History Governance School year Primary school Middle school and high school

Recruitment of teachers
Decades ago, primary school teachers were educated in Écoles Normales and secondary teachers recruited through the "Agrégation" examination. The situation has been diversified by the introduction in the 1950s of the CAPES examination for secondary teachers and in the 1990s by the institution of "Instituts Universitaires de Formation des Maîtres" (IUFM), which have been renamed Écoles Supérieures du Professorat et de l’Éducation (ESPE) in 2013 and then Instituts Nationaux Supérieurs du Professorat et de l’Éducation (INSPE) in 2019.
Precisely, school teachers are divided between :

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  Primary school and kindergarten teachers (Professeurs des écoles), educated in an INSPE, have usually a "master" (Bac+5). Their weekly service is about 28 hours a week.
  
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  Certified teachers (Professeurs certifiés), educated in both an University and an INSPE, have a "master" (Bac+5) and must pass a competitive exam called Certificat d'Aptitude au Professorat de l'Enseignement du Second degré (CAPES) in a specific domain. Their rank usually determines their geographic assignment for the first years of their careers. The majority of them are teaching in collège (middle school).
  
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  Agrégés teachers (Professeurs agrégés) are recruited through a different competitive exam called Agrégation, of much higher level in each domain. They could either be certified teachers or external holders of at least a "master" (Bac+5) in the domain. In the latter case they must attend an additional formation in teaching in an INSPE. Agrégés teachers have a higher salary rate and reduced weekly service. The majority of them are teaching in lycée (high school).
  

University teachers are recruited by special commissions, and are divided between:

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  "teachers-researchers" (enseignants-chercheurs), with at least a doctorate: they teach classes and conduct research in their field of expertise with a full tenure. They are either Maître de Conférences (Senior lecturers), or Professeurs (Professors). A Maître de Conférence must publish a reviewed work named Habilitation à Diriger des Recherches (HDR) (professorial thesis) in order to be allowed to become the director of studies for PhD students. The HDR is in turn necessary to be appointed as Professeur. The net pay is from 2,300 to 8,800 (with extra duties) euros per month. Net salaries of over 4,000 euros per month (2011 level) are however very unusual, and limited to the small minority of teacher-researchers who have held the grade of first class full professor for at least seven years, which is rare. The maximum possible net salary for second-class full professors and chief senior lecturers (maître de conférence hors classe), the end of career status for most full-time teacher-researchers in French universities, is 3,760 euros a month (2011), and only a few of the group ever reach that level.
  
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  Secondary school teachers who have been permanently assigned away from their original school position to teach in a university. They are not required to conduct any research but teach twice as many hours as the "teachers-researchers". They are called PRAG (professeurs agrégés) and PRCE (professeurs certifiés). Their weekly service is 15 or 18 hours. The net pay is from 1,400 to 3,900 euros per month.
  
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  CPGE teachers are usually "agrégés" or "chaire sup", assigned by the Inspection Générale according to their qualifications and competitive exam rank as well as other factors. Their weekly service is about 9 hours a week, 25 or 33 weeks a year. Net pay : from 2,000 to 7,500 euro (extra hours)