How foreign parents view the French school system

Sending children to school in France can be quite a culture shock for foreign parents – from delicious school lunches and impressive after-school care to complaints about a rigid attitude and lack of imagination, here’s how readers of The Local view the French system.

Foreigners who move to France with school-aged children are bound to experience some culture shock when it comes to how the French approach public education.

Depending on where they are from – and the school system they are most familiar with – they might find French schools to be either too demanding or not demanding enough.

They may see the benefits of a system that instils a good work ethic, solidarity with others and a love for a good lunch break, or they might see long days and a lack of individual accommodations.

The Local heard from over two dozen foreign parents of various backgrounds about their impressions of French schooling. While it is impossible to make a complete generalisation, some common themes came up over and over.

The positive elements

“I love [the French school system]. I’m from Fiji, and the school system here is definitely an upgrade from the school system back home,” reader Keilani, who lives in Aix-en-Provence with her primary-school-aged children, told The Local.

“I feel like teachers are more attentive to students here and have a lot of time and patience for them. And don’t get me started on the lunches. Nice, well-balanced meals,” she said.

Frank Stoney, who lives in north-western France and originally comes from Coventry with a background in education, said that his grandchild entered the French school system in 2019, in maternelle.

He noted the tendency to have Wednesdays either partially or fully off, saying that “four days a week allows recharging batteries.

“Teachers are ready to give support and listen. Children seem to enjoy schooling.”

One anonymous reader from the US said: “Overall, I’ve been very happy with the French system. Compared with the US, the system is structurally thought-out to be compatible with the needs of working parents, with inexpensive before- and after-school care that goes until 6:30pm.

“The teachers in our child’s public school are professional, caring, and engaged,” they said.

Most other parents were able to name at least one good thing about French schooling, even if they still had some complaints.

Multiple parents mentioned that their foreign children were quickly assimilated into the French model.

Georgina, from Ireland, has had two kids in the French school system since 2017. She said: “Kids are taught what they need to know to progress.”

She added that a positive element is: “For children of foreign parents, integration into their community and language.”

Ms Robinson, a reader originally from the UK, said the pros include “assimilation, French language, and school holiday clubs and services.”

READ MORE: Parents reveal: What to expect when your non-French speaking child starts school in France

The negative elements

Nevertheless, not all parents were impressed, with criticism of class sizes and the rigidity of the teaching methods.

Jane, originally from the UK and now living in south-west France, said she has two kids in the French school system. She described it as “overstretched, run-down, with overworked teachers and huge classes.”

One parent, Aoife Nash, who has three children in primary school, all beginning their third year in French school, said she was “shocked”.

Nash, who is originally from Ireland and currently lives in Lille, said French schooling is “different, not modern”.

“The care of children and their feelings are not to the forefront. No independent thinking – no fun, no engaging workbooks in any subject, obsession with cursive writing between lines in copy books.”

Ms Robinson described French school overall as “a nightmare, challenging and traumatising.”

She explained the downsides as “related to the terrible bullying by teachers” and “little to no help with learning disabilities, in our case, dyslexia.”

“Stupid hours that require you to be at two schools dropping kids off at the same time, tenured teachers who do it for the money, not vocation,” she added, warning foreign parents that “they will have to fight it the entire way through their child’s education and be their defender.”

Several parents mentioned the way French schools teach to the median level of the class, rather than offering accommodations to children who might need them.

Muriel, a Belgian teacher who previously taught British A-Levels, said the French system is: “Extremely competitive, with no interest in the children’s well-being, only in their results, so they can keep a good ranking.”

After six years’ experience with French schools, she noted, “There is no space for a child who doesn’t fit into the box because of special needs or challenges.”

American reader Tara Marbach in Grenoble, felt similarly. She said: “If you do not fit in a neat box, they will not tolerate it. Teachers care little about positive reinforcement or accommodations.

“Days are long, no substitute teachers. Accommodations are hard to get, and some teachers refuse.”

Daphne from the Netherlands agreed, saying that “all pupil levels are mixed, which is a disadvantage (…) It’s a classic schooly system, which works for ‘normal’ kids.

“Some kids can’t keep up with others and feel bad about themselves, and others are slowed down by those who are behind,” she summarised.

