridicule of classmates, so she won't do it."

We had known for a long time that we were not going to stay in France for ever, but Gabe's unhappiness propelled us home sooner than we anticipated. Gabe and I came to Cornwall to look at schools. When we stepped into St Francis, his current school, his face lit up. The head showed us around, and I watched Gabe's eyes widen as he looked at the PE equipment, the art room, the playing field. Best of all, he plucked up the courage to tell her that he wanted to be a time lord when he grew up, and she said, "Oh good – can I be your assistant?" This is a school that has an overwhelming pastoral ethos, and is not all about the grades. It has a community choir and a vegetable garden. The school production of Alice in Wonderland was rehearsed to such a high standard that many of the children were performing like professionals. Gabe is happy, and there are no "boring" reading books.

That is not to say, of course, that the British system is perfect. There are good schools, and bad schools, and they are driven by the personality of the head. The unseemly scramble for places at desirable establishments would horrify French observers, and rightly so. As would the pretence at religion that goes on.

Dean Dorrell, a British man with a German wife and three French-educated children, also points out that, "One of the great advantages of the French system is the fact that there are basically no private schools. There is no 'them and us' attitude enforced from a young age, which I believe is endemic in the UK education system and translates into the class system that is still quite evident in UK society."

Now, if French schools could become less rigid, and if British schools could be more consistent, then we might all be on to something.

Article from The Guardian (www.theguardian.co.uk)

Moving to France - for families (From French Property News)

2010-11-28T12:00:00.000+01:00

Dear Readers,

The Editor’s note:

The following article was first published in French Property News and has been reproduced here with all permissions from the author. This article should be regarded as a guideline only because it has not been updated since 2005. We cannot, therefore, guarantee that the information it contains is either accurate or current but a lot of it is still useful. Do not make any decisions without consulting the other articles on this blog. The following article is copyright of the author where stated, or copyrighted to The Lycée Times under the Creative Commons licensing system where no author is named. This article may be printed for personal reference, but may not be published, copied or re-used for any other purpose without seeking permission from the author, Sue Elliot.

The Editor

The average age of couples moving to France is dropping rapidly - there are now far more '30-somethings' or '40-somethings' taking the plunge and moving lock stock and children/dogs/cats over to France than there used to be. Ten years ago the average age was probably 55, now it seems to be about 45 and dropping. Many of these families have young children or teenagers and the first question that is asked nowadays is not 'how far is the nearest bar?' but 'how far is the property from schools and what do those schools offer?'

If we take the first part of the question i.e. distance from school to home - in principle this does not pose a problem, as rural areas always provide coaches to pick up the children in out of the way places and get them into school on time. However you could find that you live a considerable distance from the village where the school is situated - this does not necessarily mean the nearest village to you as many villages will combine facilities if they do not have many children in each commune and so the 'maternelle' may be in one village and the 'primaire' in one much further away. This keeps the village schools alive but can mean long journeys. Thus you do need to find out at what time the bus would pass your door or the end of your lane - if this is 7.30 am in order to get the kids to school by 8.50 and then they do not get dropped back until, say, nearly 6.00pm then this could be too long a day for your little one and you might need to consider living closer so that they could either walk to school or only spend a short time on the bus at either end of the school day.
Up until 2 ½ or 3 there are often Crèches where for about 3 euros an hour (a lot less if you are on a low income) you can leave your child in capable hands - all staff are fully trained and registered. The alternative is a registered child minder who has to undergo regular training. However once your cherub has reached 3 then they are eligible to go into the State-run Maternelle establishments, known as TRES PETITE SECTION and MOYENNE SECTION where they can spend all or part of the day - they stay there until the age of 6 but from 5 onwards there is the Elementaire class where they start to learn to read and write.

From 6 onwards they graduate to the GRANDE SECTION and COURS PRIMAIRE FOLLOWED BY COURS ELEMENTAIRE 1 et 2 ET COURS MOYEN 1 et 2.

Attendance at a nationally recognised school is compulsory (prior to this the child can stay at home if that is the parents' preference) and they are put into the first year of the Ecole Primaire, called the CP class, at 7 they go into CE 1, at 8 it's the CE2, at 9 the CM1 and at 10 it's the CM2.

