In theory all EU citizens have the right to live and work anywhere in Europe. In practice, member states still have a tendency to erect barriers, but there are systems in place to make the transition a bit smoother.

The National Recognition Centre for the UK (UKNARIC) will compare your skills to the French equivalent, for a fee (see fact file). ‘Mapping’ your qualification to the French equivalent should save you many lengthy, complicated explanations about exactly what your NVQ allows you to do.

Plus there’s the EU’s own Europass scheme, which provides standardised documents such as CVs, higher education and training certificates, so a potential French employer should be able to decipher your qualifications more easily. And the EU has issued a number of directives to provide mutual recognition of professional, semi-professional and craft qualifications (EU Directives 89/48, 92/52 and 99/42 respectively).

Finally, if you’ve years of experience but no formal qualifications, don’t despair as you can claim a ‘certificate of experience’ from the UK Department for Education and Skills that will ratify your experience, hopefully making you more appealing to a potential French employer.
Undoubtedly, though, the biggest barrier for British people is self-inflicted: language. It is estimated that only around a third of Brits can speak a foreign language fluently. It therefore cannot be repeated too often: learning French is the passport to building a professional career in France.

Different strokes
If you wish to work within a regulated profession in France (medical, para-medical, teaching, architecture, etc) you will need to get your professional qualifications officially recognised. (This is obviously so that unqualified people can’t slip into the system by claiming to have qualified in some other country.) If you wish to work in an un-regulated profession (chef, translator, hairdresser, etc) then you don’t need any official recognition and can apply for work on the same basis as any French person. Getting your diplomas and certificates translated might help you find a job, but it is not required.

If it is considered that your training is less in-depth, or does not cover all the areas covered by the equivalent training in France, you can be asked to do some further training in France, and/or show proof that you have a certain number of years’ work experience in your profession.

Artists such as non-commercial painters, sculptors, poets, writers and photographers have a special statut (legal working status) under which they pay reduced social security and national insurance contributions, and under which they only pay tax on what they actually earn. To register, you will need to contact the Maison des Artistes and if you are unemployed, you can get personalised help via the Agence Nationale pour l’Emploi (ANPE – French Job Centre) to do this, and to fill out all the various forms involved.

Performance artists can become intermittents du spectacle by submitting a certain number of pay slips (currently around 40) to the Association pour l’Emploi dans l’Industrie et le Commerce (ASSEDIC) within one working year (even if each is only for a one-night performance); after which they can claim a percentage of what they earned per week when they were working as unemployment benefits without having to sign on at the ANPE, leaving them free to train, rehearse, and audition.

Academic standards
The whole subject of exams and qualifications in France is formalised and demanding.
From the age of six up, when full-time education becomes obligatory, children are expected to achieve certain academic standards at the end of the school year or they have to stay down and repeat the whole year again.

At 11, children who have achieved the required standards at primary school move to collège (middle school) where they spend four years studying for their first national exam – the brevet – which is taken at around 15 years old and has to be passed for children to move up from collège to lycée (secondary school).

The brevet consists of three written exams each lasting three hours: maths, French, and history/geography/civic education. The results of these papers are added to the marks achieved in all their subjects over the previous two years. All school marks in France are noted out of 20, and a pass mark is 10.

Three years later, if all goes well, young people sit the baccalauréat – which if passed gives automatic access to a place at the local university or (for the most high-flying) a place at classes preparatoires where they will spend two years studying – often together with additional, expensive private tuition – for the competitive exams which control access to the prestigious and elite grandes écoles; high-standard further education establishments that specialise in particular subjects, such as engineering or social sciences.

Unlike A-levels, the bac générale covers a wide range of subjects (at least seven), but these can be weighted in three different ways. A bac S (scientifique) is heavy on the science and maths but includes lighter servings of French, history, geography, foreign languages, technology, etc. A bac ES (économique et sociale)" obviously includes lashings of economics, and the bac L (littéraire) is heavy on languages and literature, but lighter on the other subjects.

Alternatives to the bac générale include vocational courses leading to the bac technologique, the brevet d’enseignement professionnel (BEP) or the certificat d’aptitude professionnelle (CAP) either of which can lead to a baccalauréat professionel, which in turn leads into the world of work.

University challenge
After the bac, the less academic can study vocational and technical subjects (there are at least one hundred available) leading to a brevet de technicien supérieur (BTS), and the more academically inclined can go to university where they embark on a gruelling series of cycles designed to sift students progressively so that only the most academic get through the next four years of study.

At each exit level, various diplomas are awarded. At the end of the third year, successful students get their licence (equivalent to a UK degree) and a year later can sit for their maîtrise. From here on, studies become steadily more specialised and academic, many of the students not leaving full-time education until in their mid or even late 20s.
And for those who wish to try their hand at a university education in France, entrance to the French further education system is open to all provided you have equivalent exams from elsewhere in the EU, and can speak fluent French.

• For more details about the bac system see www.education.gouv.fr/sec/baccalaureat/default.htm
• Visit www.uknec.org.uk for details on the Europass scheme
• Visit www.uknrp.org.uk for the UKNARIC
• To get your UK teaching qualification recognised in France, contact the Ministère de l’Éducation Nationale, de l’Enseignement Supérieur et de la Recherche, Bureau de l’Information sur les Systèmes Educatifs et de la Reconnaissance des Diplômes DRIC A2, 110 rue de Grenelle, 75007 Paris. Tel: 00 33 (01) 40 65 65 90
• University lecturers should contact the Département des Affaires Internationales de l’Enseignement Supérieur DRIC B1, rue Dutot 61-65, 75015 Paris, Tel: 00 33 (0)1 40 65 66 19
• Vets should contact the Conseil Supérieur de l’Ordre des Vétérinaires, 34 rue Bréguet, 75011 Paris. Tel: 00 33 (0)1 47 00 12 27. Fax: 00 33 (0)1 47 00 09 25
• For other professions, get information on who to contact from the Ministère de l’Éducation Nationale, de l’Enseignement Supérieur et de la Recherche, rue Dutot 61-65, 75015 Paris. Tel: 00 33 (0)1 40 65 66 19

Class act

• A bac+4 means four years of study after having passed the bac; a bac+3 means three years of study after having passed the bac, and so on
• Engineering is not a regulated profession in France and therefore you do not need to apply for official recognition of your qualifications
• When you apply for recognition of your professional qualifications, you should get a response within a maximum of four months

Updates
This article was last updated 15 September 2007.

Disclaimer
This dossier article is intended as a general guide only.  For specific information relative to your own situation, please use the contact details in the factfile.  The information given here was correct at the time of publication.  However, if you notice a gremlin causing typos, broken links or any other inaccuracies, do please let us know.