Teachers belong to the body of the public servants. Their professional status is subject to the legislation concerning the public service.

The preamble to the 1946 Constitution, still in force under the 1958 Constitution provides that "the organization of free, secular public education at all levels is a duty of the State". The State retains responsibility for the public service of education "as such, he is responsible for recruiting, training and managing staff. It is in charge of their remuneration as well as educational expenditures.  It decides educational policies and curricula". The service of education in schools is headed by the Department of National Education, Higher Education and Research.

Planning Policy

For early childhood care, there is no national planning, either in collective structures or in home care.

For pre-primary, primary and secondary education , the number of posts open each year for the various recruitment competitions is fixed each year by ministerial decree. However, these decisions of the executive branch are part of the budget of the Ministry in charge of National Education, discussed and voted each year by the Parliament.

Entry to the Profession

Access to the teaching profession is competitive, whose terms are set by the state.

• Competitive examination for primary school teachers: order of April 19th, 2013 laying down the procedures for the organization of open competitive examination, the special open competitive examination, the second internal competitive examination, the second internal special competitive examination and third open competitive examination for school teachers;
• CAPES competitive examination: order of April 19th, 2013 laying down the sections and of organizational modalities of the Aptitude Certificate for Professorship in the Second Degree of general education;
• CAPET competitive examination: order of April 19th, 2013 laying down the sections and of organizational modalities of the Aptitude Certificate for Professorship for Technical Education;
• CAPLP competitive examination: order of April 19th, 2013 laying down the sections and of organizational modalities of the Aptitude Certificate for Professorship of Secondary Vocational Education;
• CAPEPS competitive examination: order of April 19th, 2013 laying down the sections and of organizational modalities of the Aptitude Certificate for Professorship of Sport and Physical Education;
• Agrégation competitive examination: amended decree no. 72-580 of July 4th, 1972 regarding the special status of Agrégés teachers of Secondary Education.

Successful completion of one of the national competitions entitles the holder to access the corresponding teaching post. A distinction is made between :

• Primary school teachers, who work in nursery and primary schools, where they provide multi-skill teaching;
• secondary school teachers, who teach in collèges and lycées, where they provide subject-based teaching (only one subject taught per teacher).

Only students enrolled in the second year of a Master's degree or candidates who already hold a Master's degree may take the external teacher recruitment competitions. In order to be appointed as a trainee civil servant, successful candidates must prove that they have a Master's degree.

Induction

After passing the competitive examination and being assigned to an academy, trainee civil servants receive initial statutory training. This training is adapted according to the profile of the trainee teacher or CPE and the type of Master's degree obtained .

In view of the trainee's university education and initial professional experience, the trainee's initial training year emphasises professional practice with responsibility in a school or institution, where he or she receives appropriate tutoring.

Trainees with a master's degree in a subject area work part-time in a school or institution. The trainee's year of training is characterised by alternating between professional practice with responsibility and training based on one or more teaching units of the Master's degree in teaching, education and training (MEEF).

The training programme for trainees who do not have a Master's degree in education includes training in secularism and the values of the Republic, in the education of pupils with special educational needs and in gender equality.

Professional Status

Early childhood practitioners are professionals who may belong to the territorial civil service (departmental level) when they work in public crèches, or are professionals under private law (without civil servant status) when they work in private structures.

Teachers in the public primary and secondary education system are civil servants. Consequently, they are concerned by the general texts governing the rights and obligations of civil servants (civil service status). Teachers in private education under contract are not civil servants, but are contractual agents of the civil service.

Replacement Measures

Primary-school teachers

In primary education, permanent replacement staff can be mobilised from the first half-day of a teacher's absence. These teachers are attached to a school and assigned either to a departmental replacement brigade or to a localized intervention zone (ZIL).

The teaching staff assigned to the brigades are intended to provide replacements for long leaves (training periods, maternity or adoption leave, long-term sick leave, etc.); the staff assigned to localized intervention zones (infra-departmental), organized around a grouping of schools, provide shorter replacements.

There are two types of substitutes in the primary level:

• substitutes working in localized intervention zones (ZIL), who are assigned to short-term replacements (less than two weeks), within a radius of no more than 20km; these mobile teachers are left at the disposal of the national education inspector in their district
• replacements working in the framework of the 'departmental brigades' (BD), who are called upon to travel throughout the department for replacements of varying lengths.

