The French Ministry of Education is responsible for school education, including preschool education, elementary education, secondary education and higher studies. It bears the exclusive responsibility of the development and implementation of educational contents and curricula and the control of their proper application. It defines the organization of curricula, defines and manages the terms of the orientation of students. It has thus total control of teaching skills. It defines and provides national qualifications and maintains a monopoly on awarding academic degrees and diplomas. It plays an important role in monitoring and evaluation of educational institutions of both public and private schools. The Ministry closed contracts with institutions "contributing to the education of the public service" and provides financial support for them, it pays the teaching staff directly. The Ministry is also responsible for the recruitment, remuneration and career management of teachers, of administrative staff and of staff in the health sector (doctors and nurses) as well. The ministry also pays the operating expenses for schools and colleges.

To make communication more fluid, the French Ministry of Education, a specialist in the field of educational politics and lifelong learning, frequently engages the services of translators and interpreters for better cooperation in bilateral and multilateral working groups, when sharing experiences, benchmarking and French-German youth exchange.