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SCHOOLS

How to become an English teacher in France

Whether you want to pick up a bit of extra income, have ambitions of pursuing a career in education, or just want an excuse to move to France, there are many different ways of becoming an English teacher.

Published: 22 July 2021 12:11 CEST
How to become an English teacher in France
Teaching in a school is just one of your options. Photo: Patrick KOVARIK / AFP.

Your options will also depend on whether you or not you have a European passport (sorry, Brits, your prospects are now more limited as a result of Brexit), and whether you already live in France.

Here are the different routes available for teaching English in France.

Become a language assistant

Every year, France recruits 4,500 young native speakers from 60 countries to help children from primary school to high school age to improve their foreign language skills.

This includes 1,500 Americans who can apply through the Teaching Assistant Program in France (TAPIF) from October. The application process differs from country to country – people in the UK can go through British Council.

Being an assistant usually involves helping the school’s teachers to run their classes, or taking small groups off to do different activities.

READ ALSO How to move to France on an English Teaching Assistant programme

Assistants only teach up to 12 hours per week and are not responsible for grading, so it’s a good opportunity to explore France during your down time. The other side of this is that the net salary is around €785 per month, so it’s not ideal if you’re hoping to save for the future.

In order to apply, you need to be under 35, have a B1 level in French, and have completed at least three years of university education in the US, or two years if you’re applying from the UK or Canada. Most candidates join the programme just after graduating, although for those studying French at a British university, the British Council programme can be undertaken during your year abroad.

Since applicants from abroad often have to back out at the last minute, many académies (regional education authorities) will advertise for these roles, and fill them with English speakers who already live in France, so it is worth checking jobs boards over the summer.

Become a lecteur/lectrice or maître de langue

Like language assistants, lecteurs give students the chance to exchange with native speakers, and they are often recruited from abroad. The difference is lecteurs teach in higher education, and often benefit from agreements with their home university, but you can apply directly to French universities even if you already live in France. Universities will usually sponsor visas, because they are specifically looking to hire native speakers.

A maître de langue performs similar tasks, but earns slightly more money, and the positions are harder to come by. Neither position requires a teaching qualification – a maître de langue needs a full master’s degree, and lecteurs are usually expected to have completed one year of a master’s, but applicants are often accepted with only a bachelor’s degree.

READ ALSO From TikTok to K-pop: How French students are learning English online

You will often be asked to lead conversation classes with students from the English department, but you may have the opportunity to give English classes to students from other departments. It’s more responsibility than being an assistant, because you are in charge of evaluating your students at the end of each semester.

You can be a lecteur or maître de langue for a maximum of two years.

Work as a vacataire

Another way to teach university classes is to become a vacataire. These are temporary teachers who are paid an hourly rate of around €40 for the classes they teach, but are not paid for preparation work.

You are only allowed to work as a vacataire if this is alongside another job (a contract for 300 teaching hours per year, or 900 hours if it’s a non-teaching job), if you are studying for a PhD, or if you are registered as a self-employed teacher, so consider this option if you want to gain teaching experience or supplement your income, but not as a career.

A slightly different option is to apply to work as a contractuel (supply teacher). You can apply directly either to the académie for secondary schools, or to a university. The length of your contract and the number of hours you are given will depend on the school’s requirements, but if your contract covers school holidays then you will be paid during your time off.

Take an exam to teach in secondary schools

If you’re sure you want to pursue a career in teaching, a potentially attractive option is to take one of the competitive civil service entrance exams. Most public school teachers in France had to take the CAPES concours, which involves written and oral tasks.

The education ministry is required to place successful candidates in one of their schools, so if you pass you are guaranteed a job in a middle school or high school, but they may decide to send you to a different part of France. The CAPES is only open to French and EU citizens.

There is another concours called the CAFEP, which people of any nationality can apply for. Passing this exam allows you to teach in private schools which are “under contract”, usually Catholic schools which agree to follow the same curriculum as public schools. Teachers with the CAFEP are employed by the state, but do not have access to all the benefits of public school teachers, such as more generous pensions.

You can also take the agrégation, which is considered the more prestigious concours. Teachers who are agrégés are given 15 class hours per week, compared to 18 hours for those who are certifiés (have the CAPES), can teach in middle school, high school, a classe préparatoire for the Grandes Ecoles, or at a university, and have the opportunity to earn more money. However, the entrance exam is very demanding and only open to candidates from an EU or European Economic Area country.

READ ALSO ‘I feel ridiculous’ – Why French people dread speaking English

Work for a language school

Another possibility is to work for a private language school. Wall Street English alone has 60 centres all across France, and there are many other language schools which offer a similar service, although many will ask for a CELTA or TEFL qualification.

This could be an attractive option if you don’t fancy having to manage a group of thirty kids, and prefer to work with adults. But make sure you do your research to know whether your chosen school will sponsor a visa, and whether the salary is really enough to live on.

Give private lessons

If you’re a student or have another job and are looking to teach English to make a bit of extra money, the easiest way is to become a private tutor. You can advertise your services directly on sites like leboncoin or superprof, by offering cours particuliers (private lessons), or by reaching out to parents in your local area.

