Overview
The Certificat d'Aptitude au Professorat de l'Enseignement du Second degré (CAPES) is the competitive examination through which France recruits certified teachers (professeurs certifiés) for middle schools (collèges) and general/technological high schools (lycées), run by the Ministère de l'Éducation nationale by subject section. Sections include arts plastiques, documentation, music education, history and geography, modern foreign languages, letters, mathematics, philosophy, physics and chemistry, economics and social sciences, and life and earth sciences. Not every section and option is open every year, and the ministry publishes an annual list. Passing it, completing initial training and being confirmed makes you a professeur certifié and a state civil servant.
Who can apply
From the 2026 session, the external CAPES is accessible at bac+3 (Licence) level. The bac+5 (Master's) route continues to run in parallel during a transition period covering the 2026 and 2027 sessions, for candidates already in a Master's programme. According to the ministry, every licence gives access to the concours, and a licence with a teaching pathway or concours preparation module is recommended. There are also a third concours, for candidates with a set period of private-sector professional activity, and an internal concours, for civil servants and some non-permanent staff with a set period of public or teaching service and the required diploma.
Exam pattern
Every route has two stages, admissibility and admission.
External concours: two or three written admissibility tests and two oral admission tests.
Third concours: one or two written tests and two oral tests.
Internal concours: one written test or a dossier, followed by one oral test.
Exact test titles and coefficients vary by section and are published by the ministry in its descriptions of the tests. The jury, after marking, draws up the list of admissible candidates for the orals. After the orals it ranks candidates by total points across both stages, within the number of posts, and may draw up a supplementary list. Results are published on Cyclades.
Important dates
For the 2027 session, registration for the teacher recruitment concours is open until Wednesday 25 November 2026 at 12:00 Paris time. The number of posts per section is published in the Journal Officiel by the day before the first written test. The ministry's concours calendar gives the dates of the tests and results.
How to apply
Register online through the ministry's concours registration page on devenirenseignant.gouv.fr during the published window.
After the exam
After initial training and confirmation (titularisation), successful candidates become professeurs certifiés.
Preparation tips
The ministry publishes annual programmes, past written papers and jury reports. Preparation at a university or with the Cned is recommended but not required.
What level of qualification is needed for the CAPES external concours?
From the 2026 session, a Licence (bachelor's-level) is enough for the external route; the bac+5 route remains available only during the 2026–2027 transition.
Does the CAPES exam differ by subject?
Yes. Each section has its own jury, and the content of the tests varies by section.