Education Policy Outlook 2018

France

Context

France scored close to the OECD average in science in PISA 2015, with a mean score of 494 points, compared to the OECD average of 493 points. On average, across three-year PISA cycles, performance in science has remained stable since PISA 2006. Reading performance has remained stable since PISA 2000. On average, mathematics performance has decreased since PISA 2003, but has stabilised across more recent cycles. Socio-economic status had one of the largest impacts in the OECD on science performance in PISA 2015, explaining 20.3% of the variance in performance (OECD average: 12.9%). The impact of ESCS on performance in science has not changed since 2006. There was no significant gender difference in science performance in PISA 2015 at a general level. Immigrant students make up 13.2% of the student population of 15-year‑olds in France, close to the OECD average of 12.5%. Performance differences between immigrant and non-immigrant students are also close to the OECD average. Immigrants scored on average 32 score points lower than non-immigrants in science in PISA 2015, compared to the OECD average of 31 score points with an equivalent socio‑economic background.

Enrolment of 3-year-olds in ECEC and pre-primary education was among the highest in the OECD in 2015, at 99.5% (OECD average: 77.8%). Pre-primary education (Enseignement pré-élémentaire) is a three-year programme that children typically begin between age 2 and age 3. The national standards for pre-primary education are organised by age group: age 0-2 (Orientations code de la santé publique et projets d'établissements) and age 3-5 (L'école maternelle : un cycle unique, fondamental pour la réussite de tous). Education-only programmes exist nationally, and qualified teachers deliver the formal curriculum in place for them. Integrated programmes, which include education and childcare services, do not exist nationally. Compulsory education begins at age 6 and ends at age 16, shorter than the typical duration across the OECD. Generally, students are first tracked into different educational pathways at age 15, later than the OECD average of age 14. Pupils can choose between two educational streams: the general and technological stream or the vocational stream. Both streams last three years. At the end of each programme, students can take the corresponding leaving examination, the general baccalauréat or the vocational baccalauréat. Graduates receive a diploma or vocational certificates and other qualifications. Both educational streams provide students with access to higher education.

At the upper secondary level, students can pursue a three-year VET programme. VET is also available at the tertiary level in the undergraduate degree cycle, as in the university institutes of technology (instituts universitaires de technologie, IUT).

In the OECD Survey of Adult Skills in 2012 and 2015, adult literacy scores in France were lower than the OECD average, at 262 points, compared to the OECD average of 268 points. The gap in literacy skills between older adults (age 55-65) and younger adults (age 25-34) was higher than the OECD average. The proportion of the population aged 25-64 with lower secondary education as the highest level of attainment in France is close to the OECD average, with an attainment rate of 14.1% in 2016, compared to the OECD average of 14.3%. NEET rates (the proportion of those aged 18-24 that are neither employed nor in education or training) are higher than the OECD average, at 19.8% compared to the OECD average of 15.3%. The percentage of the population aged 25-34 with a tertiary-level qualification is higher than the OECD average, at 44% in 2016, compared to the OECD average of 43.1%. Employment rates for 25-34 year-olds with tertiary education are higher than the OECD average. In 2016, 86% were employed, while the OECD average rate was 82.9%.

Figure 7.9. Selected indicators compared with the average: France

Note: For each indicator, the absolute performance is standardised (normalised) using a normative score ranging from 0 to 220, where 100 was set at the average, taking into account all OECD countries with available data in each case.

Sources: OECD (2016), PISA 2015 Results (Volume I): Excellence and Equity in Education, PISA, OECD Publishing, Paris, http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264266490-en; OECD (2016), Skills Matter: Further Results from the Survey of Adult Skills, OECD Publishing, Paris, http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264258051-en; OECD (2017), Education at a Glance 2017: OECD Indicators, OECD Publishing, Paris, http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/eag-2017-en.

Statlink

Evolution of key education policy priorities

Table 7.9. Evolution of key education policy priorities, France (2008-17)

Identified by	Equity and quality	Preparing students for the future
Selected OECD country-based work, 2008-171	The OECD identified a need to improve equity and quality of the overall education system, as well as increase individual student support. [2015]	According to OECD evidence, the VET system has to be improved and students need to be more easily integrated into the labour market. Basic skills and lifelong learning have to be improved. Providing quality VET education and adult training to the disadvantaged part of the population has been identified as especially important. [2015]
Evolution of responses to EPO Surveys, 2013 and 2016‑17	France stated that school performance could be improved by better tackling inequalities. The government is also working on policy developments to make some classes smaller during the first year of primary education at schools catering to students from the most disadvantaged backgrounds. [2013; 2016-17]	France previously reported a need to improve the mechanisms for guidance and transitions between education and the labour market. In 2016, these challenges persisted, with important reforms planned by the government on upper secondary education and the quality of learning provided in VET in 2018. [2013; 2016-17]

1. See Annex A, Table A A.3 for the list of OECD publications consulted for this snapshot.

Selected education policy responses

France’s 2013 Reform of the Republic’s Schools (Refondation de l'école de la République) included additional elements to redefine the goals of preschools and to welcome more children below age 3 into ECEC facilities. These modifications were implemented following a decrease in the number of 2-year-olds attending preschool, from 34.6% in 1999 to around 11% in 2012 (DEPP, 2014). As a result, more than 1 100 classes were created and opened to children in this age group to encourage especially disadvantaged families to enrol their children in ECEC. This corresponded to 25 000 new spots in ECEC facilities. France also implemented a new curriculum during 2013/14 for all levels of compulsory education, including ECEC. The new curriculum, based on a common framework of knowledge, skills and culture, aims to provide students with the necessary tools to achieve their ambitions.

