• Financing of the system in a sustainable and optimal way;
• Regulating the market to better identify skills needs and ensure the flexibility of the range of professional training and qualifications to address new economic and social challenges;
• Improving the performance, transparency and cooperation between the various players.

To fulfill these missions, the institution issues recommendations and reports any problems in order to enhance the quality of services provided to users.

“Organisation and financing”

The institution organises and finances a device called “CEP” – professional development advice – a process of support, discussion and advice available to any employee seeking to develop their career. The system is free and accessible to all employees, regardless of age, business sector, status or qualifications. It contributes to developing skills, increasing capabilities and providing access to new qualifications.

“Regulation”

The institution regulates costs and distributes funds for vocational training between the various CVET and IVET players. It is able to issue recommendations on access to training, costs and funding rules and collects information from training providers while communicating with all industries and social partners. It is also financing the personal training account – CPF.

To promote high-quality lifelong learning, it is in charge of the quality assurance in VET and has the responsibility to register qualifications which are meaningful for the labour market (qualifications with a level of National qualification framework, and other important qualifications for the labour market).

“Dialogue”

The institution also contributes to the public debate on vocational training and assesses VET policies. It provides an exchange forum for dialogue and conducts studies, while maintaining an ongoing relationship with industries, social partners and public decision makers.

France compétences has a Board of Directors, elected for three years, which has three specialist committees to analyse, review and provide expertise in their respective fields: the Audit and Finance Committee, the Assessment and Evaluation Committee and the Recommendations Committee.

The Professional Qualifications Committee, created by the decree of 18 December 2018, has a special status. Its members are appointed by the French Labour Minister, guaranteeing its independence in the performance of its duties. It is particularly responsible for the two national reference frameworks: the RNCP (French National Framework of Professional Qualifications) and the RS (Specific Reference Framework).

The French national framework for professional qualifications (RNCP) has eight levels like the EQF.

The RNCP is the national database in which professional qualifications are classified. The RS, meanwhile, contains a range of professional skills complementary to professional qualifications.

To ensure that qualifications are relevant and up to date, France compétences identifies emerging and changing professions and incorporates new professional skills associated with those professions into the RNCP or RS. This system enables employers and European citizens to compare French qualifications to those managed by the other EU Member States.

Designated as an NCP (National Coordination Point) for implementation of the EQF, France compétences is an active partner in the Europass set up by the European Commission on 1 July 2020. An automatic edition of the supplement to the Europass certificate is accessible from the RNCP.

France compétences is one of the main organisations responsible for ensuring the quality of the training and apprenticeship system.

The law of the 5^th September 2018 sets out the new national quality standard aimed to provide more harmonisation and transparency. This is a new basis for all VET providers. France compétences has been appointed as a national reference point for EQAVET.

The French qualifications system has 8 levels and 3 descriptors, with the exception of the first level, which corresponds to basic knowledge and has no descriptor.

The descriptors are in connection with the labour market:

• Knowledge: the descriptor is about the progression in knowledge to carry out the professional activities of the level (processes, materials, terminology of one or several fields, theoretical knowledge).
• Expertise: the descriptor is about the progression to carry out professional activities in relation with the level: complexity and technicity of a task, of an activity in a process; the level of mastery of the professional activities; the ability to use a range of abilities (practical and cognitive ones); expertise in the field of communication and interpersonal relationships in a professional context; the ability to transfer skills.
• Responsibility and autonomy: the descriptor is about the progression in the following fields: work organization, response to hazard, comprehension of the complexity, understanding of the overlapping with other professional fields, enabling to organize one’s work, to correct it or to give indications to supervised staff, the participation to collective work, the level of supervision.

The descriptors show a progression to more complexity. The level of a qualification is fixed by the result of the balance between the three descriptors.

Baccalaureate is registered at the level 4 of the framework, and higher education diplomas are included in the national framework.

The national register for professional qualifications (RNCP) is the national database where qualifications are registered with their level.

Process of validation of prior learning (validation des acquis de l’expérience) is mandatory for the registration of qualifications in the RNCP.