Children who are finding it difficult to cope with the lessons can do one year again and this is sometimes what happens when non-French children attend school for the first time - they retake one year but all efforts are made for all children of whatever nationality, to be in the right age group by the time they reach the age of 11.

Heading For The 'Big School'
For older children - 11 onwards - who go into 'Collège' (i.e. secondary school, please note that what we call College can in fact be several different entities in France, so beware of misusing the word and ending up having a very confusing conversation!) they may sometimes stay in the same building as the 'primaire' but normally they transfer to a separate establishment, much larger and made up of children from many surrounding villages. This is often in a different town so, once again, you need to consider the distance from this for the future.
Like lots of things in France they seem to have the reverse system to us! So at Collège they start in the 6th form (sixième) and do 4 years of general studies, finishing with the 3rd form (troisième) If in the 5th year the child is showing obvious learning difficulties then it is possible to redo a year or to reorientate the child to studies suited to his ability, but this is still quite a rare occurrence apparently.
Collège education is identical throughout France, following the same curriculum, however there is a slight difference recently with regard to the choice of which modern languages the child can study. You will receive a list of local Collèges and from this will see which schools offer, for example, German as a choice, some may offer Spanish and if you feel, when they are about to leave the 'école primaire' that you prefer your child to learn a particular language and this is in a Collège that they would not normally be attending, you need to make a 'demande de dérogation' i.e. ask that your child be admitted to a different Collège and for what reason. After this first year it is no longer possible to change.

16 Years Onwards
After Collège there is the choice of either attending a 'Lycée' - and this can be either général or professionel, the difference is the type of Baccalaureat (similar to A levels but a wider choice of subjects. If you chose the professional route it's because you want to specialise at an early age in something like the hotel trade, for example) or attending a CFA (Centre de Formation d'Apprentissage) which offers practical courses for people wishing to train as builders etc. In the Lycée or the CAF they do the 2nde (seconde) and then 1st (première) years of their education. So as you can see, when they would be in their Sixth Form in the UK they are in their First Year over here!! There is often then the Terminale (i.e. last year) for those who have not finished their Bac in 2 years.
On passing the Baccalaureat the choice is whether to go on to University, find a job, or undertake a further practical training course - and there are some young French taking to the idea of the 'year out' but this is still fairly rare over here.

After 18 - The Choices
University life is very different to that in the UK - on the mainland of Europe the tendency is to go to a university that is not too far from home, so weekends with the family are possible, washing can be taken home on a regular basis and the larder cupboard stocked up by doting parents. They do not have the 'let's get as far away from the aged parents as possible so we are free to do what we wish for as long as possible' mentality that seems to be the norm in the UK. Teenagers here seem to actually like going home, even midweek sometimes if classes allow. University accommodation is not easy to find but seems in general to be better quality than many of the houses which UK students have to rent for all but their first year at Uni. It seems, however, that lecture rooms are overcrowded and facilities limited and the social life is not what UK students are used to - some British parents actually leave their older teenage children staying with friends and family when moving out here as this reduces the disruption to their education at a 'difficult' age.
Courses can be 3 or more years and the French do tend to study for a lot longer so this is another consideration when you have older children.

The Alternatives To University
There is a desperate shortage of skilled labour in France just as there is in the UK - so if your offspring show signs of being 'practical' then they can take a skills-based training course with apprenticeship options, so as to become a plumber or central heating installer, or electrician, or builder, hairdresser etc. They should find work easily afterwards within an increasingly international community.

