Missions

A training college

An organisation with a nationwide jurisdiction

The École supérieure de l'éducation nationale [ESEN] (National College for Education Management) is an organisation with a nationwide jurisdiction attached to the department of managerial staff of the Ministry of Education. It was established by decree on April 29th, 2003.

ESEN is especially involved in the three following areas:

• Initial training, after the competitive recruitment process for the management staff of the state secondary schools, the inspectors of the primary and secondary cycles and school and university administration advisors.
• Professional adaptation training for managers taking up new functions.
• In-service training, with the aim of helping to ensure that managerial staff in all areas develop competences that help them react to the changes in educational issues.
  
  

A college that is part of a network

Each year, the college hosts more than 3000 trainees on short, medium or long-term training courses. With 68 full-time employees, training managers and administrative or technical staff, the college uses a network of 50 associate trainers and 500 outside contributors from the general inspectorate, local education authorities, universities and organisations from outside the state education system.

ESEN also provides support to the local education authorities with regard to the training of supervisory and managerial staff.

A college that is a resource center

As well as being a centre for the design, hosting and presentation of training courses, ESEN is also a ressource center for the training of staff involved in the management of education.

The college provides on-site access to a specialised resource centre containing 18,000 references, with a catalogue that may be accessed remotely.

ESEN has the role of developing pedagogical products for its academic partners and establishments. With this in mind, it carries out research in conjunction with research teams on education management.

A college for sharing ideas

ESEN's membership of the RESP (réseau des écoles de service public) [network of French civil service training colleges] enables it to develop joint training programmes in order to promote the sharing of expertise between managers from other ministries or civil service departments, especially the local authorities.

More generally, ESEN has the role of developing thinking and the exchange of ideas between all members of society regarding the issues that confront the education system today.

A college with an international outlook

ESEN adds a European dimension to the training of managerial staff. It incorporates the latest in international thinking on education by examining the developments in other European education systems.

It has developed expertise in the management of international cooperation projects through its role as a consultant to foreign ministries, giving help and advice concerning the objectives of the DRIC (Direction des relations internationales et de la coopération) [Department of International Relations and Cooperation of the Ministry of Education], in conjunction with the CIEP (Centre international d'études pédagogiques) [International Centre for Pedagogical Studies].

By hosting delegations of representatives from abroad, ESEN is committed to promoting French expertise in the field of education management.