2024
A business office in every vocational upper secondary school
Running period: Set up at the beginning of the 2023-2024 school year as part of the reform of vocational "lycées".
Status : In force
Responsible authorities: Vocational upper secondary schools
Reasons/objectives: Organise and develop partnerships with professional players for the benefit of all those attending vocational or multi-purpose "lycées": pupils, apprentices, students and continuing vocational trainees. On the other hand, this office is the single point of entry for each company to facilitate the development of joint initiatives with the upper secondary schools.
Main measures adopted:
- Support teachers and trainers in their interactions with the business world;
- Set up joint initiatives between the school, the business world and local players;
- Create this resource for finding and successfully completing high-quality work placements, periods of on-the-job training and work-linked courses;
- Develop a sense of belonging and an alumni network;
- Monitor the success of the career paths and integration of each person trained at the school.
Funding and material resources:
Funding: not specified.
Material resources:
- The 1jeune1soultion.gouv.fr platform is published by the Ministry of Labour (General Delegation for Employment and Vocational Training).
2023
Reform of the vocational route
Deadline: Announced on 4 May 2023
Status: Implementation at the start of the 2023-2024 school year and roll out until the start of the 2026-2027 school year.
Responsible authorities: Ministry of National Education and Youth; Ministry of Labour, Employment and Inclusion
Reasons/objectives: The aim of the reform of the vocational route is to provide better integration for graduates and better support for those who wish to continue their studies in higher education.
Main measures adopted:
- Financial incentives for work placements for vocational upper secondary students from the start of the 2023-24 school year: A student enrolled in a vocational upper secondary school (i.e. lycée professionnel) will be able to receive up to €2,100 for a three-year vocational baccalauréat course.
- Consolidating basic knowledge: in the first year of vocational education (i.e. grade 10), maths and French will be taught in small groups from the start of the 2023-24 school year in voluntary vocational lycées. This measure will be extended to all vocational lycées from the start of the 2024-25 school year. In addition, students in their second and third years of vocational upper secondary education (i.e. grades 11 -12) will benefit from more hours of teaching in mathematics and French.
- Encourage ambition by allowing students to choose optional subjects.
- Organise the final year of lycée in line with the student's plans: obtain a diploma and then, either find a job or continue their studies.
- Create three new schemes to prevent the risk of dropping out during and after the lycée: "Tous droits ouverts", "Ambition emploi" and "Parcours de consolidation".
- Better prepare students to enter the world of work through external partnerships: by supporting 50% of students in their final year who wish to enter the world of work after graduation from the start of the 2023-24 school year, and then 100% of final year students by the start of the 2024-25 school year.
- Transforming training to respond to the major transitions in our economy by thoroughly updating a quarter of existing diplomas by the start of the 2025-26 school year. The target for the start of the 2026-27 school year is to close 100% of non-integrating courses.
- Create short, complementary courses after the diploma to make it easier for secondary school students to enter the job market: in voluntary schools, increase the number of places in specialised one-year short cycle programmes (“Bac + 1 courses”) from 4,500 to 5,000 by the start of the 2023-24 school year, and to 20,000 places by the start of the 2026-27 school year.
- Create a dedicated business relations office in each lycée.
- Enable volunteer teachers to carry out new paid tasks to promote success and provide better support for students.
- Help new School Heads of vocational lycée to take up their duties successfully.
- Renewing in-service training for vocational lycée teachers to enable them to regularly adapt their teaching to the rapid changes in the economy and to take on students who are sometimes in great difficulty at school.
Funding: one billion euros invested each year in the vocational school of tomorrow
Evaluation and monitoring mechanisms: Not specified.
References: 12 mesures pour faire du lycée professionnel un choix d’avenir pour les jeunes et les entreprises ; Dossier de presse
2022
There was no major measure in this domain this year.
2021
Philosophy workshops in 12th grade in the vocational path
Deadline: Implementation in September 2021.
Status: in force - order of 1 March 2021.
Responsible authorities: Ministry of National Education, Youth and Sports
Reasons / Objectives: The philosophy workshop is part of the transformation of the vocational baccalauréat initiated since 2019. The introduction of philosophy teaching in vocational upper-secondary schools (lycées) is a recognition of the success of several academic experiments. This teaching, which guides and introduces students to the philosophical approach, meets the need to develop the general culture of vocational baccalaureates.
Main measures adopted: The proposed training content determines a philosophy pathway for all the students concerned. Linked to notions, authors and questions belonging to the traditions of the discipline, the workshop can encourage the practice of a constructed dialogue, but excludes the simple discussion or the more or less free and spontaneous exchange of opinions. It leads students to distance themselves from their opinions, to clarify fundamental notions that are used in everyday life and to work on language. A programme of questions is drawn up by the teachers with the help of the inspectorate.
The teaching methods may involve both oral and written exercises, made accessible to the pupils for whom they are intended: production of a philosophical question or argument, discovery of philosophers' texts, brief writings aimed at drafting conceptual definitions or stating appropriately identified philosophical problems, etc. The reading of texts by philosophical authors does not pose any particular problem, provided that they are short and accessible. The philosophy workshop does not give rise to a certificate evaluation.
Funding: Not specified.
Evaluation and follow-up mechanisms: Not specified.
References: MENJS: Order of 1 March 2021