Vocational training can take the form of:
- concurrent education (régime concomitant): part of the vocational training takes place in a training organisation (under a vocational training contract), the other part (one to three days a week) takes place in a secondary school;
- mixed education (régime mixte): apprentices attend vocational classes in a secondary school on a full-time basis for one year; after that, they complete the rest of their training in the form of concurrent education;
- full-time education (régime à plein temps): the training takes place in a secondary school with internship periods of at least 12 weeks (under an internship contract).
Training in a training organisation
Vocational training is designed and organised in a way that promotes on-the-job experience.
Depending on the training, the student will do either:
- an apprenticeship: students have the status of apprentice and sign a contract with a training organisation while attending class for a certain number of hours per week;
- an internship: students have the status of trainee and spend the majority of the course time at school and a minimum of 12 weeks doing an internship within a company.
Partnership with professionals
Vocational training is based on a partnership between the school and professionals: the State, the chambers of employers and the chamber of employees are closely involved in vocational training.
Curriculum teams, made up of representatives from the field of education and the world of work, draw up course frameworks (vocational profile, training profile, logbooks for apprenticeships and internships and master programmes) and the assessment reference framework for the different training courses.
The training courses are developed by national training commissions, which are made up of representatives from every secondary school that offers the course, as well as representatives from the world of work.