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EACEA National Policies Platform:Eurydice
Statistics on educational institutions

France

2.Organisation and governance

2.8Statistics on educational institutions

Last update: 17 June 2022

This section provides the most recent available data on the number of educational institutions from pre-primary to upper secondary education levels (ISCED levels 0-3). Statistics on numbers and characteristics of higher education institutions can be found in the European Tertiary Education Register. A general overview of the categories of institutions providing publicly-subsidised adult education and training can be found in the chapter on adult education. The notes below the tables provide methodological explanations necessary for a good interpretation of data.

Statistics on educational institutions providing regular education

Type of educational institution in English (and in national language)

ISCED levels providedMain orientation of the programmes provided​Number of educational institutions

Total

PublicGovernment-dependent privatePrivate independent

Preprimary school

(École maternelle)

0

(-)

14 058

13 881

(:)(:)

Elementary school

(École élémentaire)

0

(-)

16 280

15 966

(:)(:)

Primary school

(École primaire)

0, 1

(-)

20 154

15 055

(:)(:)

Middle school

(Collège)

2

G

7 197

5 290

1 662

245

General and technological high school

(Lycée général et technologique)

3

G

2 646

1 612

874

188

Vocational high school

(Lycée professionnel)

3

V

1 399

819

359

241

Apprentice training centre

(Centre de formation des apprentis – CFA)

3

V

936

(:)

(:)(:)

Source: Repères et références statistiques 2019, Ministère de l’éducation nationale et de la jeunesse, 2019 (last accessed on September 25th, 2019) ISCED= International Standard Classification of Education

G= GeneralV= Vocational
(:) Data not available(-) Not applicable

Terminology The 2018 version of the Unesco/OECD/Eurostat Manual on concepts, definitions and classification can be consulted for the definitions of regular education (p.10); general and vocational programmes of education (p.19); as well as public institution, government-dependent private institution and private independent institution (pp. 24-26)

Notes :

Note 1: In private pre-primary and primary education, the data do not distinguish between government-dependent and independent institutions. Therefore, it is not possible to provide such data. Out of the non-public educational institutions that provide only ISCED level 0 (pre-primary schools), only ISCED level 1 (elementary schools) or both ISCED level 0 and 1 (primary schools):

  • 4,714 are government-dependent and 876 are independent private
  • there are 177 preprimary schools and 314 elementary schools. All the remaining ones are “Écoles primaires”, which cover both pre-primary and primary education.

Note 2: The available data do not make it possible to distinguish Apprentice training centre according to public or private governance.

Note 3: ISCED 4 training is not presented here because it does not constitute institutions as such in France. These courses can be followed remotely or face-to-face, and are organized by higher education institutions. Moreover, the ISCED 4 level in France is marginal in terms of student population (34,600 students in 2017, compared to 2,704,900 for ISCED level 3).

Note 4: The data presented on this page is counted using the "legal entity approach".

Statistics on separate educational institutions providing special needs education

Type of educational institution in English and (in national language)ISCED levels providedMain orientation of the programmes provided​Number of educational institutions

Total

PublicGovernment-dependent institutionsPrivate independent

Regional adapted teaching institutions

(Établissement régional d'enseignement adapté)

2, 3G, V7978(:)(:)

Source: Repères et références statistiques 2019, Ministère de l’éducation nationale et de la jeunesse, 2019 (last accessed on September 25th, 2019) ISCED= International Standard Classification of Education

G= GeneralV= Vocational
(:) Data not available(-) Not applicable

Terminology The 2018 version of the Unesco/OECD/Eurostat Manual on concepts, definitions and classification can be consulted for the definitions of regular education (p.10); general and vocational programmes of education (p.19); as well as public institution, government-dependent private institution and private independent institution (pp. 24-26).

Note 1: see Établissement régional d'enseignement adapté in glossary for more information. These institutions always provide both General and Vocational education.

Note 2: Data of EREAs is not available according to the type of private institution. There is only one private institution among such schools.

Note 3: The data presented on this page is counted using the "legal entity approach".