Fitting In
All choices depend on you, your children's ability to adapt and make new friends, their wish to explore new horizons and accept feeling slightly 'different' for a while. If one asks parents who have been out here for a while, most say that their children have definitely benefited from the move, have adapted amazingly well (better than their parents quite often!) are now bilingual and proud of it, and in fact many children say they would not wish to return to the UK as they feel safer here, there is less school violence, more discipline in class and they have easily made friends.
The consensus of opinion is that from about 11 onwards it is more difficult for children to adapt, however there are so many exceptions to this rule that I personally know of that it is up to you if you bear this in mind or not.
To cite a couple of examples, Clare Foster and her husband and daughter age 12 moved to the Dordogne from Australia where they had a dream house leading straight onto the beach and a lifestyle to match. However Clare missed Europe and they decided to come to France and buy a house with a gite to give them some income whilst they practised their French and decided how to earn a living. Their daughter's only knowledge of French was the very limited vocabulary she picked up from her Mother on the flight over and she started school with a certain trepidation - apparently the first evening they all sat round the dinner table laughing as she recalled a day that had been a complete mystery to her.
One year on and she is bilingual, has a host of friends, has adapted well to the lifestyle and been able to keep up her music classes, etc., and when asked how she felt about the move said “Oh I love it, I feel so much safer both at school and outside and I would hate to go back to Australia now” … two satisfied parents! They have now finished the gîte and have bookings for several months ahead and having redecorated the house they feel they need to move to somewhere bigger - their property is on the market if there is anyone out there feels they would like to take on an up-and-running 'home with income'.
Things are not always easy - one local family with two shy girls did have a few tears and tantrums whilst they were in the tiny village school, in spite of being given special French classes by the headmaster on a Saturday and being overwhelmingly happy with life on the farm and seeing more of their parents. When they started at the 'big school' they blossomed - they were more anonymous and able to blend in better and now are bilingual and very happy indeed.
However, the ultimate success story has to be the 18 year old who, after only 2 years, came top of his Lycée in French…… his parents still have problems with day to day basics and are totally stunned by his success. They have 4 teenage children, who all only had a basic knowledge when they came here 2 years ago and now have fitted in well, including the 17 year old who is just undertaking a work placement with the local Anglo-French newspaper ... She has always dreamed of working in journalism ... Dreams can come true!

Some Basic Information

School hours:
9.00 am - 12.00am
12.00 - 13.30 lunchtime and recreation
School lunches can be provided for all children who need them - paid monthly in arrears at less than 2 euros per meal
13.30 - 16.30
All children over the age of 6 have homework
Some schools will lay on free French lessons for non-French speaking children

What To Do To Register Your Child At School
First of all, check which school your address gives you the right to send your child to. NB
There are some communes (i.e. village) which have arrangements with neighbouring communes whereby the children have a choice, but this is mostly in built-up areas or areas where the commune is very widespread. If you do find you want your child to go to a different school then you need to ask the Mairie of the village in which that school is situated if they will issue you with a Certificat d'Inscription (i.e. acceptance of your application)
So, first steps are:

The MAIRIE will need:

Attestation de Propriété - i.e. some proof that you live where you say you do, either such a statement from the Notaire, supplied to you on the day you sign for your property, or an EDF (electricity) bill, etc., if you are renting
Birth Certificate and Passport for the child concerned
The aforementioned completed Certificat d'Inscription

The SCHOOL will need:

Vaccination certificates - BCG is obligatory and they do this younger in France, so if your child does not have this you may need a quick visit to the doctor for this to be done, as well as the Booster DT+Polio
A report from the child's previous school as to his ability and progress in each subject
Attestation d'assurance - proof of insurance cover for:
- (a) Accidents and injuries to the child
- (b) Accidents and injuries committed by the child to a third party
This can be added to the house insurance policy - make sure this is done by the first day of starting school.
The school head (Directeur) needs to be informed of any health problems, medication the child needs - any medication will be kept by the school nurse or by the Directeur for use as necessary.

What About International Schools?
In the SW of France there are International Schools at Toulouse and Bordeaux. Some people ask me whether these are a better idea for their child. My response is that this can isolate a child: you either have to put them into boarding school, in which case they are cut off from you and your life, or they spend hours every day in a car. Local village or small town schools are happy places where they will make friends who they can play with and whose parents you will get to know. This is an essential part of integrating into the local society, and helping you to learn French of course! Maybe the International Schools are a good idea for teenagers who you think may find it difficult to adapt ... but in general it's the parents that have the problems, so stop worrying about the children and start learning French. When they bring their children round to play, and eat you out of house and home, you are going to need to be able to communicate with them!
Good luck, and if anyone feels unsure then why not simply do what Ray and Lorna are doing prior to moving over - we all went along for an 1 ½ hr interview with the Directeur of the school. He took us into all the classes and introduced Tom (age 7), and set everyone's mind at rest. Tom is having a 'crash' conversational French course with an 18 year old (Ray says he ought to do the same as she is very pretty, but he has to work to earn the money for the move!) When they start their Art Gallery business near to Lalinde in 2005, they feel that Tom will have been given every chance to feel at home in his new country. And Tom seems happy to practice his 'Bonjour' - especially in the sweet shop!

