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The lycée (pronounced [lise]) is the second and last stage of secondary education in the French educational system. The City of Paris refers to a lycée in English as a "sixth form college". A pupil attending lycée is a lycéen (masculine) or a lycéenne (feminine).

Until 1959, the term lycée designated a secondary school with a full curriculum (seven years, the present college + lycée) directly under the supervision of the state, then from 1959 to 1963 any secondary school with a full curriculum. Older lycées still include a collège section, so a pupil attending lycée may actually be a collégien.

At the end of the final year of schooling, most students take the baccalauréat diploma. There are three main types of baccalauréat, which are completely different from each other: the baccalauréat général (general baccalaureate), the baccalauréat technologique (technological baccalaureate), and the baccalauréat professionnel (professional baccalaureate).

Lycées are divided into (i) the lycée général, leading to two or more years of post–baccalauréat studies, (ii) the lycée technologique, leading to short-term studies, and (iii) the lycée professionnel, a vocational qualification leading directly to a particular career. General and technological education courses are provided in "standard" lycées, while vocational courses are provided in separate professional lycées.

In practice, competent pupils at a vocational lycée professionnel can also apply to take short-term, post–baccalauréat studies leading to the Brevet de technicien supérieur (BTS), a vocational qualification. That option is available also to pupils at a lycée général.

Lycée général and lycée technologique※

General streams (baccalauréat général)※

In France, the lycée général is the usual stepping stone to university degrees.

Before 2021, the students of the general baccalaureate chose one of three streams (termed séries) in the penultimate lycée year (S for Sciences; ES for Economics and Social sciences; and L for Literature). During the seconde, students mostly take the same courses, despite having different academic skills and interests, so it is usually thought to be an easier year than either the première or the terminale.

The baccalauréat général examination is different for all three séries, and subjects are weighted according to the course taken.

According to the official statistics, for the 2003–2004 school year, 33 percent of all students chose série S; 19 percent chose série ES; and 11 percent chose série L.

All students take philosophy courses in terminale, while French language classes end in the première, excepting the série L, where they become French literature classes, where pupils are to study two books during the year, from French writers. Or foreign books translated into French (e.g. Romeo and Juliet during the school year 2007–2008, or The Leopard from Italian author Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa).

There also is a required option for further specialisation in all séries, although it is restricted to the chosen course. For example, a student in série S can choose to specialise in mathematics, physics, "SVT" (biology and geology) or "engineering sciences" but not in philosophy.

A student in série L can choose to specialise in one of his or her foreign languages (English being the most popular), a third foreign language or a dead language such as Latin, or one of the following arts: music, theatre, circus, "plastiques". Specialisation adds a separate, weekly two-hour class in the chosen discipline; also, it increases the weight of the chosen subject at the baccalauréat. The syllabus in the specialisation class is unrelated to the material learned in the common class. Specialisation plays no role in the choice of a post–secondary career or subject at university, except for a few courses aimed for students from a given série that can also accept students from other séries if they have taken a given specialisation.

Starting from the 2020-21 academic year, the S, ES and L streams of the general baccalaureate are deleted. Students of the general baccalaureate now choose three specialty courses, then keep two in the final year. There are 12 specialties (that vary in their availability depending on the school): arts, ecology, history & geography, humanities, languages, literature, mathematics, computer science, physics & chemistry, economic and social sciences, engineering sciences, biology & geology. These specialties are added to a part common to all: French, philosophy, history & geography, languages, sciences, sport. A large part of the examinations are now done over the school year. But the students also have final exams in their 2 specialties as well as in philosophy, added to a general oral examination.

Technical streams (baccalauréat technologique)※

After the seconde, students can also go on the lycée technologique to obtain the baccalaureat technologique. It includes eight other streams, called séries technologiques:

• sciences et technologies de la gestion (Management Sciences and Technologies, STG) (replaced sciences et technologies tertiaires (Service Sciences and Technologies, STT) for the June 2007 Bac Exam)
• sciences et technologies de l'industrie et du développement durable (Industrial Science and Technologies and sustainable development, STI2D)
• sciences et technologies de laboratoire (Laboratory Science and Technologies, STL)
• sciences médico-sociales (Health and Social Sciences, SMS): The name was changed in 2007 and became: Sciences et technologies de la santé et du social (Sciences and Technologies in Health and Social, ST2S)
• sciences et technologies du produit agroalimentaire (Food Science and Technologies, STPA)
• sciences et technologies de l'agronomie et de l'environnement (Agronomy and Environment Science and Technologies, STAE)
• techniques de la musique et de la danse (Music and Dance Techniques, TMD)
• hôtellerie (Hotel and restaurants management)

The STPA and STAE stream are available only in lycées agricoles, speciality schools for agricultural sciences.

The teaching of the lessons is based on inductive reasoning and experimentation. It allows you to work or to pursue short and technical studies (laboratory, design and applied arts, hotel and restaurant, management etc.).

Lycée professionnel※

The lycée professionnel leads to the baccalauréat professionnel. The courses are designed for students who do not plan to continue into higher education. The vocational training is for craftspeople and involves internships in commercial enterprises. The courses are suitable for students who are more interested in a hands-on educational approach than in academic schooling. There are nearly 100 specialties, including: Leather crafts; Building technician; Maintenance of industrial equipment; Cooking; Road freight transport driver; Butcher, etc and others.

Carte scolaire※

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French parents are not free to choose the state school that their children will attend; unless the children have special learning needs, they will attend the school allocated to them by the carte scolaire (school map). Reasons for attending a state school that is not their nearest include studying an option unavailable in the school to which they were originally assigned (e.g. a rare foreign language).

For many reasons, many parents consider the allocated school standards inadequate, the teaching poor, and particularly if they do not like the idea of their children mixing with some of the other pupils at the school. In any city, there are "better" lycées and collèges, which parents would prefer their children attend. The two main methods used in such circumstances to get children into a school other than their assigned school are :

• paying for private schooling;
• having the child choose an unusual option (e.g. Ancient Greek or Latin) available only in the preferred school.

A similar trick is used if some classes in a school are seen as "better" than others. For organisational reasons, students taking certain options are grouped into special classes, which may be academically attractive. They typically include classes taking German as a first foreign language, or Latin or Ancient Greek as options.

Outside France※

See also※

• Baccalauréat
• Grandes écoles
• Education in France
• Agency for French Education Abroad
• French language education in Egypt

References※

External links※

• French Ministry of Education (in French)
• Bulletin Officiel (in French)
• Centre national de documentation pédagogique website (in French)
• The school system and education in France (in English)