ABSTRACT

In France, pupils at primary school spend 26 hours per week in the classroom; students at secondary school (either junior high school or high school) spend about 30 hours per week, and sometimes more (depending on the stream they follow and the number of options they take). Lessons in academic subjects – French, maths, foreign language, history, physics, biology, etc. – take place both in the morning and the afternoon; in other words, afternoons are not solely devoted to sports, theatre and music activities. Pupils or students are in the classroom all day long, from 8 or 9 a.m. to 4 or 5 p.m. (with a 1.5-or 2-hour lunch break). In addition, they have homework to do.