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Resume example

Secondary school teacher resume example

A secondary school teacher in France teaches one subject, sometimes two, to several classes in a collège (ages eleven to fifteen) or a lycée (fifteen to eighteen).

Your week is built around a fixed number of teaching hours, spread across classes of different levels: a sixième class discovering the subject and a terminale class preparing the baccalauréat. Outside class, you prepare lessons, mark tests and essays, and enter grades and comments in the school's digital platform. Each term ends with class councils (conseils de classe), where teachers discuss every pupil with the principal and parent representatives. You may also be professeur principal for a class, following pupils' orientation choices. In lycée, the reformed baccalauréat with specialty subjects and continuous assessment shapes the year.

Resume example

[First name Last name]

English Teacher (Certifié) | Collège and Lycée

[City] · [phone] · [email]

Profile

Certified English teacher with [x] years in collège and lycée, including a European section. I act as professeur principal, organise exchanges with a partner school and prepare pupils for oral exams.

Experience

Professeur certifié d'anglais, Lycée [Name], [City]

[month year] to present

  • Taught English to [x] classes from seconde to terminale, including a European section
  • Prepared pupils for the oral and written exams of the baccalauréat
  • Acted as professeur principal for a seconde class, guiding pupils' choice of specialty subjects
  • Organised an exchange with a partner school in [Country], including the funding application
  • Adapted assessments for pupils with dyslexia in coordination with the school nurse and families

Resume headlines

  • English Teacher (Certifié) | Collège and Lycée
  • Secondary Mathematics Teacher, Specialty Classes and Baccalauréat
  • Contract History-Geography Teacher | [Académie]

Summaries for your profile

Entry level

Recently qualified physics-chemistry teacher after the CAPES and a training year in a lycée in [City]. I design lab-based sequences and prepare pupils for the specialty exam of the baccalauréat.

Experienced

Certified English teacher with [x] years in collège and lycée, including a European section. I act as professeur principal, organise exchanges with a partner school and prepare pupils for oral exams.

Career change

After [x] years as a data analyst, I became a contract mathematics teacher to share applied maths with teenagers. I use real data sets to give meaning to statistics and probability lessons.

Tips

  • Write your subject and your status in the headline: certifié, agrégé, contractuel, CAFEP.
  • Specify the levels and streams: collège, lycée général, technologique or professionnel.
  • Mention specific responsibilities: professeur principal, European section, coordination of a subject team.
  • List projects with partners (theatre, companies, exchanges) and what pupils produced.
  • For a foreign degree, give its equivalent level and the subjects studied.

Mistakes to avoid

  • Writing a generic resume that does not state the subject taught.
  • Leaving out your concours or status.
  • Describing teaching experience abroad without the age group and curriculum.
  • Listing every training course without saying how it changed your teaching.

Working as a secondary school teacher in France

Search for professeur de [subject], enseignant du second degré, professeur certifié, and for replacements enseignant contractuel second degré. Tenured posts in state schools require passing a concours (CAPES, CAPET, CAPLP, CAPEPS or agrégation), followed by a training period; the required degree level has changed with the current reform, so check devenirenseignant.gouv.fr. Tenure is open to EU, EEA and Swiss nationals; others can be contract teachers. Private schools under contract recruit through the CAFEP. International schools and sections hire directly, and native speakers can start through the language assistant programme run by France Éducation international.

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Frequently asked questions

How do I become a tenured secondary teacher in France?

You need to pass a competitive exam: the CAPES for general subjects, the CAPET for technology, the CAPLP for vocational lycées, the CAPEPS for physical education, or the agrégation. A training period follows before tenure. The required degree level has changed with the current reform, so check devenirenseignant.gouv.fr.

Can I teach in a French secondary school without a concours?

Yes, as a contract teacher (contractuel), recruited by the académie, usually with at least a bachelor's degree in the subject. Needs are strongest in some subjects and regions. Private schools outside the state contract and international schools also recruit directly.

Is the language assistant programme a way into teaching?

For native speakers, the language assistant programme run by France Éducation international places assistants in French schools for a school year. It is not a teaching post but gives real classroom experience in France and helps you understand how collèges and lycées work before applying as a contract teacher.

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