However, the number of ZILs has decreased as many départements have grouped their resources into replacement zones covering several districts. The most experienced replacements may also be called upon to replace teachers in specialised classes or establishments (classes for school inclusion, adapted general and vocational education sections, etc.), particularly those who hold the Certificate of Professional Aptitude for Specialised Assistance, Adapted Teaching and Schooling for Students with Disabilities (CAPASH).

Secondary-school teachers

In secondary education, permanent replacements are called "titulaires sur zone de remplacement" (TZR).

For long-term absences, replacements are provided by TZRs, but also by contractual staff on permanent and fixed-term contracts, which makes it possible to maintain a high efficiency rate.

Short-term absences (less than 15 days) are covered by a specific system, managed by the head teacher, which provides for the use of the school's teachers, paid in overtime, to carry out short-term replacements.

In each school, a protocol must define in particular the modalities for mobilizing teachers for short-term replacement, in accordance with their qualifications, within the limit of 5 additional hours per week and 60 hours per school year. The head teacher must seek the agreement of the teachers to participate in this scheme as a matter of priority, even if he or she has the possibility of appointing a teacher if there are no volunteers. This arrangement makes it possible, as a priority, to compensate for foreseeable absences, such as those linked to in-service training courses, preparation for or presentation at a competition or examination, or participation in a jury. Permanent and contractual staff of the institution participating in the scheme benefit from effective overtime.

Supporting Measures

For staff in collective childcare facilities, the national collective agreement defines the rights and duties of professional training. According to the agreement, each employee must have a review of his or her individual situation at least every two years during a professional training interview with his or her line manager. The purpose of this interview is to allow both the employee and his or her line manager to exchange views in a balanced manner and to make proposals, particularly in terms of professional training. This professional interview does not concern the evaluation of the employee's work. It is devoted to the employee's prospects for professional development, particularly in terms of qualifications.

In school education, a teacher with tenure or a non-tenured teacher who has, on 1 January of the current year, at least one year's effective service in the administration, may request to benefit from the individual right to training, which will eventually be granted within the limits of the available academic credits. The request, supported by a structured professional project, goes through the hierarchy for an opinion.

Academic training plans are drawn up at local level to provide support for all staff. The national priorities of the National Training Plan are adapted to the specificities of each academy.

Salaries

In France, the statutory basic salary of teachers is fixed by the State in the same way for all teachers in the public service and private education under contract. Private education contract sets out itself teacher salaries.

The salaries of teachers in pre-primary, primary and secondary schools are based on a grid scale (matrix system). The main salary increases periodically as and when the teacher through the ranks within a grade. These level changes are more or less rapid according to merit as well as the teacher’s involvement in continuous training.

The average number of years that a tenured teacher must complete to reach the maximum statutory salary is estimated at 35 years for teachers from pre-primary to upper secondary education.

In pre-primary and primary schools, the minimum and maximum salaries shown in the table are those of the statutory salary of a schoolteacher and include allowance Monitoring and Support for Students (ISAE), an annual allowance of 400 euros, instituted by decree no. 2013-790 of August 30th, 2013. In the secondary, the minimum and maximum salaries shown correspond to the statutory salary of a certified teacher and include the Allowance Tracking and Orientation of Students (ISOE), established by decree no. 93-55 of January 15th, 1993, with the amounts fixed by the order of January 15, 1993.

Teachers may also receive allowances depending on their status (not included in the amounts given in the table). For example, teachers who are head teachers in primary schools receive a specific allowance. Other allowances exist:

• Principal teacher's allowance ;
• Allowance REP or REP+ (teacher in priority education areas);
• Allowance for teaching a special needs audience ;
• Additional Hours of Work Allowance (AWA) ;
• Tutoring of trainee teachers ;
• etc.

Source: Eurydice, Teachers’ and school heads’ salaries and allowances in Europe – 2020/2021, 2022.

For more information on career development in the above-mentioned education levels, please refer to the website of the Ministry of Education.

Working Time and Holidays

Early childhood care

In the case of professions with private collective structures, working time and holiday periods are defined in a national collective agreement. For both public and private employees in collective care facilities, the standard working time is 35 hours a week (151.67 hours a month). The number of days of leave is assessed on the basis of a 5-day working week.

