The Fondation pour l'école is a French registered charity dedicated to the improvement of school teaching in France. It was founded in 2007 and awarded the status of a “Fondation reconnue d’utilité publique“ by the French government on the 18th March 2008. Our mission is to improve the current state of school education in France.

To this end our strategy is primarily to assist local communities (teachers, parents, towns, businesses) in the setting up of new privately funded schools in addition to the existing public or state funded schools. In 2011, 31 new schools have been created in France. 47,900 pupils attend these independent schools in France. This represents 522 schools, offering education to pupils of 5 to 18 years of age.

The Foundation provides support exclusively to schools which operate as non-profit organisations and maintain the lowest possible school fees. The Foundation assists both established and new schools. The Schools may elect the curriculum of their choice (e.g. traditional French, Montessori), providing this conforms to the principles laid down by the Foundation.

We believe that school choice is one of the most important parental rights. It is indeed fundamental to every democratic society. It is the reason why we are trying to raise awareness among the decision makers of the importance of giving this choice to all French children, not just those who can afford private education. We believe that State Intervention is necessary in order to set up a fair system of tax credits or, if need be, vouchers, to give all children in France access to such education. Each school should have the freedom to recruit staff (which is currently not the case in France), set its own curriculum and develop its own Ethos.

The Foundation has developed several others program: a Quality Management Programme to assist schools to implement their own quality standard and a Literacy Contest, open to all pupils (at age 9 and 12) to encourage literary excellence.

Revival of school system

The Fondation pour l’école exists in order to bring about a revival of the school system in France. Our aim is that all French children may have access to a quality inclusive education throughout all sectors: state-run schools, state-aided schools, independent and specialist schools. We offer both financial and technical support to independent schools to enable them to provide the best possible education to children from all backgrounds.

Within this framework we intend to develop pilot projects which can act as effective models for all schools. The introduction of autonomy will be seen to be crucial; it is to be hoped that the State will see the advantages of implementing more autonomy in Stat schools (such as the Charter schools in the USA). International experience has shown that in those countries where such a system has been implemented, public education has received beneficial stimulus.

Financial support

As a State registered charity, we select the school candidate for financial support on individual merit. Last year, we were in a position to grant financial aid to 38 schools, from pre-elementary to upper-secondary, donating a total sum of 903,906 euros.

Quality assurance

In 2009, the Foundation instigated a new quality assessment tool which has been developed by a committee of representatives from the independent schools (comprising head teachers of varied school types, parents, teachers, consultant specialists). 15 schools are currently testing it. This tool will be offered to all schools in the independent sector in September 2012.

Some facts

522 independent schools in France and 47,900 pupils in 2011

41 schools assisted by our Foundation in 2011

More than 1,000,000 euros granted to independent schools

An average of 20 new schools opened each year since 2004 

60% of the French population would send their children to private school if they could receive financial assistance. (IFOP poll, 2^nd June 2010).

Since teacher performance and involvement is of paramount importance, in 2007 we founded a training college for teachers in the primary independent sector. There are currently 100 students on this two year course. L’Institut libre de formation des maîtres (ILFM/Independent Teacher Training Institute) provides initial and further training for teachers of independent schools. Practical placements are an integral part of the training.