Apprenticeship is a sandwich course: it combines training with an employer and teaching in a training organisation.
Why?
- To obtain a professional diploma, identical to the one prepared as a student, including higher education diplomas
- To benefit from a dual system of training:
practical and concrete training with an employer
more theoretical lessons given in an apprentice training centre and linked to what is done in the company. One third of the time is spent in the CFA, the other two thirds in the company. - To sign an employment contract (with the same rights and social cover as an employee)
- To be paid (percentage of the minimum wage and tax exemption within the limit of the annual minimum wage) including during the theoretical training period at the CFA.
Apprentice training centres (CFA) provide general, technological and practical training. In close contact with the professional world, they are the preferred place for teaching specific to the learning of each trade.
Based on the transfer of skills by apprenticeship masters, apprenticeship is a concrete way of acquiring both theoretical knowledge and skills to master a trade, understand the company, acquire the essential know-how and thus facilitate integration into the company.
How to become an apprentice?
To become an apprentice, you must be aged between 16 and 29 at the start of the apprenticeship contract and be recognised as fit for the job during the pre-recruitment medical examination.
Young people aged 15 or over can sign an apprenticeship contract if they have completed secondary school, from the 6th grade to the end of the 3rd grade (cycle 2).
Young people who reach the age of 15 before the end of the calendar year may enrol, under school status, in a vocational lycée or in a CFA under agreement with a lycée or collège.
Which diplomas?
Apprenticeship allows you to prepare for :
- a vocational secondary school diploma: certificat d’aptitude professionnelle (CAP), baccalauréat professionnel (vocational baccalaureate), brevet professionnel (vocational diploma), mention complémentaire (additional qualification), brevet des métiers d’art (vocational diploma)
- a higher education diploma: brevet de technicien supérieur (BTS), bachelor universitaire de technologie (BUT), professional licences, diplôme national d’art et de design (DNMADE), engineering and business school diplomas, master’s degrees, etc.
Apprenticeship provides access to all levels of professional qualification at secondary or higher education level. The duration of an apprenticeship contract varies between 6 months and 3 years.
In which professional sectors?
All professional fields are eligible for apprenticeship.
For more information in French
Visit https://www.alternance.emploi.gouv.fr/, where you will find many work-linked training opportunities.
consult the offers for apprenticeships on pole-emploi.fr.
