- 2018Approved/Agreed
- 2019Implementation
- 2020Implementation
- 2021Implementation
- 2022Implementation
- 2023Implementation
Background
The system before the 2018 law was felt to provide unequal opportunities to small businesses, employees not served by traditional training, the long-term unemployed, rural territories and certain sectors, and also in terms of the duration and type of training available (with or without certification). The law aims for better vocational training and apprenticeship distribution in order to raise the skills level of all people and within all organisations.
Objectives
The aim of the 2018 legislation is to transform radically the French continuing vocational training system and apprenticeships to meet the needs of businesses, particularly those of very small and medium-sized enterprises, and to promote access to training for all workers, especially the least qualified.
Description
The 2018 Law for the freedom to choose one's professional future provides for:
- the creation of the agency France Compétences: continuing training in France is a shared responsibility between the State, the regions and the social partners. The new agency, France Compétences, brings together these three stakeholders. It will be in charge of regulating the quality and the price of training supply, and handling funding discrepancies across sectors;
- reforming funding mechanisms to establish a disintermediated training system: the compulsory contributions of companies for continuing training (the rate remains unchanged), previously paid to Organismes paritaires collecteurs agréés (OPCAs), joint bodies run by the social partners in charge of collecting and redistributing training funds for the continuous training of employees, will from now on be paid to the URSSAF, a network in charge of collecting and redistributing social security contributions on behalf of the State since 1960.
The 20 existing OPCAs are gradually being replaced by 11 skills operators (Opérateurs de compétences, OPCOs) organised by professional sector. The skills operators will support SMEs in anticipating skill needs and developing skills development training programmes (plans de développement des compétences) for their employees. OPCOs will also be responsible for developing apprenticeships.
Changes in funding mechanisms also affect the personal...
The 2018 Law for the freedom to choose one's professional future provides for:
- the creation of the agency France Compétences: continuing training in France is a shared responsibility between the State, the regions and the social partners. The new agency, France Compétences, brings together these three stakeholders. It will be in charge of regulating the quality and the price of training supply, and handling funding discrepancies across sectors;
- reforming funding mechanisms to establish a disintermediated training system: the compulsory contributions of companies for continuing training (the rate remains unchanged), previously paid to Organismes paritaires collecteurs agréés (OPCAs), joint bodies run by the social partners in charge of collecting and redistributing training funds for the continuous training of employees, will from now on be paid to the URSSAF, a network in charge of collecting and redistributing social security contributions on behalf of the State since 1960.
The 20 existing OPCAs are gradually being replaced by 11 skills operators (Opérateurs de compétences, OPCOs) organised by professional sector. The skills operators will support SMEs in anticipating skill needs and developing skills development training programmes (plans de développement des compétences) for their employees. OPCOs will also be responsible for developing apprenticeships.
Changes in funding mechanisms also affect the personal training account scheme (Compte Personnel de Formation, CPF). The CPF has been in place since 2015. From 2019 onwards, the account will be credited in euros and no longer in hours: EUR 500 (800 for the low-qualified people) per year per person (up to EUR 5 000 or 8 000 over a period of 10 years). The current entitlements in hours should be converted at a rate of EUR 15 per hour. Account holders will directly enrol in a CPF-funded training course listed in a dedicated digital application (forthcoming).
In the previous system, private sector employees had to be funded by an intermediary body (one OPCA) for financing. In the new funding scheme, the cost of a CDP training course will be paid to training providers directly by a public body (Caisse des dépôts et consignations).
Developing career advice and guidance services for people in employment and jobseekers, using the recently established Career transition counselling (Conseil en évolution professionnelle, CEP).
The law broadens the definition of training action to include position tests, distance learning and on-the-job training (Action de formation en situation de travail, AFEST). It also includes new arrangements for the governance, financing and rules of apprenticeship: apprenticeship funding managed nationally, with a lump sum price defined for each qualification prepared through this route; an open right to create apprentice training centres; and lump-sum funding based on the number of contracts concluded per training centre. The aim is to develop a training system more reactive to business skill needs and create more opportunities for young people to engage in apprenticeship training.
