European Baccalaureate

European Baccalaureate – widely recognised in the EU

The European Baccalaureate is recognised in all EU Member States and in many other countries, including some outside Europe. Pupils who obtain the Baccalaureate certificate enjoy the same rights in their country of origin as school leavers of that country, i.e. they are equally entitled to attend any institution of higher education.

The European Schools fulfil a task that national schools are unable to fulfil: to teach pupils from different countries in their respective mother tongues and to instil in them the cultural values of their home country from a European perspective. This ambitious goal was first laid down in the 1957 Statute: the various traditional models of “national education” were to flow into a new model of “European education”, without abandoning their typical characteristics in the process. In this way, the European Schools’ teaching concept combines basic elements of national education systems with a uniform teaching method. The cultural values of the individual countries and the common values of European civilisation co-exist in harmony and together form a unified entity. The European perspective is stressed in all areas of the curriculum, in particular in the human sciences. The syllabuses were drawn up by an international committee of experts and take account of the particular requirements of the individual Member States. The syllabuses were approved by the Board of Governors of the European Schools.

“The success of the European Schools shows
that in future it will be possible for Europe to have
a culture without the nations of which it is
composed having to lose theirs.”

Jean Monnet (died 1979; from 1950 President of the Conference on the Schuman Plan  in Paris which led to the establishing of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC); from 1952 to 1954 President of the ECSC High Authority)

In addition to a solid general education, pupils of the European Schools must also reach a high level in their mother tongue (language I) and in other languages (languages II, III and IV). By the time they take the Baccalaureate, they may have learnt up to four modern languages and also Latin and/or ancient Greek. As the European Schools place special emphasis on learning and using languages, all pupils learn their first foreign language (language II) from year 1 of the primary cycle through to the Baccalaureate. Pupils are required to take a second foreign language (language III) from year 2 of the secondary cycle. Pupils may choose a third foreign language (language IV) from year 4 and even a fourth language (language V) from year 6. In principle, all official Community languages may be offered, although the exact range of subjects depends on the resources available at the individual schools. Unlike at most national schools, at the European Schools foreign languages are only taught by native speakers.