While the French Ministry of Education has vowed to bring in ‘streaming’ in lower secondary school, this has been met with lots of pushback from teachers.

Some parents took note of these downsides but found they could have positive impacts too.

Reader Phil Russel, who lives near Lyon and hails from the UK, said that he likes “the level of discipline and respect, which is massively different to the UK.”

But he tempered that “It is a little bit of the old system of listen, remember and repeat. There is less creativity and free thinking. It all feels more serious than UK schools, and maybe the kids appear less happy.”

What parents need to know ahead of time

A few common pieces of advice also came up;

Teacher absences

Multiple parents have warned about teacher absences, which has been a growing controversy in recent years.

In secondary schools (collège and lycée), the rule is that if a teacher is absent for more than 15 days, they must be replaced by a substitute. However, this does not apply to absences for under 15 days.

One anonymous parent said, “children can spend hours at school not being taught due to absences”, while another parent mentioned “unacceptable levels of teacher absence in public secondary.”

In a fact-checking article by Franceinfo, the French news site found that in reality, teachers in 2022 were absent roughly the same number of days as private sector employees (11.6 days vs. 11.7 days for the latter).

Nevertheless, a 2021 report by the Cour des comptes found that France struggled to replace short-term absences, with 2.5 million hours of short-term absences recorded, and only 519,100 (a little over 20 percent) of those hours replaced.

The report also found that nearly half of the absences that go unreplaced were less than or equal to two days, and three-quarters of absences that were not replaced were less than or equal to five days.

On their side, teaching unions argue that they are facing a shortage of substitute teachers, in part due to the ‘attractiveness of the profession’.

School lunches

Several readers referenced French school lunches as one of the best parts of the French school day.

“School lunch is part of the educational experience – children are encouraged to share, have good table manners, try everything, while not being forced to eat things they don’t like, and form opinions on their favourite cheese.

“There’s also a very strong emphasis in the maternelle on developing pro-social behaviour, and being part of a community,” an anonymous respondent originally from the US said.

French school lunches are indeed pretty good, and the weekly menu is published in the local commune newsletter, so you can see what the kids are feasting on that week.

READ ALSO: Do French kids get the best school lunches in the world?✎

Foreign parents should be aware that packed lunches generally are not allowed, and neither are snacks outside of lunch time.

“We were surprised that bringing your own lunch was not an option. This was an adjustment for our very picky eater,” reader Judy Christianson said.

Long days and Wednesdays off

Depending on the parent, French school days were either seen as overly long or well-suited to the adult work schedule.

In comparison to the US, a typical secondary school day might start around 8am and go until 2-3pm. In the UK, a typical school day might start between 8.45am and 9am and end between 3pm and 4pm.

In France, the school day usually runs from 8.30am to 4.30pm, with a long lunch break in the middle of the day.

Primary school pupils typically also have either a partial day on Wednesday or an entire day off.

Some parents appreciated kids having an extra day to rest, but one anonymous parent warned that having Wednesday off is “very tricky for working parents when there aren’t enough spaces in Centres de Loisirs in the cities.”

Another anonymous reader, from the US, echoed this, saying: “You’ll need a plan for Wednesdays, when there is no school! In our city, spots in the convenient centre de loisirs (rec center) for Wednesdays are very hard to get, and there aren’t a lot of other full-day options if you work full-time.”

Georgina advised: “For sports, music and art, you find a club, music school or community centre that offers that on Wednesdays.”

Parent involvement

Some parents, particularly those from the US and UK, noted that French teachers may give less individualised feedback to parents.

One parent, Carol Paylor from the UK, said foreign parents should learn “they must not pester the school over trivial matters. Never ask questions. The school knows best, and you must know your place – actually quote from a Directeur of a Collège.”

Another reader, this time from the US, said: “There is, however, no customer-centric mindset from the school or the teachers – we hear very little from the school about our child’s progress, other than a once-a-year parent-teacher conference.

“On the other hand, we trust that if something is really wrong, the school would let us know.”

The general philosophy of French schools is that ‘teachers teach and parents parent’, with little contact unless there is a problem.

Lots of paperwork

And finally, schools are no exception when it comes to French bureaucracy. Several parents warned that each year involves quite a bit of paperwork.

Jane warned: “You will need to fill out a huge dossier every year.”