The law also introduces quality certification for VET providers: it has put emphasis on transparency and efficiency through new obligations for all training providers using mutual funds to inform and monitor their training actions. The certification will be awarded by a nationally accredited body. Certification will be a condition for access to public procurement and training funds purchase. A reference framework including quality criteria, indicators and verification methods is being set.
Ensuring efficient funding was an objective of the changes in the funding mechanisms. Stakeholders were involved in the reform. The social partners, previously part of OPCA boards, expressed reservations about this aspect of the reform.
The activities of France Compétences and the skills operators (OPCO) are being implemented as of 2019. Transition from the old system to the new one is to be completed by 2021.
Implementing provisions into force in January 2019 (Decree No 14 of 8 January 2019, implementing provisions of the 2018 Bill (Chapter IV, Article 31) foresee that, from 2019 onwards, the levels of qualification in the national nomenclature (RNCP) are to be aligned with EQF.
2019 saw implementation of the main changes sought by lawmakers in 2018:
- the empowerment of individuals through the monetisation of the personal training account (CPF) which had been funded in hours up until that point: now the account is credited with EUR 500/year up to a limit of EUR 5 000 (EUR 800 and EUR 8 000 for the least qualified individuals). This is accompanied by improvement in the quality of all organisations delivering all types of training actions, including apprenticeships, thanks to a national registered label, Qualiopi;
- the clarification of governance through the creation of the new national public agency regulating vocational training and apprenticeships: France Compétences;
- facilitating mobility through the transformation of the previous individual training leave scheme into a transitional personal training account for employees undergoing retraining or professional development, managed by the new regional inter-professional joint committees (CPIR);
- the strengthening of the professional branches with the replacement of the 20 approved joint collecting agencies (OPCA) by 11 skills operators (OPCO), who will ultimately no longer collect funds;
- the simplification of contributions, with a single contribution for training and learning.
The France Relance recovery plan strengthens a set of alternance schemes (the apprenticeship contact and professionalisation contract) and continuing training schemes, by increasing the number of places available and the dedicated funding for a period of two years (2020 and 2021).
In its activity report published in 2020, France Compétences provides an overview of the main projects carried out in 2019:
- determination of rules and financial allocations;
- organisation of a digitisation process for applications to register professional certifications to the national register of vocational/professional qualifications;
- organisation of professional development advice for people in active employment;
- issue of nearly 7 000 recommendations to professional branches.
The French skills ombudsman, whose functions were established in January 2019 to guarantee equal access to training for all users, published her first activity report in October 2020.
The Inspectorate General of Social Affairs (IGAS) and the Inspectorate General of Finance (IGF) have drawn up a report to establish the financial consequences of the reform of apprenticeship and vocational training, at the request of the Ministry of Labour and the Minister of Action and Public Accounts. Their report, made public in September 2020, makes a set of recommendations intended to ensure, in the short and medium term, the regulation and the financing of expenditure.
Following a national inter-professional agreement (ANI) signed by the employers’ and employees’ organisations, the joint interprofessional regional committees (Commissions paritaires interprofessionnelles régionales - CPIR), in charge of managing professional retraining schemes, was changed to Associations Transitions Pro - ATpro. ATpro will be managing the newly established the CFP de transition long duration retraining programme for career transition eligible for funding through the personal training account (CPF) scheme.
A very important step in the CVET and apprenticeship reform (2018 Law for the freedom to choose one’s professional future) is the transfer, on 1 January 2022, of the collection of statutory contributions for vocational training and apprenticeships paid by businesses, from the OPCOs (joint bodies managed by the social partners) to the URSSAFs, the unions for the collection of social security contributions and family allowances (Unions de recouvrement des cotisations de sécurité sociale et d’allocations familiales). The aim is to simplify the process for companies: one single document (Déclaration sociale nominative, DSN) is now used by them to declare the social data on which their social contributions for employees, as well as their contribution to training, is calculated.
