The Curriculum

Secondary education in the European Schools lasts for seven years, and is divided into three cycles.

OBSERVATION CYCLE: AGE 11-13

PRE-ORIENTATION CYCLE: AGE 14-15

ORIENTATION CYCLE: AGE 16-18

The curriculum used in all European Schools are, with the exception of some mother tongue lessons, identical and consistently taught and assessed. The curriculum is followed throughout Secondary school, which sees students taking subjects such as History, Geography and Human Science in their second language from S3.

To maintain the integrity of the European Baccalaureate diploma, the curriculum is designed to meet the minimum requirements of all the member states. Since these vary, the contents have been established by negotiation between national experts, the Boards of Inspectors, on the basis of careful scrutiny and comparison of national curricula. The syllabuses are then approved by the Joint Teaching Committee of the European Schools, which is the pedagogical supervisory authority.