France: vocational high schools, a "national cause" for Emmanuel Macron

Emmanuel Macron at the Bernard Palissy Technological and Vocational High School, in Saintes, May 4, 2023. AFP - THIBAUD MORITZ

Text by: Laurence Théault Follow

5 min

Traveling to Saintes in Charente-Maritime, in the southwest of the country, Emmanuel Macron presented this Thursday, May 4, his reform of vocational education, financed to the tune of an additional billion euros per year. For the head of state, it is not "simply a reform" but "a national cause".

Advertising

Read more

It was at the Bernard Palissy technological and vocational high school in Saintes that the French president wanted to present his measures to promote vocational high schools. The idea is to restore the image of a sector that remains the unloved of the school system: "We will put a billion euros per year more on the vocational high school (...). We must move towards 100% professional integration, "said the head of state who recalled a "cruel" figure: at the national level, only 40% of young graduates of vocational high schools find a job six months after graduation.

The idea of this reform is, in the words of Emmanuel Macron, to make it a sector of excellence, to bring schools and companies closer together, to review the training map and to rely on consultation with local companies. The Minister of Labour, Olivier Dussopt, was also present on site with the Minister of National Education Pap Ndiaye and the Minister of Vocational Education, Carole Grandjean.

The reform of the vocational high school should make it possible to make this sector a path of excellence. We are committed to it, we are doing it.

— Pap Ndiaye (@PapNdiaye) May 4, 2023

It is also a question of fighting against school dropout, two out of three high school students in a situation of dropping out are from the vocational high school.

One in three high school students chooses the vocational path, or 621,000 students. That's a lot. They are young people from working-class backgrounds. Their families most often face social difficulties. Most of these young people have broken out of school. They are fragile and as there is not always sufficient help at home, a student who drops out is most often oriented towards vocational education which is still considered today as a siding. Emmanuel Macron also assured that "the commitment of teachers of high school pro" would be recognized by salary increases "with a still significant and redoubled effort" to the extent that they accept new tasks.

Bringing together professional sectors and companies

The ambition is to create new sectors, in promising sectors, such as digital, or ecology, but it is also a question of eliminating those that offer the least opportunities. We must take better account of the needs of companies and adapt to employment areas. For example, in the Ardèche, if we need employees for the nuclear power plant, then we will have to train for nuclear professions. On this point, the unions see it as a kind of house arrest, depending on where they live. Students will therefore not really have the choice of their training.

The Head of State announced the establishment of "a business office in each vocational high school" to ensure better support for students and the arrival in these institutions of "associate teachers" from the business world.

One measure that creates controversy is the increase in the duration of internships in companies. There was talk of doubling the probationary periods. But in the face of an outcry, the government abandoned this measure. On the other hand, it is always a question of increasing their duration. It is currently 22 weeks over three years. This idea is strongly contested by teachers' unions, who insist that a young person in a vocational high school is a pupil and not an employee.

If we take the example of the cooking and catering sector, the student in the high school learns his trade in an educational restaurant. He is accompanied, he has the right to make mistakes. If we increase the duration of internships, we will cut back on vocational and general education, on school time. A teacher confided to RFI that she had already had feedback from business leaders following a high school internship, regretting that the student was "a very good technician, but unable to read an order form".

The unions also fear that these young people are cheap labour for the company. And according to them, everything must be done so that these high school students access higher education, such as Higher Technician Certificates (BTS) for example.

Internship remuneration from the start of the 2023 academic year

The reform also provides for paid internships. This gratuity will be borne by the State. The high school student will receive up to 100 euros per week.

We must also value the investment of the students themselves. [...] This commitment: 50 euros per week in the first year of CAP and second, 75 euros per week in the 2nd year of CAP and first, and 100 euros per week in terminale. And this internship allowance is both a measure of justice and merit. It is a strong commitment of the State which will take care of the internship compensation.

Emmanuel Macron on the gratification of internships

Valérie Gas

Snuep-FSU has long offered a study allowance for all schooling. But this is not what was chosen: "There, the choice was to only pay internships, so it is a very reactionary vision of vocational training. It is to give the signal that it is the company that is valued, where, there, the students could learn. And this is to discredit, in reality, on what vocational high school teachers do on a daily basis, in schools. " explains Sigrid Girardin, co-general secretary of the teachers' union.

The reform of the vocational high school was one of Emmanuel Macron's campaign promises in 2022. The French president is therefore committed to respecting the objectives he had set himself by continuing his field visits at the rate of one to two outings per week since the promulgation of the pension reform.

In Saintes, opponents of the reform of the pension system were present, despite the prefectural ban. The power cut did not call into question the course of the visit, or even the lunch organized, not with the demonstrators, but with the high school students.

" READ ALSO – Live a happy schooling from school to high school

Newsletter Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox

I subscribe

Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application

Read on on the same topics:

• France
• Teaching
• Education
• Our selection