Use of the personal training account (compte personnel de formation, CPF) continues to grow. Studies published in the last quarter of 2021 (DARES and Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations) show significant expansion, which increased to 984 000 training courses in 2020 compared to 517 000 a year earlier. Between the end of 2019 (the start of the Mon compte formation platform) and the first half of 2021 the figures on the use of the CPF show that participation in training increased for young employees aged below 25 (+3%). It decreased for young job seekers (-8%), while the participation of all young people fell by 3%. In the other age groups, fewer people in the 40-49 age group attended training (-3%), while more people participated in training in the 25-29 age group (+2%) and those aged 50 years or older (+3%). The participation of women increased (from 45% to 50%), both in the employees' category (from 46% to 51%) and the job seekers' category (from 44% to 48%).
The possibilities of co-financing by the Regions, Pôle emploi, the professional branches and employers are gradually being used by these various co-financiers to contribute to the CPF budgets of those individuals choosing targeted training courses that correspond to those areas identified as of priority need (e.g. occupations experiencing shortages).
France Compétences’ second activity report, covering 2020, outlines the increase of more than 44% in apprenticeship entries as well as the operation of the Mon compte formation platform, which reinforced the triggering of training actions at the initiative of individuals.
A national inter-professional framework agreement relating to vocational training was signed in October 2021 by the social partners (3 of the 5 inter-professional trade union organisations of employees considered to be representative at national level and 3 employers’ organisations). It puts forward proposals to improve the 2018 Law for the freedom to choose one’s professional future, aiming to influence its possible adjustment by a future government. For instance, it suggests:
- the creation of a certification for apprenticeship tutors and the simplification of the process for submitting hiring contracts to the skills operators (OPCOs);
- the possibility for companies and branches to purchase training actions on the Mon compte formation platform;
- the implementation of tax incentives for some expenses linked to skills development;
- a career development-centred use of the personal training account (CPF).
From 2022, this policy development is part of the national implementation plan (NIP), Measure ‘Anticipating and facilitating ecological and digital transitions’, Actions ‘Top-up of the personal training account for training in strategic sectors’ and also ‘Aid for retraining’. It can be considered also as part of the NIP measure ‘Contributing to equal opportunities in all areas’, action ‘The increase of the rights on the Personal Training Account for certain groups’.
In January 2022, a parliamentary mission published an assessment report on the ‘Professional Future law’, which gives a positive assessment of the reform, especially regarding the development of the personal training account (CPF), identifies existing funding difficulties and makes proposals on improvement of apprenticeships.
In February 2022, the Minister of Labour and the Minister of Public Accounts convened the first ministerial steering committee responsible for combating abusive canvassing and fraud regarding Personal training accounts.
Law 2022-1587 of 19 December 2022 is intended to combat CPF-related fraud and to prohibit the soliciting of CPF account holders. For example, this legislation prohibits commercial solicitation of account holders by SMS but does not prohibit a training organisation from advertising to the general public. The legislation reinforces the power of the national CPF management body (the Caisse des dépôts) to recover sums that have been wrongfully paid out without involving judicial authorities. It introduces a pre-approval procedure for training bodies and regulates the conditions governing the use of subcontractors.
In addition, the purchasing process has been tightened up. It is now necessary for the account holder to be in possession of a recognised form of ID usable via the FranceConnect portal (a solution provided by the State to secure and simplify access to more than 1 400 online services).
Key figures as of 15 June 2022 include 16 624 training organisations having registered 1 active training course, 233 114 different training courses, 775 386 training sessions on offer out of which 174 757 are delivered remotely and finally 3 245 qualifications with an average price of EUR 2 129.
Regarding Career Guidance Counselling CEP, 148 849 employed workers availed of the CEP system in 2021 compared to 100 937 in 2020 (an increase of 47% or 37% if only new recruits are taken into account). At the end of the first phase (personalised counselling), 91% of beneficiaries were satisfied, while 85% expressed satisfaction at the end of the second phase (support with the actual training process).
France compétences launched the call for tenders to select the regional operators appointed to deliver CEP support to working people over the period 2024-2027.