• Progress or impact: Although many of the new spaces remained vacant at the beginning of the school year 2013/14, the number of 2-year-olds in preschools increased for the first time in ten years (Ministère de l'Éducation nationale, 2017a; DEPP, 2014). Overall enrolment of 2-year-olds increased in 2013 to 11.7% (and 20.6% in high-priority schools) (Ministère de l'Éducation nationale, 2017a). Also, at the beginning of the 2017/18 school year, enrolment for children 2 years of age and older in high-priority preschools (REP and REP+) was 20.5%, much higher than the 9.7% in non-priority schools. More than 30% of 2-year-olds enrolled attend high-priority schools (Ministère de l’Éducation nationale, 2018a).

France implemented the action plan Tous mobilisés pour vaincre le décrochage scolaire in 2014. It integrates previous educational support measures geared towards students at the lower secondary education level (dispositifs relais) and focuses on the prevention of early school leaving and school retention. It also aims to develop partnerships, in particular with local and regional authorities, to target young people who have already left education. It is built on three pillars, mobilisation of all to overcome school dropout (Tous mobilisés pour vaincre le décrochage scolaire), choosing prevention (faire le choix de la prévention), and a new opportunity to qualify (une nouvelle chance pour se qualifier) (Ministère de l’Éducation nationale, 2017b). In 2017/18, the plan will continue to address prevention measures, such as education alliances and the right to redo an exam, as well as remediation, which includes personal activity accounts, an information system to track school dropouts and structures to facilitate the return to school. Several measures will continue to be implemented to prevent school dropout, such as educational and personalised support, a personalised programme for educational success (programme personnalisé de réussite educative, PPRE), internships and tutoring, and a group to prevent school dropout (groupe de prévention du décrochage scolaire, GPDS).

• Progress or impact: A 2014 evaluation report found that school dropout is a complex multifactor process. The report found that policies on reducing dropout were in the development phase. The phase of construction, with modest means and policy steering, was in its early stages, with unequal progress across the country. Some recommended measures included implementing a more global and integrated policy approach with components of prevention, intervention and remediation, as well as a strong focus on the prevention of early school leaving. The report also recommended establishing a more systematic alliance among schools, classes and prevention actions for the personnel working for l’Éducation nationale. The measures may have had a positive impact on the overall reduction in school dropout, which has dropped significantly over the last decade. On average, between 2013 and 2015, 13% of students left school without a diploma or just the 10th grade diploma, compared to 17 % from 2007 to 2009 (RERS, 2011; RERS, 2017). Also, 9% of 18-24 year-olds do not have a diploma, compared to an average of 11% in the European Union. Success factors identified include: 1) the priority accorded by the government to combating school dropout; 2) the implementation of tools, including the extension of the interministerial system of information exchange; 3) a human resource management system; and 4) a systematic evaluation of the devices and experimentation. The actions of the plan completed in 2015 and 2016 were evaluated in 2016. The objective was to improve information systems and design new digital tools for tracking and monitoring young people who are at risk of dropping out (Ministère de l’Éducation nationale, 2017c).

Additional education policies of potential interest to other countries

• Support for migrants (l'accueil et l'accompagnement des publics migrants) is carried out through a national action plan, which reinforces the supervision of education for recent immigrant students. It mobilises inspection units and specialist academic centres (CASNAV, 2012) and ensures timely reception and support, with particular attention to children in vulnerable situations, such as unaccompanied minors. Migrants can access information on their rights on the “Welcome refugees” information portal (Welcome refugees, 2015) and academic courses offered in French as a foreign language. The plan also aims to strengthen recognition of foreign qualifications (ENIC-NARIC centres). Also, the Programme of Assistance to the Emergency Hospitality of Scientists in Exile (PAUSE, 2017) allocates grants for higher education and public research institutions planning to host scientists and doctoral students in emergency situations (EPO Survey 2016-17; Ministère de l'Enseignement supérieur, de la Recherche et de l'Innovation and les Crous, 2016).

As part of the School of Confidence (l'École de la confiance), new measures in 2017 aim to address the difficulties faced in the first years of schooling and to support students at risk. Classes will be split at cours préparatoire (CP) level in enhanced priority education networks (REP+) to concentrate efforts in less‑favoured areas. The complete split of the classes of CP and cours élémentaire 1 (CE1) in REP and REP+ will be effective by 2019. In middle schools, the homework programme (Devoirs faits) intends to decrease inequalities by offering each student free access to appropriate help to carry out the personal work expected of the student, if desired. The reform for collèges (lower secondary schools) gives more freedom, autonomy and power to educational teams to cater to local and student needs. This includes providing greater autonomy to the framework of interdisciplinary teaching, strengthening personalised support, and reinstating bilingual classes and the teaching of Latin and Greek. In kindergarten and elementary school, the organisation of school time is eased, with possible exceptions to the four-day calendar where local education stakeholders reach a consensus (Ministère de l'Éducation nationale, 2017d).

• In 2018, the government announced reforms of the upper secondary education final examination in general and technological tracks, and the transformation of upper secondary education (la réforme du baccalauréat général et technologique et l’évolution du lycée), which are to be aligned to measures to promote student success in higher education and integration into the labour market (Ministère de l'Éducation nationale, 2018b). Also, the evolution of the vocational school pathway (l’évolution de la voie professionnelle scolaire) is carried out in conjunction with the reform of the upper secondary education final examination as well as ongoing consultations on apprenticeships, which aim to make the VET sector more attractive, efficient and open to the world (Ministère de l'Éducation nationale, 2017e).

More information available at: www.oecd.org/education/policyoutlook.htm.