Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

EDUCATION

School holidays in France: The dates you need to know

The new school year is about to begin in France but parents are already unhappy about some of the planned holiday dates.

Published: 30 August 2016 11:11 CEST
School holidays in France: The dates you need to know
Photo: AFP

French parents (or at least those that work full time) often express their frustration about the number of school holidays, due to the difficulties in taking time off or finding someone to look after their offspring.

And just days before kids go back to school in France, parents are already expressing their disquiet, not so much over the sheer number of holidays (because they have more or less accepted that now) but over some of the dates.

The most controversial break this year is the annual La Toussaint (All Saints) holiday, which will take place from Wednesday October 19th until pupils return to classes on Thursday November 3rd.

The fact the two-week break begins and ends in the middle of the week has drawn criticism from parents who claim this oddly timed holiday will prove difficult to coordinate.

“The positioning of these holidays right in the middle of the week creates real disruption, notably for boarding school students,” a spokesperson from France’s Parents Federation (Federation des Conseils de Parents d’Elèves) told BFMTV.

Tourist industry chiefs have also expressed frustration because they fear the dates of the break will discourage families from going away.

With holiday rentals typically offered from Saturday to Saturday, there are also worries that the tourist industry may suffer from these inconvenient holiday dates.

Thierry Grégoire, a representative from French hotel group UMIH, told Europe 1 that “this makes no sense economically”.
 
However, government officials continue to defend their calendar, with Education Minister Najat Vallaud-Belkacem saying “55 organisations did not have anything to say about the Toussaint holiday”.
 
The minister added that holiday dates intend to strike the right balance between an “effective rhythm of learning” and “vital resting time” for students.
 
“It was decided in collaboration with parent organisations, trade unions and tourist organisations.”
 
The ministry explained that the current plan ensures that there are never more than seven weeks of school between each holiday.
 
For the winter and spring holidays, the amount of time between each break varies from 5 to 7 weeks depending on the school’s geographical zone.
 
France's school calendar is fixed for three academic years. The Education Ministry is in charge of deciding the schedule, alongside the interior, transport, tourism and agriculture ministries. 

Below is the full list of school holidays for the academic year 2016-2017:

Toussaint holidays : Wednesday 19th October to Thursday 3rd November 

Christmas holidays: Saturday 17th December – Tuesday 3rd January

Winter break:

-Zone A (Besançon, Bordeaux, Clermont-Ferrand, Dijon, Grenoble, Limoges, Lyon, Poitiers): Saturday 18th February – Monday 6thMarch

-Zone B (Aix-Marseille, Amiens, Caen, Lille, Nancy-Metz, Nantes, Nice, Orléans-Tours, Reims, Rennes, Rouen, Strasbourg): Saturday 11th February – Monday 27th February

-Zone C (Créteil, Montpellier, Paris, Toulouse, Versailles) : Saturday 4th February – Monday 20th February

Spring break :

-Zone A (Besançon, Bordeaux, Clermont-Ferrand, Dijon, Grenoble, Limoges, Lyon, Poitiers): Saturday 15th April – Tuesday 2nd May

-Zone B (Aix-Marseille, Amiens, Caen, Lille, Nancy-Metz, Nantes, Nice, Orléans-Tours, Reims, Rennes, Rouen, Strasbourg) : Saturday 8th April – Monday 24th April

– Zone C (Créteil, Montpellier, Paris, Toulouse, Versailles): Saturday 1st April –Tuesday 18th April

Ascension day: This year, students will not be guaranteed the Friday and Saturday morning off following Ascension Thursday.

Summer holidays: Saturday July 8th to Friday September 1st.

by Fatima Al-Kassab

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

EDUCATION

Sweden’s Social Democrats call for ban on new free schools

Sweden's opposition Social Democrats have called for a total ban on the establishment of new profit-making free schools, in a sign the party may be toughening its policies on profit-making in the welfare sector.

Published: 18 April 2024 16:09 CEST
Sweden's Social Democrats call for ban on new free schools

“We want the state to slam on the emergency brakes and bring in a ban on establishing [new schools],” the party’s leader, Magdalena Andersson, said at a press conference.

“We think the Swedish people should be making the decisions on the Swedish school system, and not big school corporations whose main driver is making a profit.” 

Almost a fifth of pupils in Sweden attend one of the country’s 3,900 primary and secondary “free schools”, first introduced in the country in the early 1990s. 

Even though three quarters of the schools are run by private companies on a for-profit basis, they are 100 percent state funded, with schools given money for each pupil. 

This system has come in for criticism in recent years, with profit-making schools blamed for increasing segregation, contributing to declining educational standards and for grade inflation. 

In the run-up to the 2022 election, Andersson called for a ban on the companies being able to distribute profits to their owners in the form of dividends, calling for all profits to be reinvested in the school system.  

READ ALSO: Sweden’s pioneering for-profit ‘free schools’ under fire 

Andersson said that the new ban on establishing free schools could be achieved by extending a law banning the establishment of religious free schools, brought in while they were in power, to cover all free schools. 

“It’s possible to use that legislation as a base and so develop this new law quite rapidly,” Andersson said, adding that this law would be the first step along the way to a total ban on profit-making schools in Sweden. 

SHOW COMMENTS