Author: Sue Elliot
Sue Elliott works for Immorama Aquitaine, 24140 Queyssac in the Dordogne
Tel/Fax: 0033 5 53 61 91 89
Email: sueimmorama@wanadoo.fr
Web: www.bergerac-and-beyond.com
[This article was first published in French Property News and has been reproduced here with all permissions from the author]

La Réforme du Lycée – La Nouvelle Seconde. What’s new?

2010-11-21T12:00:00.000+01:00

Traps of education hell, the need for ever-deepening pockets and all of this because some bloke in an office somewhere needs to look like he’s working. We ask, “was it worth it”?

Dear Readers,

As you may remember, we we’re a bit sceptical about the reform when it first came into the media spotlight around June 2010. Well, we still have our reservations about it! It’s still going to be costing people lots of money every year, and those students who are still on the old program (in 1ère this school year 2010-2011) risk falling down the hole if they repeat and therefore, straight into “the reform trap” as it is known, that will be behind them this year and next year (2011-2012). “The reform trap” basically means that if students in 1ère this year repeat the year, they will have to start the year over next year but also with a new curriculum. The books are costing everybody a considerable amount of money too. Here is an extract from an earlier article on this blog:

With the changes in the curriculum comes new school books for the lycée students. However, those students who were already in lycée last year, stay on the old curriculum unless they repeat Seconde this year. Which causes a big problem for every student in every lycée in France – they couldn’t sell their old books to get money to buy their new ones for this year. Seconde students of the year 2009 – 2010 who are going into 1ère at the rentrée, will have to fork out around €100 every year now to be able to buy their books and at the end of it, they’ll be left with a big stack of old, useless textbooks. The case gets worse for the new Seconde students who will have to buy their books new from now on. Students going into Lycée will have to buy their textbooks new in 2nde, 1ère and Terminale. And school books don’t come cheap! Some can cost up to €30, sometimes (thought rarely) higher. The average estimated cost of textbooks this year for students going into Seconde stood at a whopping €220 which was paid for my the families and no one received discounts from the government. With the current economic climate, some may wonder whether President Sarkozy and the education minister thought this through properly. In any case, surely they didn’t need to change the books? In most schools, Lycée or Collège, students wonder why they never have to finish the textbook in the year. The answer is, it covers the program and more. So most of the book will never be used. Then surely the old books can cover the new curriculum too? Waste of paper? Some say so. (read more…)

This isn’t going to change. Someone, somewhere is going to make a lot of money. According to the Education Ministry, here are an estimated 3,000,000 students who will have to pay (on average, sometimes more) €220 every year (going on average figures from the rentrée 2010-2011) on textbooks and reading books. That means that the schoolbook industry for this year and next year, is worth an estimated €650,000,000 and it’s a jackpot roll-over for publishers, as everyone will have to buy new books next year too!

Is it worth it?

Ok, so it’s costing lots of people lots of money. But that will only be the case for two more years. Once the books are bought, the schoolbook industry won’t be worth as much because everyone will be able to get their books second hand. But is the new 2nde worth it all? What’s is about? What’s new?

In the new seconde that came into effect this year (2010-2011) and the new 1ère that will come into effect in 2012, there are lots of things that are new.

The objectives of the new 2nde are:

to follow “enseignements d’exploration” to help you understand the modern world and discover new domains such as economy, literature, engineering, biotechnology…
to start new optional subjects (LV3, Sport, arts) as well as new general subjects (depends on your Lycée)
a more advanced level of languages to be able to learn two or three languages fluently
to benefit from a new personalised accompaniment plan, to build on your careers choice for after your BAC
to follow, if needed, “un stage de remise à niveau” to bring you up to the same level as everyone else at the end of the year to avoid repeating, or a “stage passerelle” to change your choice from Lycée Général to Lycée Professionel or from a 1ère S to a 1ère ES for example

So, put that way, it looks as if there could be lots of advantages to this lycée reform. Only time will tell. But details of what 1ère will hold are still quite vague. If it’s anything like 2nde, the BAC results could be on the rise for many Lycées around France.

