This chapter provides a thematic and chronological overview of national reforms and policy developments since 2021. 

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.

The back-to-school circular for 2024, published in the ‘Bulletin officiel’ on 27 June 2024, sets out the priorities for the 2024-2025 school year. All these priorities can be summed up in a single one: ensuring social cohesion in and through schools, so that no pupil is left by the wayside. 

In primary education, from pre-primary school to primary schools, these priorities include:

• a new way of teaching maths and French in cycle 1 and cycle 2;
• the launch of a textbook labelling scheme;
• national assessments conducted at the beginning of the school year for each level, in both elementary schools and ‘collèges’.

At secondary level, in ‘collèges’ and ‘lycées’, these priorities also include:

• needs groups in French and maths for pupils in the first and second year of “collège’;
• revised conditions for obtaining the ‘diplôme national du brevet’ starting with the 2025 session (the marks awarded by teachers will be used to calculate the continuous assessment mark, while the final tests will henceforth count for 60% of the final mark);
• extension of the vocational ‘lycée’ reform to all levels;
• continuing the discovery of careers at ‘collège’, with the help and support of national education psychologists;
• renewal of the compulsory second-year work placement for all students on the general and technological streams.

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.