The French mode of education is very much like the system in Singapore where it is highly centralized and organized. It is divided into 3 different stages: primary, secondary and higher education.

Governance

All educational programmes in France are regulated by the Ministry of National Education. The head of the ministry is the Minister of Education, one of the highest-ranking officials in the cabinet.

The teachers in public primary and secondary schools are all state civil servants, making the largest employer in the country. Professors and researchers in France's universities are also employed by the state. At the primary and secondary levels, the curriculum is the same for all French students in any given grade, which includes public, semi-public and subsidised institutions.

Primary Education

Kids start their primary school life at the age of 6. However, parents usually send their children to nursery classes at 3 years old which are basically day-care centre. The last year of nursery is especially important as the kids would be introduced to reading.

When they move on to primary school, students would learn to write and develop their reading skills. Very much like education everywhere else, one teacher is assigned to a single class.

Secondary Education

French secondary education is divided into two schools – the college for the first four years after primary and the lycée for the next three years.

The colleges is the first official diploma a pupil has to sit and is not required in order to enter lycée. Until 2006 the school marks for the whole of the third and final year were taken into account for a percentage of the mark. The rest of the mark consisted of the final exam, the brevet. Pupils were only tested on French, Mathematics and History for the exam.

Starting in 2007, only the marks from the final year (3ème) were taken into consideration.

The baccalauréat is the end-of-lycée diploma students sit for in order to enter university. It is generally taken at 18 if the pupil has not repeated a class during secondary school.

Higher Education

Higher education in France is divided between grandes écoles and public universities. Grandes écoles are selective whereas with universities, as long as you have a baccalaureat you can get in to one. This has led to an overwhelming amount of first year students, for example at the university of Montpellier, first year students have had to sit outside their lecture rooms and try to listen to lectures from steps stairs and corridors, unless they get there very early to bag the seats that are inside.