Article by The Editor

The French Education System - Lycée

2010-11-14T12:00:00.003+01:00

Dear Readers,

I recently noticed I have done a post on the Collège system (click here) but never did one on the Lycée system, which is a bit daft of me looking at the title of this blog!

The French education system, like in every other country, has it’s own names for different school years and exams. In this article, I will explain to you, in the easiest way I can, the different years and I will tell you a bit about the subjects and exams to expect as you work your way through Lycée.

ly·cée
/liˈseɪ/ [lee-sey]
–noun, plural - cées
-ˈseɪz [-seyz]; Fr. -ˈseɪ/ [-sey]
a secondary school, esp. in France, maintained by the government.
Origin:
1860–65; < Fr. < Latin lycēum lyceum

Lycée is split into Lycée Général and Lycée Professionnel. Lycée Général is a continuation of Collège. If you’re finding Collège too hard in 3ème, you might want to consider a Lycée Professionnel course which leads to a BAC Pro, CAP or BEP (more information coming soon). In this article, I will only be covering Lycée Général.

Let’s start off with the basics. There are three years in Lycée Général 2nde, 1ère and Terminale (sometimes abbreviated T or Term).

2nde

2nde is the first year of Lycée. It is the year after your brevet des collèges (GCSE’s – UK, Junior Cert – IRL).
In this year in French, you will learn how to write “Commentaires”, “Dissertations” and you might go over the “Ecriture d’invention” in more detail. This is to prepare you for the BAC. In the BAC, you will have to answer a question (4 points) and then choose one of these exercises (16 points).
- Commentaires: You are given (usually) one text or poem to do this exercise. You must analyse the text and the grammar, the verbs, the methods the author used when writing (metaphores…). Some people find this the easiest of the three but that depends on the text.
- Dissertations: You are not supposed to quote from the text(s) given. This is an exercise where you talk about the subject while replying to the question posed. The typical breakdown of a paragraph is, Idea, Argument and Example to back up the argument.
- Ecriture d’invention: Creative Writing on a given subject.
This year is the year leading up to the first year of the BAC (spread over two years, 1ère and Terminale).
I would specify which BAC’s are going to be in 1ère but it depends on what you will choose for 1ère (L, ES, S…) and this will be changing next year (2011-2012) with La Réforme du Lycée (click here) so I will do a post about that next week (Update: Now available - Click here).

1ère

In 1ère, you pass the BAC de Français or French BAC. The BAC is the equivalent of the A-levels (UK) or the Leaving Cert (IRL). You will have two or three BAC Blancs in French in 1ère. These are mock exams.
Other exams at the end of this year vary depending on what you have chosen (L, ES, S…). Anyhow this is for sure, if you have chosen S your maths will be noticeably more difficult, if you have chosen L your language subjects will be more detailed and complex and in ES there’s a balance of the two and emphasis on French.
In 1ère, you do a TPE (Travaux Personnels Encadrés) over six months. This is basically a project that you do for your BAC, based around your choice of theme. Themes vary depending on the year and “filière”. The TPE is noted and not to be neglected! These points count towards your BAC and they’re easy to obtain!
You may notice a rise in the amount of homework you’re getting, compared to 2nde. This is normal, you’re preparing for your BAC.

Terminale

This choice in “filière” (L, S, ES, STG…) becomes more significant by the time you get to Terminale because each “filière” breaks down into different subjects. For example, in L, French basically breaks down to give Philosophy and Literature. For more information on this for every “filière”, go to www.onisep.fr.
All exams you didn’t have in 1ère are in Terminale, such as English and Spanish (in some filières).
You will prepare letters to send to universities you wish to go to after Lycée. This year goes into lots of detail for choosing what job you would like to do after Lycée.

For every year in Lycée…

Teachers fill out your carnet de scolarité. This book is a collection of all of your marks and comments given by teachers in your school reports. This gets put in your CV and some employers don’t necessarily look for good marks as a number one priority when perusing your CV, but for good feedback from teachers and good behaviour in class. You get this when you have finished Lycée.
You will be working towards your BAC.

I hope this has helped. If you have any questions, go to Onisep.fr or send an email to The Lycée Times. You can do this easily by going to the contact page and putting your question in the form.

Article by The Editor

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