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Over the past couple of weeks, high-school students have taken to the streets across France in protests that have resulted in thousands being arrested and hundreds of schools closing their doors.

But why are students demonstrating? And could something similar happen here?

What is happening in France right now?

Protests reportedly first started in mid-September at Saint-Exupéry high school in Créteil, a suburb of Paris, where students joined their teachers in protesting. Teachers had been on strike over staff shortages, overcrowded classes and a lack of resources.

The protests quickly spread across the area, and then nationally. Students have been blocking entrances to schools, creating barricades and in some places bins outside schools have been set on fire.

The government has sent out riot police to deal with the unrest, which France’s Ministry of Justice has said has developed in some places into “urban violence”. More than 5,000 people have been detained since the demonstrations began, 87 per cent of whom are minors, the ministry said on Monday.

Nearly 2,000 people were facing prosecution as of Monday. Dozens have also been injured.

The police response, which has included tear gas and riot-control weapons, has been criticised by many. In Lens a on Monday during a clash between protesters and the police. The French interior minister has reportedly since the protests be suspended while details of the incident are established.

More than 250,000 people were on the streets across France on Tuesday as part of a coalition of unions, and it has been reported that more than 800 schools were disrupted.

Who is protesting?

The protests have been driven by high-school (���⳦é��) students.

French ���⳦é��s generally serve students aged 15 to 18 as the upper tier of secondary education. There are ���⳦é��s that provide both general and technological education, as well as vocational ones, which prepare students for particular employment.

The newspaper Le Monde have seen protests, and some private schools have also been affected.

Around one third of ���⳦é��s in France have been affected, estimates Philippe Marlière, professor of French and European politics at University College London, and some have said it is the biggest student movement in France since May 1968.

The area where the protests started in the outskirts of Paris is very deprived, says Marlière. However, students from more affluent areas have also got involved to show solidarity with the complaints of their peers.

Some university students have joined in as the protests have gained momentum, along with some unions and parents of the high-school students.

The student protests are part of a wider ongoing movement across France. Teachers joined other public sector workers in going on strike last Tuesday ahead of the government revealing its budget draft, .

Why is it happening?

In short, protests began over teacher shortages, poor school buildings and overcrowded classrooms. The Associated Press reported that many are raising complaints about the lack of resources and opportunities for students attending schools in more disadvantaged areas, saying that funding shortfalls are endangering their futures.

Students have also complained about exhausting workloads. The school day at French high schools can run from 8am until 5pm.

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Public spending on education in France is relatively good, Marlière says, but there have been cuts during Emmanuel Macron’s tenure as president.

The economic outlook in France has also been worsening as borrowing costs have soared. The government is attempting to pass its , which it hopes will help to reduce the deficit the country is currently facing, through cutting costs and increasing taxes.

Public sector workers, including teachers, have been marching in protest against the proposed cuts.

It all comes as France prepares for a presidential election that will take place next year. There is general discontent with Macron’s centre-right government (Macron himself cannot run again), and it has been reported that far-right candidate Marine Le Pen is .

What will it take to put an end to the unrest?

The president of the federation of student associations, Suzane Nijdam, has said protests will continue until students’ complaints are addressed, the Associated Press reported.

“Some of the complaints are around the poor state of some school buildings. They’re not nice conditions,” Marlière tells ����Vlog. “Buildings can have crumbling ceilings, be too hot in the summer but freezing in the winter. Protesters say when a teacher is absent or sick there is not necessarily a replacement, so classes get left without a teacher.

“But I think it’s also a more profound and general malaise. Young people are very worried about their futures.”

France’s Ministry of National Education has this week published a consultation asking high-school students two questions: what are the main difficulties they are facing? And what needs to change to make their experience at school better?

France has also for this academic year in an attempt to attract more candidates. The ministry said the reforms led to an increase in the number of successful candidates.

Could something similar happen in the UK?

The problems being raised by French students will not seem unfamiliar to UK students and teachers.

There has been an acute teacher recruitment crisis in the UK for several years - though this is now seemingly starting to ease, with the Department for Education saying in June that it had recruited 4,654 teachers towards its 6,500 additional teachers pledge.

Schools leaders have also been feeling the pinch of tight funding amid high inflation and rising spending pressures over special educational needs and disabilities support over the past few years, despite growth in school funding. The National Audit Office has previously estimated it would cost £13.8 billion to restore England’s crumbling school buildings to a satisfactory condition.

Amid all of that, nearly a million 16- to 24-year-olds were not in education, employment or training (Neet), according to the latest figures - around 13 per cent of the entire age group.

The disadvantage gap in attainment at GCSE level has also been at its highest since 2010-11 for the past few years.

Despite this, experts don’t think the UK’s students will be taking to the streets just yet.

It’s hard to predict social movements like the one in France and how far they will spread, Marlière says, and it’s not impossible something like this could happen elsewhere.

But “there is a tradition of the politicisation of social movements among the youth [in France] much more than in the UK”, he says.

“We see local demonstrations here at schools in the UK where there is a big issue, but I think it would remain quite local.”

Loic Menzies, an education policy and research specialist and author of the book How Policy Happens, agrees. He says resistance in the French education system “is deeply rooted in Republican values and heavy unionisation”.

“Here in England we are more used to campaigns like the famous school-cuts campaign that brought together parents, teachers and unions - with powerful electoral consequences; or else union and sector-led campaigns for Ofsted revamps, which tend to emphasise alternatives and refinements to the model,” he adds.

“None of that is to say that more direct action can’t take place - we’ve seen that in Sats boycotts and industrial action - but all of these are a long way off the bin fires and barricades so beloved of our neighbours across the channel.”