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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

The rules on working from home in France

Working from home is increasingly common in France and Paris residents are being urged to consider it during the Olympics - so what rules and protections are in place for employees and employers?

Published: 26 April 2024 13:03 CEST
The rules on working from home in France

The pros and cons of homeworking were thrown into sharp relief during the Covid-19 pandemic – and it seems there are more pros than cons for many employees, who avoid having to commute to work one or more times per week.

For employers, the advantages are sometimes less clear, if articles about the benefits of going into the office are accurate. However, the fashion in France seems to be for a form of hybrid working, with those workers able to do so spending part of the week in the office and the rest working remotely.

Meanwhile some people just do it as needed – for example to avoid transport disruption during a strike or during the Paris Olympics for people who work in areas close to Games venues.

If you do want to work remotely in France – or if your employer has asked you to – are as follows:

Negotiate

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

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.

Either way, it’s considered sensible to have the agreement down in writing so that everyone knows where they stand. It also means that no one will get shouted at during any health and safety inspection.

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 – as well as working time, the agreements may also cover things like whether your company will buy you a special chair and whether you can put in an expenses claim for extra electricity used on your work-from-home days.

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

Contract conditions

Assuming you are not a self-employed contractor, you remain an employee of the company with the same rights and responsibilities you have when working in the office. But if you switch to home-working permanently, your employers must provide written conditions of your 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 – times when your boss can contact you at home, in order to preserve your right to a private life. This will usually be during office hours, obviously. But it also means your boss can’t assume you’ll be tied to your desk permanently just because you don’t have a commute.

READ ALSO URSSAF: What is it, how it works, and how it affects you

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 rules on using office equipment or systems.

Work equipment

Speaking of which… when an employee is working from home, the employer must provide, install and maintain any necessary equipment.

If the employed remote worker uses their own equipment, the employer has to ensure it is appropriate for the job and is maintained. Be aware, self-employed contractors, such as remote-working freelances, will often be expected to have and use their own equipment.

For employees who work from home, however, setting up home-working should not entail any personal additional costs. Employers must supply and maintain equipment that you reasonably need. How that equipment is supplied – whether it’s direct from the employer, or by reimbursement of the cost of setting up a work-station at home, can be decided on a case-by-case basis.

Rules on the use of company equipment at home – including, for example, limits on personal use – will likely remain the same as those in the office, but you should get this in writing before you start any shifts at home.

READ ALSO Micro-entrepreneur: How to set up as a small business in France

Allowances and expenses

Working from home will mean that personal 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 some of 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 any customer and company data used and processed by its employees, including remote workers, whether the worker 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.

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