The nature of ASEICA's relationship with Education Nationale is described in the May 11, 1981 Decree (No81-594), the official legal framework which describes the objectives and the functioning of international sections within primary schools, collèges and lycées. Article 7 clearly states that the teachers are "made available" to the Heads of the state schools.
This close relationship concerns all the hierarchical levels of Education Nationale and requires a sound understanding of the way Education Nationale works.
Our teachers work with their Education Nationale colleagues to coordinate the administration of the OIB program, ensure complementary approaches, etc.
Our Head works jointly with the 6 Heads of schools, assisted by our Primary Coordinator in the 2 primary schools.
The following extract from "CROSSING FRONTIERS culture, language & bilingualism" by Peter D. Pelham & Eric Widmer, clearly explains the context in which ASEICA operates:
"The decree creating International Sections was issued in May 1981. This was in fact an institutionalization of the concept developed at the Lycée International since the early 1950s.The International Sections were designed to integrate foreign students into French classes (they must represent 25-50 per cent of the students in the section), and facilitate their eventual return to their home country school system, and at the same time, create by their presence a setting favorable to the acquisition by French students of a foreign language at a very high level.
To this end, French and foreign teachers work together. Except for Anglophone sections, most of the foreign teachers are sent by the ministry of education in their home countries to teach in France. In the case of the Anglophone teachers, whose status is not that of civil servants as in other countries, associations are formed which collect fees and hire teachers. The foreign teachers teach in their own language at a native standard in language/literature and history/geography...
These sections are open to students whose ability to follow such classes has been verified and accepted by the host school. There are currently sections in close to 30 schools in France and five abroad, in the U.S., in Morocco, and in Sweden. There are British, American, German, Spanish, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Polish, Arabic and Japanese sections.
The program of instruction, along with the regular French curriculum followed by all the students, leads to the international version of the examination taken in year 9 (3ème), the Brevet des collèges, and the International version of the French baccalaureate, the OIB.