Free Practice Questions for CAPEPS

The Certificat d'Aptitude au Professorat d'Éducation Physique et Sportive (CAPEPS) is a national competitive recruitment concours (Catégorie A civil service) organized by the French Ministry of National Education. Passing the CAPEPS confers title as a certified physical education teacher (professeur certifié d'EPS), granting a permanent civil servant appointment to teach physical education across secondary collèges and lycées.

In the bac+3 external concours organised since session 2026, admissibility consists of two written papers. The first (4 hours, coefficient 2) asks for an argued answer on the educational stakes carried by EPS and by physical, sports, and artistic activities, drawing on historical, social, and cultural knowledge. The second (3 hours, coefficient 3) requires the analysis of a corpus of documents, in which candidates identify, set out, and justify proposals to support pupils' development and learning in APSA, supported by life sciences and human and social sciences.

Candidates must meet the general conditions of access to the French civil service (nationality of France, the EU/EEA, Andorra, Switzerland, or Monaco; civic rights; no incompatible conviction). Since session 2026 the main external route requires enrolment in the final year of a licence (L3) or an already held licence or recognised equivalent; a bac+5 route is maintained transitionally for the 2026 and 2027 sessions. Candidates must also hold recognised certifications in aquatic rescue (sauvetage aquatique) and first aid (PSC1). A text applicable from session 2026 moves the date on which aquatic rescue fitness is assessed from the publication of admissibility results to the admission stage — check the current session notice on devenirenseignant.gouv.fr.

Under the ministerial decrees governing French teaching concours, any mark equal to or lower than 5 out of 20 (score <= 5/20) on any single written admissibility examination or oral admission test is strictly eliminatory. A candidate receiving a mark of 5/20 or less is automatically disqualified, regardless of their overall cumulative point total.

The national EPS curriculum organizes physical, sports, and artistic activities (APSA) into five distinct learning fields: CA 1 focuses on producing an optimal, measurable individual performance (e.g., athletics, swimming); CA 2 focuses on adapting displacement to diverse and uncertain environments (e.g., rock climbing, orienteering, kayaking); CA 3 focuses on artistic, expressive, and acrobatic presentations (e.g., gymnastics, contemporary dance, acrosport); CA 4 focuses on conducting collective or dual confrontations (e.g., basketball, handball, badminton, combat); and CA 5 focuses on self-conditioning and personal health management (e.g., weight training/musculation, fitness, continuous running).

In the bac+3 concours, the first oral admission test (coefficient 5) opens with a physical performance (prestation physique) in one APSA drawn from the three activities the candidate selected at registration, which must belong to three different champs d'apprentissage. That performance carries 8 of the 20 points. The remaining 12 points come from a video-based analysis and pedagogical proposal presented to the jury after 2 hours of preparation (15 minutes exposé, 45 minutes exchange). A mark of 0 on either part is eliminatory.

Under Article L. 911-4 of the French Code de l'éducation (originating from the law of 5 April 1937), the civil liability of the State is automatically substituted for that of public education personnel for damages caused to or by pupils placed under their surveillance. If an accident occurs due to an alleged pedagogical error or momentary lapse, injured parties sue the State rather than the individual teacher, provided the teacher committed a 'faute de service' (service fault) rather than an intentional, gross 'faute personnelle détachable du service'.

Following admission, laureates are ranked on a national merit list according to their cumulative score across all tests. During their stagiaire (probationary) year, they are assigned to an académie through the national SIAL system based on a point-based barème taking into account competitive ranking, marital/family situation, and handicap status. After successfully validating their probationary year and inspection, they become tenured civil servants (titulaires).