History Governance School year Primary school Middle school and high school

Middle school and high school
After primary school, two educational stages follow:

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  collège (middle school), for children during their first four years of secondary education from the age of 11 to 15.
  
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  lycée (high school), which provides a three-year course of further secondary education for children between the ages of 15 and 18. Pupils are prepared for the baccalauréat (baccalaureate, colloquially known as le bac) or the CAP (Certificat d'aptitude professionnelle). The baccalauréat can lead to higher education studies or directly to professional life.
  
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  CFA (centre de formation des apprentis, apprentice learning center), which provides vocational degrees: le Certificat d'aptitude professionnelle.
  

Private schools
Primary and secondary private schools in France are divided in two categories:

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  Private schools under contract with the State are private institutions at every level, except for the teaching which is following the same national curriculum than in public schools. Teachers in private schools have the same recruitment and roughly the same status than in public schools. They are also employed directly by the State, but they are not permanently assigned and may not return to a public school position. The great majority of private schools in France are under contract.
  
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  Private schools without contract are employing directly their teachers and might teach their own curriculum. Most of them are giving religious education. However, the State is still controling their educational standards.
  
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  Since according to the French law only education is mandatory for all children, and not necessarily attendance to a school, families can provide teaching themselves, provided that they comply to the educational standards set by the law and monitored by the State.