Not to be confused with the International Baccalaureate (IB) or the French Baccalaureate, this certificate is available in European Schools (www.eursc.eu/en/European-Schools/mission) and recognised in all EU countries.
To obtain the baccalaureate, a student must obtain a minimum score of 50%, which is made up from: course-work, oral participation in class and tests (50%); five written examinations (35%) – mother-tongue, first foreign language and maths are compulsory for all candidates; three oral examinations (15%) – mother tongue and first foreign language are compulsory (history or geography may also be compulsory here, dependant on whether the candidate has taken a written examination in these subjects).
Subjects taught in different languages have the same syllabi, regardless of the language, and the same is valid for examinations – the content is simply translated into different languages. In case of languages, the syllabi vary, but nevertheless, they are harmonized and the examinations have to follow an agreed structure. The EB has been specifically designed to meet, at the very least, the minimum qualification requirements of each member state.
Study for the EB begins at nursery stage (age 4) and progresses through primary (age six) and on into secondary school (age 12).
Syllabus
Languages: Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, Finnish as a second national language, French, Gaelic as other national language, German, Greek, Hungarian, Irish, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Maltese as other national language, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish, Swedish for Finnish pupils.
Literary: art education, non-confessional ethics, geography, ancient Greek, history, human sciences, Latin, music, philosophy, physical education.
Sciences: biology, chemistry, economics, ICT, mathematics, physics.
For more information, contact:
Office of the Secretary-General of the European Schools
Rue de la Science 23, B-1040 Brussels, Belgium
Tel: +32 2295 3745
Fax: +32 2298 6298
Website: www.eursc.eu