Education To Become The Abroad Teacher

Five years of studies await students who intend to teach. Only the last two years are professional: they prepare for the competitive examination and for the exercise of the profession.

To become a teacher, the first step is to  obtain a license. All disciplines are possible, the best being to focus on a subject taught in primary or secondary (letters, mathematics, history-geography, languages, sciences, etc.).  

From the bachelor's degree, courses or options to prepare for teaching professions are generally offered to students who wish to embark on this path.

The second step will consist of registering for a MEEF master's degree (teaching, education and training professions) , which includes several mentions: first degree (school teacher), second degree (secondary school teacher), supervision educational (principal educational adviser). The various competitions to which students have access make it possible to teach in the first degree (nursery and primary schools) or in the secondary (colleges and high schools), in the public or in the private sector.   

The first year of the MEEF master's degree is mainly focused on preparing for the recruitment competition , which takes place at the end of the year *, but those admitted will still have to validate the second year, because obtaining the diploma is essential for exercise the profession. 

The MEEF masters are organized by the INSPE   (Higher National Institutes of Teaching and Education) within universities .

Note that Catholic institutes also offer MEEF masters in partnership, which is ideal when considering a career as a private teacher.

 

On the program of all these competitions: two written admissibility tests (French and mathematics) and two oral tests  (a professional situation and an interview). 

 

From the start of the 2020 school year, a third oral test will be added to the competition: foreign language (to be chosen from German, English, Spanish and Italian).

 

If all goes well for the student (that is to say if he is admitted to the competition and has obtained his M1), he continues his studies in the second year of MEEF. If the student fails M1 but succeeds in the competition, he / she retains the benefit of the competition for one year.

 

In the event of failure of the competition, the student has the possibility of retaking it or can consider a reorientation in another master (at M1 or M2 level, depending on whether or not he has passed his exams).

 

The second year of the MEEF master's degree is considered as a work-study year: the students become civil servant interns and follow courses at the ESPE, while carrying out an internship in responsibility equivalent to half-time in front of the students. During this period, trainee teachers are paid between 1,795 euros and 2,076 euros gross per month.    

 

* Attention, reform: from 2022, the competition will take place at the end of M2 and no longer of M1

 

School teacher: with children from 2 to 11 years old

 

The PERC (competition recruitment school teachers)  allows to teach in  the nursery and primary schools,  at a rate of 24 hours of weekly attendance to students and 108 annual hours of team work, of pedagogical and complementary activities participation in the school council. In 2019, out of the 28,618 candidates present for the tests, 14,874 were eligible and 10,600 admitted for the 9,636 positions offered in the external competition (including more than 3,190 for the academies of Créteil and Versailles alone).  

 

Certified teacher: college and high school

 

The CAPES  (certificate of aptitude for secondary education teaching staff),  the key  to teaching in high school or public college , concerns around thirty disciplines: German, English, Spanish, history-geography, literature, philosophy, economic and social sciences , etc.

 

Note: some subjects attract fewer candidates than others, so not all positions are filled. This is the case for mathematics, classical letters and German.

 

At the 2019 session of the external competition, 5,460 positions were open at CAPES and only 4,928 candidates were admitted.

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The equivalent of CAPES in the private sector is  CAFEP (certificate of aptitude for teaching duties in private educational establishments)  : 12,228 candidates were registered in 2019 for 1,172 positions offered.

The other competitions for certified teachers in the public are:

 

-  the CAPEPS  (Certificate of Fitness professorship of Physical Education and Sports), which is aimed at holders STAPS license and leads to the profession of  teacher of physical education and sport  (650 posts in 2019)

 

-  the CAPET  (certificate of aptitude for the teaching staff of technical education), which allows teaching in one of the disciplines offered for the competition,  such as industrial sciences of engineering, economics and management or even aesthetics-cosmetics (770 positions offered in 2019 for 6,369 registrants)

 

-  the CAPLP  (Certificate of aptitude for professional high school teaching), which opens the doors of  professional establishments  to teach - depending on the competition passed - literature and history-geography, mechanical engineering, applied arts, etc. (1.435 positions offered in 2019 and 1,250 admitted).

Associate professor: after a validated master

Aggregation allows teaching in high schools and higher education  (preparatory classes, BTS, university). To pass it, you must have already  obtained the master's degree  (unlike other teaching competitions).

 

Once this diploma is in hand,  a year of preparation is added in an INSPE  or within an  ENS  (École Normale Supérieure), in   Lyon ,  Paris ,  Paris-Saclay  or  Rennes .

The associate professor provides 15 hours of weekly lessons for literary, scientific or technical subjects (17 hours for physical and sports education), but his work is of course not limited to his presence in class. In 2019, 8,901 candidates took the aggregation tests (1,555 positions were open and there were only 1,439 admitted).

Professor and doctor: the highest grade

The doctorate (bac + 8 minimum) is the prerequisite for a career as a teacher-researcher at the university.  It is obtained by defending a  research thesis . Please note,  the doctorate is not a competition, but a diploma.  This is the reason why the doctorate does not guarantee educational opportunities. Some doctoral students go into the private sector to do business research.

To teach in higher education, it is necessary to obtain  the qualification for the functions of lecturer or university professor  (for the latter, it is also necessary to have obtained  an HDR [Habilitation to Direct Research]), then apply to an establishment and pass a selection, which depends on the number of open positions each year.