The national framework for the VET quality assurance in France is the result of a long regulatory process.

The Law of 4 July 1990 introduced for the first time the concept of the accreditation of training programmes to ensure that they maintain quality and that they meet expressed needs. In 1995 the law introduced the authorisations for VET providers, issued regarding to their financial capabilities, their human and material resources and the quality of the provided training. In the 2000s, since it became a common practice to purchase VET programs by means of a public tender, the switch was made to professionalise not only the training offer but also the act of purchase itself.

The national interprofessional agreement of 13 December 2013, between social partners, was very ambitious, placing the industrial sectors at the heart of the quality system « to conduct a policy of improving the quality of training for the benefit of enterprises and employees », is says.

The Law of 5 March 2014 gave to the financing bodies (OPCA they are called) the responsibility for ensuring the VET provider was able to deliver a good quality training. This system also introduced for the first time the concept of certification or a quality label for the VET providers.

However, all these quality assurance measures did not lead to a full harmonisation of practices, especially they did not make them clear for private companies and the general public.

Therefore, it seemed necessary to create a unique national quality reference framework for the VET providers. This new framework, introduced by the last law of the 2018, extended the quality requirement also to the apprenticeship, for instance, and made the new certification, called Qualiopi, mandatory for the VET programs supported by the public funding. Thus the Law of 5 September 2018 took a step further in terms of quality assurance and required all VET providers based on public funds to be certified in advance in accordance with a unique national reference framework. It became thus their responsibility. The direct consequence is the greater transparency of the “quality” system for the general public, who had become, by means of the same 2018 law, the main player in developing their competencies with the introduction of the personal (or individual) training account (CPF). The basic idea was that everyone could obtain all the information they required on the methods, aims, targeted results and success rates of each training.

Here the COFRAC (the French accreditation committee) takes an important place by choosing the certifying bodies (around 30 now) which are delivering right now already the new quality certifications “Qualiopi” to the VET providers; these certifications will become mandatory starting from the 1^st January 2022.

France compétences, in certain cases, is also able to choose some certifying bodies in addition to COFRAC.

Qualiopi certification applies to the VET provider, not the training programmes.

• Criterion 1 : Conditions for informing the public about the services offered, time limits for accessing them and results obtained.
• Criterion 2 : Identifying precisely the objectives of the services offered and how they are adapted to the intended public at the design stage.
• Criterion 3 : Adapting services and hosting, support, monitoring and assessment methods to the beneficiaries.
• Criterion 4 : Ensuring that educational, technical and support methods are adequate for the services provided.
• Criterion 5 : Defining and developing the knowledge and competencies of the staff responsible for delivering the services.
• Criterion 6 : The service provider’s involvement and commitment to the professional.
• Criterion 7 : Collecting and considering evaluations and complaints expressed by stakeholders about the services provided.

The Law of 5 September 2018 provides for a modified procedure for higher education institutions in the new quality assurance framework. For these institutions, the quality assurance of the Bologna Process was considered sufficient. As part of the regular assessments carried out by the Haut Conseil de l’évaluation de la recherche et de l’enseignement supérieur (High Council for Evaluation of Research and Higher Education – HCÉRES), the Commission des titres d’ingénieurs (Commission for engineering qualifications – CTI) and the Comité consultatif de l’enseignement supérieur privé (Consultative committee of private higher education – CCESP), the institutions concerned “are deemed to have satisfied the certification requirement”. They will not have to undertake any further certification requirements. However, in order to ensure the consistency of the criteria for assessing the quality of training programmes, irrespective of the institution, an annual conference has been set up from 2020 onwards between France compétences, HCÉRES and the CTI.

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.