Deutsch-Französisches Gymnasium
There are five French-German secondary schools known in German as ' and in French as '. The first DFG/LFA was established in Saarbrücken in 1961 as a cooperation between a French and a German school. In 1972, an agreement signed between France and West Germany formalised the DFG/LFA as a unified school form and introduced the French-German Baccalaureate. The schools are also governed by the French-German Schwerin Agreement of 2002. Teachers are paid by the French and German states, and tuition is free of charge. The following DFG / LFA are in operation. In France : In Germany: Nomenclature. In German, the DFG/LFA school form is called , like the German secondary school type (years 5 to 12). In French, it is named , after the French school form (years 10 to 12), although the schools also include (years 6 to 9; see education in France). In English, one academic study called the school form "French-German School", and its final examinations "French-German Baccalaureate". Other publications in English called the school form "Franco-German" or "French-German high school". French-German Baccalaureate. Students at DFG/LFA schools complete their education with the bilingual French-German Baccalaureate  ("deutsch-französisches Abitur" / "baccalauréat franco-allemand"). The first French-German Baccalaureate exam was sat by students of the DFG Saarbrücken in 1972. The Baccalaureate is recognised by Germany as equivalent to the , and by France as equivalent to the , and currently governed by an agreement signed by the two countries in Schwerin in 2002. Students enter school in separate branches. The French-speaking branch takes seven years and starts with year 6 (), whereas the German branch commences in year 5 () already because German primary school finishes earlier. German speakers complete the French-German Baccalaureate after eight grades, making it an  eight-year (some regular German schools take nine years instead). French-German co-tuition starts in year 6 and increases until year 9 ("9. Klasse" / "troisième"). Years 10 to 12 are taught in completely equal shares of French and German. For these final years ("Oberstufe / second cycle"), students are divided into subject-specific branches. They choose between L, ES and S branches, similar to students of the French . DFG/LFA schools use a grade scale from 1 (worst) to 10 (best), which is different from both the German (6 to 1) and French scales (typically 0 to 20). Furthermore, the  final grade of the French-German Baccalaureate is based on a weighing different from both and . The final grade is based on grades from years 10 to 12, while the grade depends solely on final exam performance. The French-German Baccalaureate makes a compromise. Preliminary grades from years 10 to 12 count for 25 percent of the final grade, and final exam performance makes up the remaining 75 percent. The French-German Baccalaureate is sometimes confused with the AbiBac, a programme offered at regular French and German schools. The AbiBac programme is bilingual to a lesser extent than French-German  schools are. It consists of regular and up to eight hours weekly teaching in French, or regular with up to eight hours in German. French-German. Regular French schools require their students to sit the "Brevet" diploma in "troisième" (year 9) to finish . The same applies to DFG/LFA students in the French branch. They take a French-German version of the .