At the upper secondary level, from age 15 to 18, students entered either the general and technological high school (lycée d’enseignement général et technologique), successor to the traditional academic high school, or the vocational senior high school (lycée d’enseignement professionel), encompassing a range of vocational-technical studies and qualifications. Students entering the former chose one of three basic streams the first year, then concentrated the next two years on one of five sections of study: literary-philosophical studies, economics and social science, mathematics and physical science, Earth science and biological science, or scientific and industrial technology. The number of sections and, particularly, the number of technological options were scheduled for expansion. There was a common core of subjects plus electives in grades 10 and 11, but all subjects were oriented to the pupil’s major area of study. In grade 12 the subjects were optional. The baccalauréat examination taken at the end of these studies qualified students for university entrance. It consisted of written and oral examinations. More than half of the 70 percent who passed were females. The proportion of the age group reaching this peak of school success increased continuously, with corresponding effects on entrance to higher education.
Vocational-technical secondary education included a wide variety of options. Each of the courses leading to one of the 30 or so technical baccalauréats required three years of study and prepared students for corresponding studies in higher education. Students might also choose to obtain, in descending order of qualification requirements and course demands, the technician diploma (brevet de technicien), the diploma of vocational studies (brevet d’études professionelles), or the certificate of vocational aptitude (certificat d’aptitude professionelle). A one-year course conferring no specialized qualification was also available. As an alternative, youths might opt for apprenticeship training in the workplace.
Higher education was offered in universities, in institutes attached to a university, and in the grandes écoles. Students attended for two to five years and sat either for a diploma or, in certain establishments, for university degrees or for a competitive examination, such as the agrégation. Undergraduate courses lasted for three or four years, depending on the type of degree sought.
The universities went through a period of violent student dissatisfaction in the late 1960s. Reforms ensued encouraging decentralization, diversification of courses, and moderation of the importance of examinations. Nevertheless, the failure or dropout rate in the first two years remained high, and there were marked differences in status among institutions and faculties.
Teachers were graded according to the results of a competitive academic examination, and their training and qualifications varied by grade. The five grades ranged from the elementary teacher to the highly qualified graduate agrégé, who enjoyed the lightest teaching load and the highest prestige and who taught at the secondary level or higher. The differences had long been a matter of concern, as had the entrenchment of the higher levels of the teaching establishment. The system had resisted reforms calling for more uniformity in teacher status, changes in method and content orientation, teacher cooperation, interdisciplinarity, and technological familiarity. Reforms to extend the level of common education, to increase options at the upper secondary level, to strengthen the technological component, and to introduce steps to improve the link between school and work were nonetheless achieved. Internal reform proposals included the more flexible organization of time and content and the addition of extracurricular activities appropriate to the real life of youth and society. Government forays into decentralization promoted community links at the school level and school program initiatives. The outcomes affected the system at best gradually, however. Other European countries
Until the early 1990s most eastern European education systems followed the old Soviet model (see below Russia: From tsarism to communism). In Europe many countries were influenced by the British, German, and French systems, but there were numerous variations, some of which are treated here. Italy
Education in Italy up to 1923 was governed by the Casati Law, passed in 1859, when the country was being unified. The Casati Law organized the school system on the French plan of centralized control. In 1923 the entire national school system was reformed. The principle of state supremacy was reinforced by introducing at the end of each main course of studies a state examination to be taken by pupils from both public and private schools.
Eight years of schooling became compulsory beginning in 1948, although this plan was not realized until 1962. The five-year elementary school, for pupils aged 6 to 11, was followed by the undifferentiated middle or lower secondary school (scuola media) for pupils from 11 to 14. There continued to be a strong private (mainly Roman Catholic) interest in preschools and in teacher training for elementary and preschool levels.
Although reform proposals called for an extension of the unitary principle through the five-year upper secondary level, this level was highly diversified, with classical and scientific licei (schools) and a vast array of programs in vocational and industrial technical institutes. Shorter courses were given in institutes for elementary teachers and in art schools.
Entrance to Italian universities was gained by successful completion of any of the upper secondary alternatives. Universities were basically the only form of postsecondary education. They required the passing of a variable number of examinations, after which the students sat for a degree (laurea), which gave them the title of dottore. To be able to exercise any profession—such as that of lawyer, doctor, or business consultant—the students were required to take a state examination. Students who did not complete their studies in the normal period of time (from four to six years) might remain at the university for several years as fuori corso (“out of sequence”).
The unification of the lower levels and the expansion of academic and particularly vocational-technical alternatives at the upper level were notable advances, but the Italian education system still suffered from fragmentation and lack of articulation. Indications of low achievement and regional inequalities, in spite of relatively heavy public investment, suggested problems with system effectiveness. The force of conservative political, religious, and educational resistance to change likely maintained divisions of policy and outcome. The Netherlands
The first modern school law in the Netherlands was passed in 1801, when the government laid down the principle that each parish had the right to open and maintain schools. A debate between the proponents of denominational and nondenominational schools went on during the 19th century. The controversy was closed by a law of 1920, which declared that denominational schools were fully equal with state schools, both types being eligible for public funds. The resultant decentralization was unique. Roughly two-thirds of the Dutch school-age children attended private schools. In return for public funds, the private school—which might be Protestant, Roman Catholic, or secular—had to provide a curriculum equivalent to that offered by the public schools.