In 2025, the French government, searching for solutions to overcome a teaching recruitment crisis, made yet another reform to the concours system. As we get nearer to a presidential election year, different ministers have seized on issues in the public education system to make their mark, issuing numerous reforms in the school programmes and the way that teachers are paid… Has any of it actually helped improve the working conditions of teachers and increased student results…….. I’ll leave that up to your judgement. But, let this be a reminder to all of us that education is a deeply political subject, and what a shame it is that so few countries seem willing to actually meaningfully invest in education programs that benefit teachers and young people.

BUT I DEGRESS.

If you have stumbled across my blog looking for ways to become a teacher in France, then you should know that a lot of my previous posts about the teaching concours CAPES / CAFEP, and the Master MEEF are very soon to be outdated because of this new reform. Read on to find out the major changes brought on by the reform, and what this could mean for prospective teachers in France.

A warning that this is a very brief overview and I will use some terms that might not make sense if you don’t have some basic knowledge of French higher education and the teacher recruitment system via concours. I do still recommend you read my previous posts where the different types of schools, the concept of the concours, and the overall steps to becoming certified are clearly defined. And of course leave a comment if there’s something you don’t understand.

CHANGE NUMBER 1 :

The concours is now positioned at bac+3, meaning candidates no longer have to hold a masters degree to sit for the exams. Prospective teachers would (in theory) do a License (bachelor’s degree equivalent) in something like Anglophone studies, and sign up for optional modules during their 3 year course of studies in order to prepare for the concours. They would sit for the concours during their 3rd and final year of studies.

CHANGE NUMBER 2 :

In order to become fully qualified, however, candidates will still need to have a Masters degree. So, the Master MEEF will be transformed into the Master MEE (or M2E). Open primarily for those who have already passed the concours (although apparently some seats may be open for candidates who are not successful), this new course of study is fully paid for two years, and includes several prolonged student teaching periods and a more progressive approach to taking full responsibility for classes. At the end of the two years, teachers can be officially qualified and will sign their permanent contracts.

CHANGE NUMBER 3 :

is a really big one. Because you receive a stipend/salary during the M2E, you also sign on for a mandatory service period of 4 years. Meaning that you are REQUIRED to teach for at least 4 years upon finishing your diploma and becoming qualified. If you only teach for a year before deciding it’s not for you, you will (presumably) be asked to refund the government for your 2 years of paid study. (Technically, the verbiage says you must work for 4 years in the public sector, so maybe it would be possible to transfer from teaching to another branch of public service, but I doubt that is really the intent of this measure)

This makes choosing to take the concours a very serious decision, as you’re essentially engaging in a 6 or 7 year process. Not something I would recommend to someone just looking for an “easy-in” to living in France, or who thinks they might like to try teaching for a little while…

CHANGE NUMBER 4 :

is regarding the content of the new Bac+3 concours. Because candidates sit for the concours earlier in their studies, the content has been adapted (and in some cases simplified). It is still a very rigorous and comprehensive set of written and oral exams, but the expectations are somewhat lower, since the candidates will presumably have little to no classroom experience and no specific courses in pedagogy etc.

You can consult the 2026 programme and the sample test papers here.

So, what do these changes mean for someone like me : a former TAPIF assistant that wants to stay and teach full time in France ?

Well, the path forward is slightly more circuitous, but that doesn’t make it impossible by any stretch of the imagination. In the previous system, you could apply to Master MEEF, sit the concours after your 2 years as a student, and then continue on… but now that the concours is earlier, and the MEEF is evolving, this is a much more murky option (will non-concours lauréats be able to apply to the M2E ? Will non-EU candidates be rejected since they can’t sit for the CAPES for public schools ? Since this is the first year that this new format is being put into place, there’s a lot that’s still unknown).

But based on what I have been able to read on official websites and in discussing with current MEEF professors, I have a couple of recommendations.

The first choice, assuming you already hold a bachelor’s degree from your home country, would be to enroll in a M1 LLCE / LEA / études anglophones. Once you are in the English department, you should be able to make your intention to sit for the concours clear to your professors, and you might be able to audit or sit in on a few of the M2E courses or the L3 concours modules.

Another potential option would be to try to enroll directly in an L3 LLCE in order to take the concours modules as an L3 student. I don’t completely know the procedures for applying directly to an L3, but I have heard several times that it’s possible, so it’s something worth looking into.

It would be remiss of me to end this post without mentioning that, while taking the concours provides a secure and protected form of employment in France, it’s not the only path forward for people interested in teaching !!

How long until the next reform comes along and completely changes everything once again ?? Well, there will be a new president in 2027 so, we’ll see….