In the case of home childcare assistants, they are not subject to the statutory working time of 35 hours per week. Maximum daily, weekly and annual working hours are imposed. Public holidays worked and weekly rest periods are specified in the contract. The duration of reception indicated in the collective agreement is 45 hours per week. Daily reception is carried out according to the following rules:

• the usual length of the reception day is 9 hours
• daily care begins at the time stipulated in the contract and ends at the time the child leaves with one of the parents.
• the childminder has a daily rest period of at least 11 hours in a row and cannot be employed for more than 6 days in a row

The employer may not require the childminder to work more than 48 hours a week without her written consent. This 48-hour period is calculated as an average over a period of 4 months. With the agreement of the childminder, it may be calculated over a period of 12 months, up to a limit of 2,250 hours per year.

Pre-primary and primary education teachers

The work of primary education teachers is set by the decree no. 2008-775 of July 30th, 2008 and is organized into 24 hours weekly teaching all students and 108 annual hours, provided under the responsibility of the Inspector in charge of the constituency to which the teachers concerned are posted.

The 108 annual service hours break down as follows:

• 36 hours devoted to complementary pedagogical activities organised in the school project, in small groups of pupils, to help pupils with learning difficulties, to help with personal work or for an activity provided for in the school project;
• 48 hours devoted to work in teaching teams, to relations with parents, to the development and monitoring of personalised schooling projects for disabled pupils;
• 18 hours devoted to in-service training, at least half of them, and to educational animation;
• 6 hours of participation in compulsory school councils.

Part-time work is possible at the rate of 50%, 60%, 70% or 80%. However, these percentages may be adjusted so as to obtain a weekly service comprising a whole number of half-days in the first level corresponding to the chosen percentage of working time. The duration of the part-time service may be performed on an annual basis, subject to the interests of the service.

Secondary education teachers

Decree no. 2014-240 of August 20th, 2014 stipulates the maximum amount of weekly teaching hours of secondary education teaching staff without additional remuneration:

• 15 hours for agrégés teachers;
• 17 for Sports and Physical Education agrégés teachers;
• 18 hours for certified teachers for general and vocational education and teaching assistants;
• 20 hours for Sports and Physical Education certified teachers and Sports and Physical Education teaching assistants;
• 21 hours for teaching staff working with students with special education needs. 

In secondary education, one hour of class time is 55 minutes.

The maximum service may be modulated in certain specific cases: lowered in cases of large numbers of pupils or teaching in certain classes, and raised in cases of small numbers.

In the interest of the service, an extra hour per week may be imposed. In this case, teachers receive financial compensation. On the other hand, secondary school teachers participate in various meetings and councils devoted to the monitoring and evaluation of pupils. These meetings are not subject to regulated quantification.

Part-time work is possible at the rate of 50%, 60%, 70% or 80%. However, these percentages may be adjusted so as to obtain a weekly service comprising a whole number of hours in the second level corresponding to the chosen percentage of working time. The duration of the part-time service may be accomplished within an annual framework, subject to the interests of the service.

Promotion, Advancement

Like all civil servants, teachers belong to corps. There are six bodies of teaching staff from which recruitment is carried out: professeurs des écoles, professeurs certifiés, professeurs d'éducation physique et sportive, professeurs de lycée professionnel, professeurs agrégés de l'enseignement du second degré and professeurs de chaires supérieures.

Career advancement within the corps is achieved through advancement in step and, where appropriate, in grade.

The rate of progression is unique and linear. To reach the last step of the normal grade, it will now take 26 years, similar to other category A officials. There are three different classes:

• Normal class ;
• Senior ;
• Exceptional class.

Each teacher benefits from three career meetings to take stock of his or her career in an in-depth and objective manner. Accelerated career development or faster promotion prospects make it possible to recognise and value career paths and professional commitment.

The exceptional class is accessible as a matter of priority to teachers who  have worked in priority education or had special assignments or responsibilities for at least eight years.

A teacher needs to update and complete his or her knowledge throughout his or her professional life. In-service training and internal promotion enable teachers who so wish to progress in the exercise of their profession or to change activities within the national education system.

Thus, a School Teacher can become :

• school headmaster ;
• master trainer ;
• school psychologist ;
• specialised teacher (ASH) ;
• National Education Inspector (NEI) ;
• teacher in secondary school by passing an internal competition;
• teaching abroad;
• etc.

Through a competitive examination or registration on the aptitude list, teachers have the possibility of joining two inspectorates: the Inspection de l'Éducation Nationale for school teachers and certified teachers, and the Inspection pédagogique régionale for associate teachers in secondary education. They can also become head teachers (or deputy head teachers of secondary schools through the competitive examination for access to the body of management staff).