Bodies responsible
- Ministry of Labour, Full Employment and Inclusion
- Delegate Minister for VET under the education and labour ministers
- Ministry of Labour, Employment and Professional Integration (until 2022)
Target groups
Learners
- Adult learners
- Older workers and employees (55 - 64 years old)
- Unemployed and jobseekers
- Persons in employment, including those at risk of unemployment
- Low-skilled/qualified persons
- Learners from other groups at risk of exclusion (minorities, people with fewer opportunities due to geographical location or social-economic disadvantaged position)
Education professionals
- Guidance practitioners
Entities providing VET
- Companies
- Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)
- VET providers (all kinds)
Other stakeholders
- Social partners (employer organisations and trade unions)
Thematic categories
Governance of VET and lifelong learning
This thematic category looks at existing legal frameworks providing for strategic, operational – including quality assurance – and financing arrangements for VET and lifelong learning (LLL). It examines how VET and LLL-related policies are placed in broad national socioeconomic contexts and coordinate with other strategies and policies, such as economic, social and employment, growth and innovation, recovery and resilience.
This thematic category covers partnerships and collaboration networks of VET stakeholders – especially the social partners – to shape and implement VET in a country, including looking at how their roles and responsibilities for VET at national, regional and local levels are shared and distributed, ensuring an appropriate degree of autonomy for VET providers to adapt their offer.
The thematic category also includes efforts to create national, regional and sectoral skills intelligence systems (skills anticipation and graduate tracking) and using skills intelligence for making decisions about VET and LLL on quality, inclusiveness and flexibility.
This thematic sub-category refers to the ways VET is funded at the system level. Policies include optimisation of VET provider funding that allows them to adapt their offer to changing skill needs, green and digital transitions, the social agenda and economic cycles, e.g. increasing the funding for VET or for specific programmes. They can also concern changing the mechanism of how the funding is allocated to VET schools (per capita vs based on achievement or other criteria). Using EU funds and financial instruments for development of VET and skills also falls into this sub-category.
This thematic sub-category refers both to formal mechanisms of stakeholder engagement in VET governance and to informal cooperation among stakeholders, which motivate shared responsibility for quality VET. Formal engagement is usually based on legally established institutional procedures that clearly define the role and responsibilities for relevant stakeholders in designing, implementing and improving VET. It also refers to establishing and increasing the degree of autonomy of VET providers for agile and flexible VET provision.
In terms of informal cooperation, the sub-category covers targeted actions by different stakeholders to promote or implement VET. This cooperation often leads to creating sustainable partnerships and making commitments for targeted actions, in line with the national context and regulation, e.g. national alliances for apprenticeships, pacts for youth or partnerships between schools and employers. It can also include initiatives and projects run by the social partners or sectoral organisations or networks of voluntary experts and executives, retired or on sabbatical, to support their peers in the fields of VET and apprenticeships, as part of the EAfA.
This thematic sub-category refers to further development of national quality assurance (QA) systems for IVET and CVET, for all learning environments (school-based provision and work-based learning, including apprenticeships) and all learning types (digital, face-to-face or blended), delivered by both public and private providers. These systems are underpinned by the EQAVET quality criteria and by indicative descriptors applied both at system and provider levels, as defined in Annex II of the VET Recommendation. The sub-category concerns creating and improving external and self-evaluation of VET providers, and establishing criteria of QA, accreditation of providers and programmes. It also covers the activities of Quality assurance national reference points for VET on implementing and further developing the EQAVET framework, including the implementation of peer reviews at VET system level.
Modernising VET offer and delivery
This thematic category looks at what and how individuals learn, how learning content and learning outcomes in initial and continuing VET are defined, adapted and updated. First and foremost, it examines how VET standards, curricula, programmes and training courses are updated and modernised or new ones created. Updated and renewed VET content ensures that learners acquire a balanced mix of competences that address modern demands, and are more closely aligned with the realities of the labour market, including key competences, digital competences and skills for green transition and sustainability, both sector-specific and across sectors. Using learning outcomes as a basis is important to facilitate this modernisation, including modularisation of VET programmes. Updating and developing teaching and learning materials to support the above is also part of the category.
The thematic category continues to focus on strengthening high-quality and inclusive apprenticeships and work-based learning in real-life work environments and in line with the European framework for quality and effective apprenticeships. It looks at expanding apprenticeship to continuing vocational training and at developing VET programmes at EQF levels 5-8 for better permeability and lifelong learning and to support the need for higher vocational skills.
