France’s first encounter with formalized education came in 121 BCE with the Roman conquest of the southern regions of Celtic Gaul, but education did not become established in any way until the reign of Catholic King Charlemagne in 768 CE, where a “chief educator” presided in his court. In 1150 CE, the University of Paris was founded as a leading theological and educational center for Europe. Catholic religious communities such as Jesuits, Oratorians, and Christian Brothers established organized schools in the 16th & 17th centuries (Gutek, 2006).

While Napoleon’s need for well educated military commanders in 1808 led to the tight state control of education, still in effect today, the event that most influenced the structure of French education was its dramatic rupture with the Catholic church during the French Revolution (Gutek, 2006). The anti-monarchy, pro-Republican attitudes that swept the country during the French Revolution of 1789 were also anti-church because of the church’s close and privileged relationship with the monarchy.

Since 1905 France has been an officially secular state. Though, “it would be difficult to underestimate the bitterness engendered by Church-state conflict in France,” many of the tensions with its Catholic heritage have been regulated through laws pertaining to the education system including the 1881

Ferry Laws mandating that education be religion-free, the 1904 Laïc Laws banning clergy from religious instruction and other laws (Williams, 2011 p. 186). Tensions continue to reverberate throughout the education system today, because the goal of French education has historically been rooted in the creation of citizenship and the shaping of national identity.

In 1989 after years of successively low pass rates on the baccalauréat, the national high school completion exam, lead to a national goal of an 80% baccalauréat success rate being set by the government.  In 2002 France began its Bologna Process integration and its shift to Europe’s LMD (Licence-Master-Doctorat) system (Gutek, 2006).