There are 2 ways to register qualifications:

• Ministries may create qualifications if a commission where representatives of social partners and representatives of ministries discuss the opportunity of their creation. For HE diplomas, the discussion with social partners is also compulsory (registration by law).
• Or they are accredited by France compétences after an analysis by France compétences and assent of the commission nationale de la certification professionnelle, chaired by an independent person (registration on demand).

The qualifications are expressed in learning outcomes and are based on 3 standards:

• Standard of activities
• Standard of competencies
• Standard of assessment

The compliance of the qualification with these 3 standards is systematically checked.

In order to facilitate lifelong learning, qualifications must be composed by units/competences blocks (blocs de compétences) which are: « identified part of qualifications, defined as a homogeneous and coherent set of competences contributing to carrying out a professional activity autonomously, and which can be assessed and validated » with an exception for regulated professions.

Pathways are possible between blocks of competences registered in the RNCP and qualifications registered in another national repertory with qualifications without level, also under the responsibility of France compétences.

To be able to provide training leading to a qualification, a training organisation must have the formal agreement of the qualification issuer[1]. The bodies and ministries issuing qualifications must therefore identify all partners authorised to prepare learners for their qualifications. This mandatory declaration must be made to France compétences, via a web platform, no later than 1 March 2021.

France compétences provides a platform which simplifies the declaration procedure. The bodies that issue qualifications must finalise the declaration of their partners by 1 March 2021 at the following web address: https://certifpro.francecompetences.fr/webapp/rncp/.

Organisations that have not registered their partnerships may be issued formal notice to comply with their obligations.

This information is published in the list records and transmitted to the Caisse des Dépôts for checking, via the EDOF platform, of organisations offering training leading to a qualification.

Since this obligation came into force, pursuant to the Professional Future Law, more than 42,000 qualifications have been entered into France compétences’ two national directories. Partners are therefore mentioned in 13% of records in the RNCP and in 8% of records in the specific directory.

The objective is to provide key information for users, financial backers and operators in the fields of employment and careers advice, particularly with a view to checking the eligibility of training courses for the personal training account.

[1] The instructions for use are detailed in the online help guide

The training market is extremely diverse in France, with more than 75,000 training organisations, leading to inconsistent quality of practices.

Following the interprofessional agreement of December 2013, lawmakers to bring practices in line with law no. 2014-288 relating to vocational training, employment and social dialogue, by establishing quality criteria which backers had to ensure were complied with by training organisations.

The law of 5 September 2018 went further by creating a certification obligation on training providers in order for them to be eligible to receive vocational training funds from skills operators, regional inter-professional joint committees, the government, regional authorities, Pôle Emploi [French unemployment agency] and AGEFIPH [Management Association of the Fund for the Professional Integration of Disabled People].

In practice, all training providers (whether in the context of skills development actions, skills assessments, VAE [Validation of Prior Experience] or apprenticeship training actions) must be certified from 1 January 2022 (postponed from 1 January 2021). This deadline was postponed by an ordinance passed on 1 April as part of the health emergency law to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic.

This certification of training organisations will be issued by a professional and independent certifier, accredited by a national body, Cofrac [French Accreditation Committee] and, in certain specific situations, by a labelling body recognised by France compétences.

Seven criteria and 32 indicators

The decree of 6 June 2019 sets out the content of the national quality standard that will serve as basis for vocational training providers to construct their quality approach in order to obtain the certification required from 1 January 2021.

The national quality standard is organised around seven criteria linked to 22 indicators that apply to all providers (common core), to which are added 10 indicators specific to apprenticeship or training leading to qualifications.

According to the decree, the criteria to be met by providers are:

• The conditions for informing the public about the services offered, the time limits for accessing them and the results obtained
• Precise identification of the objectives of the services offered and adaptation of those services to target recipients when designing the services
• Adaptation to target recipients of services and reception, support, monitoring and assessment procedures
• That the educational, technical and supervision methods are adequate for the services implemented
• The qualification and development of the knowledge and skills of the staff responsible for implementing the services
• The service provider’s involvement and investment in its professional environment
• Collection and taking into account of feedback and complaints from stakeholders in the services provided

A reading grid to construct a genuine quality approach

This gives training organisations, apprenticeship training centres and other corporate universities a framework for constructing their quality approach. The certification bodies will be able to audit them on this basis, once they have obtained their accreditation, in order to issue them with the certification required from 1 January 2022.