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1. Existence of a National Youth Strategy

2. Scope and contents

3. Responsible authority for the implementation of the Youth Strategy

4. Revisions/updates

Existence of a National Youth Strategy

The presidential elections of April 2022 and the renewal of the government mark changes in the governance of youth policies. The development, control and implementation of youth policies are assigned by decree to the French Ministry of  Sports, Youth and Voluntary organisations.

There is no comprehensive national strategy dedicated to young people. Public policies for young people mainly focus on education, training, engagement and independence, without being brought together in a single plan or roadmap.

Nevertheless, these policies meet the general objectives set out in the 2025 Finance Law:

• Promote engagement and mobility among all young people;
• Support the development of community life;
• Strengthen risk control and monitoring in collective childcare facilities.

Scope and contents

The main areas of focus for public policies aimed at young people are:

• Education and training, including 'popular education';
• Engagement;
• Access to autonomy, rights and equal opportunities.

Education and training

The training of young people is at the heart of governmental youth policies which wants to build a "school of trust" to ensure pupils' sucess. Several measures concerning primary and secondary schools have been implemented.

At primary school:

• The gradual doubling of CP and CE1 school classes (ISCED 1 ; elementary education) in schools located in disadvantaged urban areas and covered by so-called 'priority education'. The objective of the priority education policy 'is to correct the impact of social and economic inequalities on educational success by strengthening pedagogical and educational action in schools and establishments in areas with the greatest social difficulties'.
• The adaptation of school rhythms by leaving it up to the communes (local authorities, academic services, school educational teams, parents' representatives) to decide whether to switch to a four-day school week.
• The implementation of a "Wednesday plan", the objective of which is to promote "a new coherence and a new dynamic" in the range of activities offered to children between their school time and their extracurricular time

At middle school:

• The introduction of the 'homework done programme', which offers free supervised study time for schoolchildren outside school hours. The supervision of pupils is voluntary and can be carried out by several people : teachers and archivist in charge of documentation centers; the main education advisers (conseiller principal d'éducation - CPE); educational assistants; approved associations that provide homework help; volunteers and civic service volunteers.
• The adjustment of the 2015 middle school reform, which it meant to give greater autonomy to schools.

At high school:

Initiated in 2018, the reform of the general and technological baccalaureate (baccalauréat), the national diploma at the end of secondary education and the first degree of higher education, consist of initiatives reducing the number of tests and introducing continuous assessment. This new baccalaureate came into force in 2021 (see Chapter 6 "Education and Training").

Higher education

The Parcoursup platform allows high school students, apprentices or students to pre-register, to submit their wishes for further study and to respond to admission proposals from institutions.

The platform introduces the notion and principle of 'expectations' on the part of higher education institutions, which are based on the charter drawn up by the former Ministry of Education and Youth, and the Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation. This charter defines the expectations as "the knowledge and skills necessary to succeed in each field of study". They correspond to what teachers expect in terms of knowledge or skills on entry to each higher education course". Furthermore, the expectations must be "formalised by the institutions" and "facilitate and improve exchanges between higher education and secondary education stakeholders".

The construction of a guidance project is one of the cornerstones of the high school and baccalaureate reforms, one of the objectives of which is to prepare young people for their access to higher education.

Popular education

Current public policy objectives in this area focus on:

• promoting education outside school by supporting popular education associations and federations;
• renewing the professional sector of childcare through the implementation of the 2022 Plan for the renewal of childcare (Plan 2022 sur le renouveau de l'animation en collectifs de mineurs);
• consolidating educational continuity with school hours (see above).

Youth engagement

See Chapter 2 ‘Voluntary Activities’ and Chapter 5 ‘Participation’.

The autonomy of young people

According to the speech of the former Minister of Education and Youth at the Youth advisory council on June 29th, 2017, the autonomy policies aim at developping the young people’s autonomy  are articulated around three priorities:

1. the fight against the non-use of social rights;
2. the territorialisation of youth policies;
3. the synergy of the actors.

These priorities are based on informing young people, encouraging their participation in collective activities, and promoting their mobility at national, European and international levels.

Responsible authority for the implementation of the Youth Strategy

Since January 2025, youth policies have been under the authority of the Ministry of Sport, Youth and Voluntary organisations, in accordance with the decree of 8 January 2025 relating to its prerogatives.

The Ministry of Sport, Youth and Voluntary organisations is responsible for:

• developing policies on youth, engagement, popular education and voluntary organisations;
• regulating collective care facilities for minors outside the parental home and outside school hours, and monitoring compliance with these regulations. 

Revisions/updates

Each year, the Government designates a ‘major national cause’. Mental health was chosen in 2025 and then again in 2026, a public policy issue that particularly affects young people.

In addition, youth policies are increasingly being addressed through an interministerial approach. Under the auspices of the Interministerial Delegate for Youth, an interdepartmental committee on mental health was recently held (December 2025), followed by an interdepartmental committee on youth policies (February 2026).