Alternatively, you can apply to give classes through a company like Acadomia. You will have to pass an interview, and they will take a cut of what you earn, but they will put you in contact with parents and English learners, so you don’t have to worry about finding your own clients.

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WORKING IN FRANCE

What are France’s laws around working from home that I need to know?

Remote working has become more common since the Covid-19 pandemic, but what are the rules in France? Can your boss really force you to work in an office?

Published: 8 January 2024 14:20 CET
What are France's laws around working from home that I need to know?

The French aren’t especially fond of remote working – known as teletravail – figures published in 2023 show. 

According to a study led the German economic institute Ifo and Econ Pol Europe and published in Les Échos last August, the French are among the least likely of workers in 34 industrialised countries to work from home – averaging 0.6 days per week, compared to the European average of 0.8, and the global average of 0.9.

The policy is more in vogue in the USA (1.4 days per week), the UK (1.5 days), and Canada – where workers average a world-leading 1.7 days per week remote working.

Reasons for this appear to be open to interpretation – a certain hesitancy among employers to allow staff to work remotely, and a resulting lack of employees asking for the option because they believe their bosses are likely to say no. 

Officially, this appears not to be the case. A 2022 study found that 58 percent of company bosses in France were “ready to facilitate teleworking for employees who wish to live in another region”. But, “43 percent of managers believe that remote working has made their managerial position more complex.” The reasons for their concern? “The reduction of informal exchanges (for 37%), maintaining team cohesion (36%), and managing employees (34%)”.

Furthermore, the Ifo and Econ Pol Europe study found that 62 percent of employees cited work socialising as one of the key advantages of in-office working, while 43 percent welcomed the work-life distinction.

The fashion today in France, in light of the pros and cons of homeworking highlighted during the Covid 19 pandemic, appears to be for hybrid working, in which workers spend part of the week in the office and the rest working remotely.

But what are the rules if you do want to work remotely in France?

Private sector employees can negotiate an agreement to work remotely full or part time. If you request to work from home on a long-term basis, your boss has the right to refuse, but must give a reason.

The remote-working rules for public sector workers are different and slightly more complex.

But first, it’s a good idea to check any conventions collectifs – collective agreements – that exist in your profession or workplace. They may well have covered remote working already, so it is well worth checking out what this covers before beginning negotiations.

Your boss can also ask you to work from home. In normal circumstances, you can refuse and don’t have to provide a reason. However, in the event of exceptional circumstances (such as, for example, a pandemic), remote working may be imposed on employees without their agreement.

Contract conditions

Assuming you are not a self-employed contractor, you will remain an employee of the company with the same rights as before, but if you switch to home-working permanently your employers must provide written conditions of your new working practices.

Among these must be a protocol for working hours and workflow regulation.

Employer and employee must also agree – before you start remote working – time slots during which your boss can contact you at home, in order to preserve your right to a private life.

In all other aspects, the employee is under the same obligations as if they worked in the office full-time. You must respect your employer’s instructions, working hours and conditions of use of equipment.

Work equipment

When an employee is working from home, the employer must provide, install and maintain any necessary equipment.

If, exceptionally, the teleworker uses his own equipment, the employer has to ensure it is appropriate for the job and is maintained.

In principle, setting up home-working should not entail any additional cost to the employee, so employers must supply and maintain any equipment that you reasonably need. Whether that is supplied directly, or through you ordering a work-station and claiming the expense back can be agreed between you and your employer.

The employer must also ensure that the employee is aware of restrictions on the use of computers, or electronic communication services. This includes limits on personal use, for example, and will likely remain the same rules as those in place in the office.

Allowances and expenses

Working from home can mean that electricity bills rise as workers use their own electricity for lights, coffee machines/kettles and computers.

Any fixed expenses – such as stationary, phone calls, printer cartridges, for example – can be claimed back from your employer on the production of receipts.

You are also entitled to ask your employer to share the cost of utilities like electricity, internet and heating.

If you work in a job where you receive restaurant vouchers, these cannot be withdrawn if you switch to home-working.

Data protection

The employer has an obligation to protect the data used and processed by its employees, including teleworkers.

This obligation applies whether the teleworker uses the employer’s equipment or their own.

Health and safety

If you are working at home, your residence becomes your workplace for that day, with all that implies legally. For example, if you fall down your own stairs on a day you are working from home, that could count as a workplace accident and your employer could be liable.

Employer liability can be strict in France – remember this case when a court ruled that a man who died while having sex with a stranger on a business trip was the victim of a workplace accident? Not that we’re suggesting any hard-working readers of The Local would be frittering away their working hours on casual sex, but it shows how strict the rules around the workplace can be for employers. 

Transport costs

Maybe you have agreed to work somewhere that’s closer to home. If so, an  employer is expected to cover half the cost 50 percent of subscription tickets for travel on public transport, or cycle rental, between their usual residence and their place of work.

If remote working is part-time, say one or two days per week, the level of support provided by the employer remains identical to that of an employee who is permanently with the company.

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