In February 2018, at the request of Jean-Michel Blanquer, Minister of National Education, MP Céline Calvez and starred chef Régis Marcon produced a report on the upper secondary vocational path (BAC-pro). The report presents key facts and figures on the vocational stream and proposals to reform it to increase its attractiveness and responsiveness to challenges in society and the economy.
First reactions reflect diverging opinions
While some trade unions believe that the report recommendations are moving in the right direction, other players considers them a direct threat to the future of the vocational path in public schools. Almost all regret the confirmation that the three upper secondary pathways (general, technological and vocational) will remain separate.
Another observation is the (continued) competition between the apprenticeship system and school-based VET. The report argues that the secondary school path should be used to select students according to their learning needs and profiles, creating individualised pathways; this would mean that the best profiles for employers would be redirected into apprenticeships, with students experiencing social and educational difficulties going into school-based VET programmes. More...

Production schools offer training that leads to a vocational qualification for young people who have dropped out of education. These schools achieve excellent results with their innovative ‘learning by doing’ teaching method. The Production schools’ network, which is growing, wishes to strengthen the institutional anchoring of this model.
Production schools provide young people aged 14 to 18 who have dropped out of school an alternative training path to obtaining a national VET qualification. This can be a professional skills certificate (CAP), a vocational baccalaureate (BACpro) or vocational certificates in occupations which are struggling to recruit: carpentry, metallurgy, automotive mechanics, collective catering and digital technology.
An educational model with excellent results
The originality of the Production school teaching method is that it is based on learning through producing products and services, in response to orders from real customers (companies or private individuals). Hands-on work predominates, with two thirds of the training time dedicated to this aspect and a third to theory. More...