This thematic category also focuses on VET delivery through a mix of open, digital and participative learning environments, including workplaces conducive to learning, which are flexible, more adaptable to the ways individuals learn, and provide more access and outreach to various groups of learners, diversifying modes of learning and exploiting the potential of digital learning solutions and blended learning to complement face-to-face learning.
Centres of vocational excellence that connect VET to innovation and skill ecosystems and facilitate stronger cooperation with business and research also fall into this category.
This thematic sub-category is about the way learners learn, how the learning is delivered to them, and by what means. Programmes become more accessible through a combination of adaptable and flexible formats (e.g. face-to-face, digital and/or blended learning), through digital learning platforms that allow better outreach, especially for vulnerable groups and for learners in geographically remote or rural areas.
This thematic sub-category covers all developments related to work-based learning (WBL) elements in VET programmes and apprenticeships which continue to be important in the policy agenda. It includes measures to stabilise the offer of apprenticeships, the implementation of the European framework for quality and effective apprenticeships, and using the EU on-demand support services and policy learning initiatives among the Member States. It also covers further expansion of apprenticeships and WBL to continuing VET (CVET), for transition to work and inclusion of vulnerable groups, and for improving citizens’ qualification levels.
Supporting lifelong learning culture and increasing participation
Lifelong learning refers to all learning (formal, non-formal or informal) taking place at all stages in life and resulting in an improvement or update in knowledge, skills, competences and attitudes or in participation in society from a personal, civic, cultural, social or employment-related perspective (Erasmus+, Glossary of terms, https://erasmus-plus.ec.europa.eu/programme-guide/part-d/glossary-common-terms). A systemic approach to CVET is crucial to ensure adaptability to evolving demands.
This broad thematic category looks at ways of creating opportunities and ensuring access to re-skilling and upskilling pathways, allowing individuals to progress smoothly in their learning throughout their lives with better permeability between general and vocational education and training, and better integration and compatibility between initial and continuing VET and with higher education. Individuals should be supported in acquiring and updating their skills and competences and navigating easily through education and training systems. Strategies and campaigns that promote VET and LLL as an attractive and high-quality pathway, providing quality lifelong guidance and tailored support to design learning and career paths, and various incentives (financial and non-financial) to attract and support participation in VET and LLL fall into this thematic category as well.
This thematic category also includes many initiatives on making VET inclusive and ensuring equal education and training opportunities for various groups of learners, regardless of their personal and economic background and place of residence – especially those at risk of disadvantage or exclusion, such as persons with disabilities, the low-skilled and low-qualified, minorities, migrants, refugees and others.
This thematic sub-category refers to all kinds of incentives that encourage learners to take part in VET and lifelong learning; VET providers to improve, broaden and update their offer; companies to provide places for apprenticeship and work-based learning, and to stimulate and support learning of their employees. It also includes measures addressing specific challenges of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) willing to create work-based learning opportunities in different sectors. Incentives can be financial (e.g. grants, allowances, tax incentives, levy/grant mechanisms, vouchers, training credits, individual learning accounts) and non-financial (e.g. information/advice on funding opportunities, technical support, mentoring).
This thematic sub-category refers to providing high-quality lifelong learning and career guidance services, including making full use of Europass and other digital services and resources.
This thematic sub-category refers to making VET pathways and programmes inclusive and accessible for all. It concerns measures and targeted actions to increase access and participation in VET and lifelong learning for learners from all vulnerable groups, and to support their school/training-to-work transitions. It includes measures to prevent early leaving from education and training. The thematic sub-category covers measures promoting gender balance in traditionally ‘male’ and ‘female’ professions and addressing gender-related and other stereotypes. The vulnerable groups are, but not limited to: persons with disabilities; the low-qualified/-skilled; minorities; persons of migrant background, including refugees; people with fewer opportunities due to their geographical location and/or their socioeconomically disadvantaged circumstances.
European priorities in VET
VET Recommendation
- Flexibility and progression opportunities at the core of VET
- VET as an attractive choice based on modern and digitalised provision of training and skills
- VET promoting equality of opportunities
- VET underpinned by a culture of quality assurance
Osnabrück Declaration
- Resilience and excellence through quality, inclusive and flexible VET
- Establishing a new lifelong learning culture - relevance of continuing VET and digitalisation