The salary of a CPGE professor cannot be summarized in a single line on the payslip. Between the indexed salary, additional hours (HSA), and the indemnity layer, the gap between two teachers of the same seniority can exceed several hundred euros monthly. Understanding this mechanism requires distinguishing three statuses, two scales, and a series of variables that are rarely detailed in mainstream publications.
Major index and point value: the technical foundation of CPGE remuneration
The gross monthly salary of a preparatory school teacher is based on a seemingly simple calculation: major index multiplied by the annual value of the index point, divided by twelve. The value of the index point has not been revalued since 2023, meaning that recent salary increases occur through channels other than the base salary.
Three scales coexist depending on the teacher’s status. An agrégé in a normal class progresses through eleven steps. The hors classe agrégé accesses higher gross indices, and the professor of chaire supérieure – a specific grade for CPGE – reaches a scale where the terminal steps attain indices beyond the scale. It is this last grade that structurally distinguishes the career in preparatory schools from that of an agrégé in high school.
To delve deeper into the amounts associated with each step, the salary scale for preparatory school teachers details the correspondences between gross indices and monthly salaries by grade.
A technical point often overlooked: the years as a trainee civil servant in ENS are taken into account for reclassification upon entering the corps. An agrégé normalien appointed in CPGE does not start at the first step, which accelerates access to the higher tiers of the scale from the very first years of service.
HSA, ISOE, and bonuses: the indemnity component that widens salary gaps
The share of bonuses and indemnities represents about 19% of the remuneration in the National Education in 2025, a ratio significantly lower than that of other ministries. For CPGE teachers, this share rises significantly due to the combination of several mechanisms.
Additional hours (HSA) are the main lever. A preparatory school teacher has a lower regulatory service than a certified teacher in high school, but the obligations of colles, mock exams, and preparation for oral exams generate a substantial volume of HSAs. Each HSA is paid based on the indexed salary, making their unit value higher for an agrégé or a professor of chaire supérieure than for a certified teacher.
A report from the General Inspectorate of Finances published in 2026 shows that the share of bonuses and indemnities in the remuneration of state agents increased by 32.7% between 2020 and 2025, compared to only 6.6% for indexed remuneration. This trend confirms that the actual salary level of a CPGE teacher increasingly depends on the indemnity layer and additional missions.
The main components that make up this layer:
- The student follow-up and orientation allowance (ISOE), paid as a fixed part to all teachers and increased for the head teacher of the class
- The HSAs and actual additional hours (HSE), the volume of which varies according to the stream (scientific, literary, economic) and the class size
- Allowances related to specific missions within the institution (coordination, tutoring, competition juries), which add a few hundred euros per year
Chaire supérieure: a grade specific to preparatory school teachers and its access conditions
The grade of professor of chaire supérieure exists only for teachers assigned to CPGE. It represents the most lucrative career path within the public secondary education teaching corps. Access is granted through a list of eligibility after several years of effective teaching in preparatory classes and passing through the hors classe agrégé grade.
The chaire supérieure scale includes steps whose gross indices far exceed those of the hors classe agrégé. At the terminal steps, the gross indexed monthly salary significantly surpasses that of an agrégé of the same seniority assigned to high school. It is this scale that explains the salary levels often cited in the press without the mechanism being specified.
Access to the chaire supérieure remains contingent. The number of annual promotions depends on a ratio applied to the number of eligible teachers, and the criteria combine seniority, pedagogical evaluation, and opinions from the general inspection. Not all agrégés in CPGE become professors of chaire supérieure, which creates salary heterogeneity within the same institution.
Net salary in CPGE: the gap between the beginning and end of a career
We observe that the most frequent confusion concerns the gap between gross treatment and net salary. The social contributions of civil servants differ from those in the private sector: deductions for civil pension, CSG, and CRDS apply, but there is no unemployment contribution. The overall withholding rate on the indexed salary is therefore lower than that of a private sector executive with equivalent gross income.
At the beginning of their career, an agrégé appointed in CPGE receives a net salary significantly higher than that of a certified teacher in high school, even before HSAs. At the end of their career, a professor of chaire supérieure at the last steps, with their additional hours and bonuses, reaches a net monthly salary among the highest in the state public service outside of senior management.
The stagnation of the index point since 2023 weighs more heavily on the early career stages than on the end of the scale, where high indices partially cushion the erosion from inflation. The current architecture of remuneration in CPGE relies less on indexed revaluation than on the stacking of indemnity mechanisms, a reality that future reforms of the teaching public service will likely need to address.