France lowers statutory school starting age

The move means that France will have one of the lowest compulsory starting ages for education in Europe.

French president Emmanuel Macron made the announcement yesterday at the opening of the annual two-day conference for nursery schools, Assises de l'école maternelle.

Mr Macron said the aim was to reduce inequality in education at the earliest opportunity.

While in practice, nearly all children in France already start school at three, there are around 2.4 per cent who do not, most of them living in the poorest parts of France or in overseas territories.

‘I hope that with this obligation, from the start of the school year in 2019, we can... correct this unacceptable differential,’Mr Macron said.

The French government is recruiting 800 more teaching staff to cater for the increase in numbers.

In France, children attend école maternelle (nursery school), from three- to six-years-old.

According to Le Monde 795,501 children out of 815,241 (97.6 per cent) attended école maternelle at the age of three at the start of the school year in 2016.

However, there are regional disparities, with the figure at 93 per cent for children in Paris, 87 per cent in Corsica, and as low as 70 per cent in some French overseas territories.

French teaching unions have said that they want to reduce class sizes in nursery schools.
There are around 22 children in each nursery school class at the age of three.

In most European countries compulsory school starting age is six and in Finland and Sweden children start school in the year they turn seven, after attending pre-school from one to six.

School starting age around Europe