Teachers’ collective Lycée Polyvalent Françoise de Tournefeuille
Multiple and brutal attacks
Public initial vocational education has been the target of recurrent attacks for many years. Some consider it too costly, while others claim it is far removed from the needs of businesses – even worse, discredit it by qualifying it as a “provider of the unemployed”. While apprenticeship is acclaimed in the media and presented as THE model of excellence, public vocational education is underfunded, underfunded, and has known for more than 20 years reforms that reduce the time spent training students and impoverish their knowledge and know-how.
Today, it is the overall project and the emancipatory objective of public vocational education which are more than ever threatened by the government. Responding to the demands of employers’ organizations, the Ministries of Labor and Education are leading brutal attacks against this unique training model, yet envied in Europe, which educates 650,000 young people in France.
The big bang of the law for the freedom to choose your professional future (LCAP)
This law fundamentally disrupts the organization of apprenticeship by delivering it to the commercial sector, in particular through the arrival of contract financing (a kind of fee-for-service pricing). This exacerbates its direct competition with vocational education under school status. In addition, this law allows students to begin apprenticeship throughout the year. It thus transforms public vocational education into a kind of airlock towards learning, and creates the conditions for the development of a mix of courses and audiences. At the same time, by reducing the share of apprenticeship tax that can go to vocational and technological high schools from 23% to 13%, the law reduces their funding accordingly.
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The LCAP law disrupts the organization of apprenticeship by delivering it to the commercial sector, in particular through the arrival of contract financing. This exacerbates its competition with vocational education under school status.
It also requires training organizations to publish their results via the InserJeunes platform. This site discredits school training and is a propaganda tool in the service of learning. By giving the hand in the CPCs to the professional branches on the definition of the diplomas, their content and the training paths, the CASL allows above all to develop immediate employability. The recognition of skills to the detriment of knowledge and know-how weakens qualification and its recognition in the world of work. The difficult health context we are going through has, however, revealed the importance of vocational training under educational status in order to understand the uncertainties of employment and secure the career paths of young people.
Transformation of the vocational path (TVP): towards reduced training
At the heart of TVP, the drastic drop in disciplinary teaching hours leads to an impoverishment of the content of training. In addition, the grouping of the second, in families of trades, organizes the deskilling of students by teaching generic transversal skills. So condensed into 1time and Terminale, preparation for a diploma recognized by professionals is cut by one year. This system is not implemented in apprenticeship training, which in fact accentuates competition. It is also a lure for families and students who have only a constrained choice of orientation at the end of this second year.
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The establishment of Parcoursup has excluded a good number of young people from vocational high schools from pursuing studies in higher education. The minister is, in fact, restricting the future of young people.
The TVP allows a reduction of positions and a competition between teachers, but also produces a loss of sense of the profession. By imposing utilitarian devices, the reform profoundly modifies the profession with the aim of transforming teachers into simple performers. The establishment of Parcoursup has excluded a good number of young people from vocational high schools from pursuing studies in higher education. The non-increase of places in BTS does not allow an increase in the level of qualification. By acting in this way, the minister is de facto restricting the future of young people, in particular those, poorly qualified and qualified, who are the first victims of the economic crisis.
Learning: a trompe-l’oeil solution
The government and Minister Blanquer brandish apprenticeship as a magical system to fight against youth unemployment – an argument that does not stand up to the facts or to the many studies on the subject. The immediate integration of young people into employment is strongly correlated with the economic situation and the needs of the territories. Apprenticeship also limits the possibilities of pursuing studies for young people. However, raising the level of qualification is a crucial element in resisting economic crises and for a sustainable entry into employment. Apprenticeship meets the immediate needs of businesses and employers’ organizations in their quest for a precarious and low-cost workforce. In addition, it is discriminatory, in particular against girls and young people of immigrant origin. Despite these realities the government persists in injecting billions to develop it. Among the 7 billion euros allocated to the “1 young 1 solution” plan, 4 billion are dedicated to it. While youth unemployment jumped 16% in the 3rd quarter of 2020, this plan is not having the expected effects since few new contracts have been signed. This massive public funding for apprenticeship, which contributes to lowering the “cost of labor”, is allocated massively to companies without any compensation.
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Apprenticeship meets the immediate needs of businesses and employers’ organizations in their quest for a precarious and low-cost workforce.
For us CGT Éduc’action, CNT-FTE, SNALC, SNUEP-FSU, SUD Education, it is urgent to implement an ambitious financing plan to strengthen and develop the public service of initial vocational training under school status. . It is an essential tool for increasing the level of qualification of the entire population, for securing the educational and professional paths of young people and for responding to the new societal challenges that are opening up to us.
See also on The HuffPost: Bac 2021: “Once we have the bac, we are not sure to have something”
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