French schools abroad: the AEFE network in figures

The French education network abroad brings together schools with different statuses: directly managed schools, schools under agreement, and schools that are simply accredited, which are privately managed.

This distinction is the first thing to understand, because it determines the school's fees, governance and stability. The same label covers very different economic realities.

We do not publish the number of schools in the network, the number of pupils enrolled, or the breakdown by status or by country: we have not been able to verify them in an up-to-date official source. These figures should be obtained from the Agence pour l'enseignement français à l'étranger.

What can be said is that coverage is very uneven. It is dense in countries with a long-standing French presence — Morocco, Lebanon, Spain, Germany — and very sparse elsewhere, notably in Southeast Asia and the Caribbean.

For a family, this geography is a location criterion in its own right. It can rule out a destination that, on every other count, would be the best.

School fees vary considerably depending on the school's status, the country and the level. Along with housing, they are the item that decides an expatriate household's budget.

We do not publish a range of school fees: they are set school by school and we have not found a consolidated, up-to-date official series.

Means-tested school grants are available to French families, awarded by the consulates. Applications follow a strict timetable, well ahead of the start of the school year.

This timetable is the most important practical point. A family settling in mid-year often discovers that it has missed the grant round and will have to wait a whole year.

A contractual point must be added: when the employer covers school fees, the calculation behind a move abroad changes entirely. The same job in the same city does not have the same value depending on whether or not this benefit is written into the contract.

Outside the French network, there are three routes. The English-speaking international school, generally even more expensive and of highly variable quality. The local system, free or inexpensive but requiring command of the language. And distance learning, with the Centre national d'enseignement à distance.

Each has consequences for the return. A child educated in a local system for several years may have difficulty reintegrating into the French system, particularly at upper secondary level.

This is a factor that expatriation plans underestimate, because it only shows itself on return — often several years after the decision that caused it.

Finally, the question of bilingualism deserves to be asked honestly. French schooling abroad protects the link with the home system, but it limits language immersion, which is nonetheless one of the reasons most often given for leaving.

1. Check whether schools exist in the target city, and their status, before settling on the destination.
2. Contact schools directly to find out about fees and the availability of places.
3. Find out about the school grant timetable from the consulate, well in advance.
4. Have any employer coverage costed, and have it written into the contract.
5. Plan ahead for the conditions of the return and reintegration into the French system.

The first point is the one most often dealt with last, when it should come first for a family with school-age children. A country's taxation can be compared in a few hours; the availability of a place in the right school cannot be negotiated.