ChatGPT in School: Offers and the French Framework
On this page
What OpenAI Offers, and for Whom
Before planning classroom activities, you need to know exactly what is available. OpenAI’s education page distinguishes four audiences, and none of its offers are designed for a French primary school, middle school, or high school.
For K-12 education (kindergarten through grade 12), OpenAI offers ChatGPT for Teachers: a workspace reserved for teachers and staff. It is free until June 2028 but open only to verified teachers in U.S. schools and districts. It is not accessible to students or French institutions.
ChatGPT Edu targets higher education. OpenAI’s help center describes it as the offer for institutions wanting to deploy AI to their students and community. It includes university workspaces, administrative controls (groups, institutional login, directory synchronization), much higher usage limits than the free tier, and no model training on workspace data. It is available by quote through the sales team.
Students, finally, use ChatGPT like everyone else, with its Study Mode. And since January 2026, the Education for Countries program has partnered with nations: its first cohort includes Estonia, Greece, the conference of Italian university rectors, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Slovakia, Trinidad and Tobago, and the United Arab Emirates. Estonia has deployed ChatGPT Edu in its public universities and secondary schools. France is not part of this program.
Practical consequence: in a French institution, ChatGPT is used with the teacher’s account, without student accounts in class, or within a workspace paid for by the institution. The next lesson compares these three paths; all fall under the same framework.
The Framework Set by the Ministry and the CNIL
The ministry published a framework for AI use in education in June 2025, presented on the éduscol page dedicated to AI. It covers both administrative and pedagogical uses and establishes a few principles: AI assists staff expertise without ever replacing it, its use must be frugal and thoughtful, and data entered into consumer tools must be protected. For students, rules depend on the level:
| Level | What the usage framework provides |
|---|---|
| Primary School | Awareness of AI basics, no direct manipulation of generative AI by students |
| Grades 6 and 7 (6e and 5e) | No classroom use by students; open only starting in Grade 8 (4e) |
| Grades 8 and 9 (4e and 3e) | Classroom use by students, limited, supervised, explained, and guided by the teacher |
| High School | Autonomous use, within a learning framework explicitly defined by the teacher |
Two other benchmarks matter. The Pix pathway dedicated to AI becomes mandatory starting in the 2026 school year for students in Grade 8 (4e), Grade 10 (2de general), and the first year of CAP (vocational certificate). And the ministry has warned: any use of generative AI to complete an assignment, without explicit authorization and without personal work to appropriate the content, is considered fraud.
The CNIL (France’s data protection authority) clarified in June 2025 what these uses imply for data. As soon as a use involves personal data, it falls under the responsibility of the school principal in secondary education, or the academic director of national education services in primary education, working with the academy’s data protection officer (DPO). A consumer tool should not force a student to create an individual account; such an account remains possible for tools deployed by the ministry, notably via the GAR (Resource Access Gateway), whose resources the CNIL recommends prioritizing. And the teacher never delegates their power of evaluation: they do not grade or sanction based solely on an tool’s output.
The CNIL also mentions a sovereign AI tool for teachers, announced by the ministry for the 2026-2027 school year. As of November 6, 2026, we have found no official communication from the ministry regarding its launch: check with your academy before choosing a tool.
ChatGPT Age Rules
OpenAI’s European Terms of Use set a minimum age of 13, or the age required in the country to consent to service use, and require parental or legal guardian authorization up to age 18. They also prohibit sharing an account: a “class account” where students pass around credentials is therefore not an option with ChatGPT.
OpenAI specifies that ChatGPT is not intended for children under 13 and that in an educational context with younger children, an adult must conduct the interaction. For accounts where the declared, verified, or estimated age is under 18, ChatGPT additionally activates protections specific to teenagers, on both the free tier and paid personal plans. These add to supervision; they do not replace it.
The two rules align almost perfectly: Grade 8 (4e), where the usage framework opens classroom use, is the year students turn 13. Almost only, because a student enters Grade 8 in the calendar year they turn 13: at the start of the school year, some are still 12. The minimum age applies to each individual.
Four Decisions Before Starting
Gather the team for an hour and do not leave the room without four written answers. First, what uses? Separate those of the teacher—preparing, differentiating, drafting—from those of students, which concern only Grade 8 and up; pick three uses, not ten, otherwise nothing will be evaluated seriously. Second, what access path? The teacher’s account, classroom use without an account, or an institutional workspace. Third, who is responsible for what? The principal decides, the data protection officer advises, and a named coordinator handles practical questions. Fourth, how to inform families? If students use the tool, they must know what, why, and with what data, and OpenAI’s terms require parental authorization for any minor user.
Skipping this step exposes you to a vague deployment where no one knows who decided or why the tool was opened.
Your Turn
Take stock of your institution.
- Open the éduscol page dedicated to AI and note the rule that applies to your levels
- Ask your administration if there is a charter or a section in the internal regulations regarding AI
- List three priority uses, separating those for the teacher and those for students
- Identify the data protection officer for your academy
- Write a half-page for the team: uses, access path, responsible parties, family information
Official Sources: OpenAI for Education · A free version of ChatGPT built for teachers · Introducing OpenAI’s Education for Countries · Europe Terms of Use (OpenAI) · ChatGPT Edu at OpenAI · Is ChatGPT safe for all ages? · ChatGPT for Teens (OpenAI Help Center) · Les intelligences artificielles et leurs usages en éducation (éduscol) · Publication du cadre d’usage de l’intelligence artificielle en éducation (Ministry) · Enseignant : comment utiliser un système d’IA dans le cadre de vos missions ? (CNIL)
Key Takeaways
- OpenAI’s K-12 offer, ChatGPT for Teachers, is reserved for the United States; ChatGPT Edu targets higher education
- The usage framework sets rules by level: awareness in primary school, classroom use starting in Grade 8 (4e), supervised autonomy in high school
- ChatGPT requires age 13, parental authorization up to 18, and prohibits account sharing
- Any use involving personal data falls under the principal’s responsibility, working with the data protection officer
- Decide on uses, access path, responsible parties, and family information before starting