In addition, after three years of teaching, school teachers can also be registered on the list of aptitude for the post of director, to exercise this function in a pre-primary or primary school. School headmasters do not constitute a specific body of civil servants. In fact, they belong to the corps of school teachers and are appointed to a post. They are responsible for the organisation and operation of the school, and act as an interlocutor with local authorities, parents, the business community and cultural and sports associations. Teachers wishing to change careers may also apply for a secondment to work in other ministries or local authorities, or in research organisations under the Ministry.

Finally, two decrees, 2005-959 and 2005-960 of 9 August 2005, introduced the second career procedure for teachers. This is the possibility for teachers with at least 15 years of teaching service to apply for secondment to administrations, local authorities and public administrative establishments. During the period of secondment, which is fixed at one year, the agent undergoes training to adapt to the job. After this year, and if the seconded person so requests, the host administration decides either on immediate integration, or on reintegration into the original body, or on the continuation of the secondment for a further year in the post held or in a new post in the same administration, local authority or institution.

Mobility and transfers

Each year teachers wishing to change a posting may enrol in a national or regional activity in order to obtain a transfer.

The movement of primary and secondary school teachers, education staff and psychologists in the French education system is taking place in two phases.

For primary education, an inter-departmental phase allowing teachers to change departments, followed by an intra-departmental phase for teachers who are to receive a first assignment in the department or who are returning to a post after a period of secondment, availability or long-term leave, and for those who wish to change their assignment within their department. Primary school teachers who have lost their posts following a period of parental leave must also participate in the intra-departmental movement.

The Inspectors of the Academy-Academic Directors of National Education Services shall proceed with changes of department for primary school teaching staff, on the proposal of the Minister of National Education, and under the responsibility of the Rectors.

For secondary education, an inter-academic phase is organised, followed by the intra-academic phase. Staff participate in the movement to request a transfer, obtain a first assignment, or find an assignment in the second level (reintegration).

The Ministry designates staff changing academy, designates new incumbents in the academies and assigns senior professors. The rectorates decide on the first and new assignments of staff appointed in their academy.

Given the large number of applications, the examination of transfer requests from primary and secondary school teachers within the framework of inter- and intra-departmental and inter- and intra-academic movements is based on scales that allow for a fair ranking of the applications.

In addition to the priorities of article 60 of law n° 84-16 of 11 January 1984 as amended, the scales of movement of staff in the first and second degrees also reflect those of the decree of 25 April 2018 relating to the priorities for the assignment of members of certain bodies mentioned in article 10 of law n° 84-16 of 11 January 1984:

• staff affected by school mapping measures ;
• Staff members requesting reconciliation with the holder of joint parental authority in the interest of the child;
• Staff working in a territory or area facing particular recruitment difficulties;
• Staff members making the same request for transfer each year, seniority of request ;
• staff with experience and professional background.

Dismissal

Early childhood care

In the case of professions with private collective structures, the grounds for dismissal and associated measures are defined in a national collective agreement. In the case of public structures, employees are civil servants in the territorial civil service and are governed by this status.

In the case of home childcare assistants, parents may decide to take the child away from the employed licensed childcare assistant and thus terminate her/his employment contract. This withdrawal of the child has the same effects as a dismissal but is subject to specific rules. The rules, compensation and notice periods depend on the type of employment contract. In the case of an open-ended contract, the notice period begins on the day of the first presentation of the registered letter notifying the termination of the employment contract. The minimum notice period depends on the length of service of the childcare assistant: 15 days for less than one year with the family, 1 month if more than one year. The decision to terminate the contract must be notified by registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt, without a mandatory prior interview. It is not obligatory to indicate the reasons for the child's withdrawal.

Pre-primary, primary and secondary education

According to Article L553-1 of the Civil Service Code, a civil servant in the state civil service may be dismissed in the following cases

• For abandonment of post ;
• After refusal by the person concerned at the end of a period of availability of three posts offered with a view to reinstatement;
• For professional inadequacy.

Retirement and Pensions

For early childhood professionals in private collective structures, the national collective agreement sets out the conditions for the opening of pension rights through legal and contractual provisions.

Teachers as well as local civil servants working in the early childhood sector benefit from the same pension system as all civil servants, s, which was modified by law no. 2003-775 of 21 August 2003 and its application decrees.

Teachers are eligible to receive a retirement pension starting at 62. Teachers can if they wish to extend their activity to age of 67, especially those who have not yet 42 years of services necessary for obtaining the full rate.