This chapter provides a thematic and chronological overview of national reforms and policy developments since 2023.

On this introductory page, the chapter presents elements of the national policy framework that drives reforms mentioned in the next web pages. It outlines the current government’s key priorities for education and list the ongoing national strategies on education. The web pages that follow group reforms in the following broad thematic areas:

• Early childhood education and care
• General school education
• Vocational education and training
• Higher education
• Adult education and training.

Inside each thematic area, reforms are organised chronologically. The most recent reforms are described first.

Government’s key objectives for education

The 2025-2026 back-to-school circular, published in the Official Bulletin on July 3, 2025, sets out the priorities for the 2025-2026 school year. All of these priorities can be summed up in one sentence: keeping the republican promise of education, raising overall standards, and giving everyone the same opportunities.

It is organized around three areas and includes the following actions:

1. Consolidate the learning of fundamental knowledge and promote the success of all students:

• Acquire and deepen mastery of fundamental knowledge from kindergarten to high school and support students' educational paths;
• Renovating initial and continuing training;

2. Building a school system based on commitment, justice, and responsibility:

• School as a place for learning republican values;
• Rejecting inequality of opportunity;
• Cross-disciplinary learning at the heart of the school's mission;

3. Ensuring the conditions for a school that protects and brings people together:

• Providing an environment conducive to the development of each and every student;
• Rejecting all forms of violence.

National education strategies

The objectives of the public service of education in France are defined in Articles L121-1 to L121-8 of the Education Code. Among other things, it states that in France, schools, collèges, lycées and higher education institutions are responsible for transmitting and acquiring knowledge and working methods. They contribute to promoting gender diversity and equality between men and women, particularly in terms of guidance. They contribute to education in civic responsibility, including in the use of the Internet and online public communication services, and participate in the prevention of delinquency. They provide training in knowledge of and respect for human rights, as well as in understanding concrete situations that infringe them. They provide training adapted in its content and methods to the economic, social and cultural developments of the country and its European and international environment.

According to Article L121-4, "the purpose of school and university education is to provide basic knowledge and the elements of a general culture including scientific and technical data, to prepare for a qualification and to contribute to its improvement and adaptation in the course of professional life". Moreover, according to Article L121-2, the fight against illiteracy and innumeracy is a national priority.