With regard to the French Community, it should be emphasised that the section entitled ‘Vocational upper secondary education’ relates to the second and third stages (CITE 3, four years), and not just upper secondary education (three years). However, the third specific differentiation and orientation year (3 S-DO) is mentioned in the section about the first stage: although 3 S-DO is part of the second stage, it belongs neither to general education nor to qualification education, and therefore cannot be described in the pages distinguishing the education streams in the second part of the description of secondary education.
The sections below present the qualification stream, that provides the following forms of education :
- Technical ;
- Artistic ;
- Vocational.
The qualification stream prepares pupils to enter the labour market while also enabling them to continue their studies in higher education.
In addition to full-time education (dispensed entirely within the education institution, apart from some practical training courses), there is also dual vocational education and training. This combines practical training in the workplace with training given by a dual vocational training operator, relating to general and vocational subjects. Dual vocational education and training is organised within the framework of a partnership between a training or education provider, the pupil and a company, in accordance with specific arrangements in terms of length of training, recognition of the training received, certification, supervision, payment and social rights.
Centres for Dual Vocational Education and Training (CEFAS), which form part of the education organised or grant-aided by the French Community, provide two forms of dual education and training in ordinary education :
- that which leads to the same certificates and qualifications as ordinary full-time qualification-stream education, known as ‘alternance article 49’ ;
- and that which aims at lower levels of qualification via specific profiles, known as ‘alternance article 45’.
The CEFAs provide training at the second and third stages of vocational education and at the third stage of qualification-stream technical education.
IFAPME (the Walloon Institute of Dual Vocational Education and Training for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises) and the SFPME (Small and Mid-Sized Companies Training Service in the Brussels-Capital Region) also organise dual vocational courses known as ‘apprenticeship contracts’ which satisfy the compulsory schooling requirement.
Types of institutions
Full-time education
See Organisation of Lower Secondary Education
Although most secondary education institutions organise all three stages, some only provide the second and third stages.
Moreover, the forms and streams offered may vary from one secondary education institution to the next, under certain conditions.
Dual vocational education and training
Compulsory education lasts until the age of 18. However from age 15, only part-time schooling is compulsory. Students are therefore allowed to opt for a structured learning path which combines part-time vocational education in an educational institution and part-time employment.
Dual vocational education and training is provided by two types of operator: the Centres for Dual Vocational Education and Training (CEFAs), which form part of the education organised or grant-aided by the French Community on the one hand, and the Walloon Institute of Dual Vocational Education and Training for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises of the Walloon Region (IFAPME) and the Small and Mid-Sized Companies Training Service in the Brussels-Capital Region (SFPME) on the other hand.
A CEFA is a structure which is common to one or more ordinary full-time secondary education institutions providing qualification-stream vocational or technical education in the second and third stages. Any institution of full-time education organising qualification-stream technical education or vocational education in the second and third stages, any specialised secondary education institution and any institution of social advancement may ask to cooperate with a CEFA of the same character (denominational or non-denominational) in the area where it is based. The CEFA is based in a full-time secondary education school that provides qualification-stream vocational or technical education The other institutions are referred to as ‘cooperating institutions’. These may provide part or all of the instruction (both general and vocational) for a group of pupils.
IFAPME and SFPME and their training centre networks are responsible for providing dual vocational education and training for small and medium-sized companies. They fall within the competence of the Regions, not the French Community.
Social advancement
Secondary education may also be organised by social advancement institutions that provides learners with an opportunity to acquire qualifications that they failed to obtain in their initial education.
Geographical accessibility
See Organisation of Lower Secondary Education
IFAPME uses a network of eight training centres distributed geographically across 14 sites covering the whole of Wallonia. The training centre of the SFPME (the Training Centre for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises or EFPME) serves the Brussels-Capital Region. Theorical courses are taught at the premises of the SFPME. The companies where practical training takes place are spread throughout the territory, and if a young person is unable to learn the trade in which he or she is interested in a company located in the Brussels-Capital Region, he or she may undergo training in a company located in the Walloon Region under the terms of an agreement entered into between IFAPME and the SFPME.
Admission requirements and choice of school
See Organisation of Lower Secondary Education
In dual vocational education and training, enrolments are accepted throughout the year.
Parents’ freedom of choice
See Organisation of Lower Secondary Education
Conditions for admission to the third year (2nd stage) of full-time qualification-stream technical or artistic education
Regular pupils who satisfy one of the following conditions may be admitted to the third year of full-time qualification-stream technical or artistic education :
- to have obtained the certificate for the first stage of secondary education (CE1D) ;
- to have been directed by the class council into a third year of secondary education in the forms and streams defined by it ;
- to have successfully completed the third year of full-time vocational secondary education and to be the object of a favourable opinion issued by the admissions board ;
- to have successfully completed the third year of dual vocational secondary education and training and to be the object of a favourable opinion issued by the admissions board.
In the latter two cases, the pupil starts a third year again, but in a different form of education.
The admissions board bases its assessments on the information that it is possible to gather about the pupil. Depending on the case, this information may relate to :
- his or her study record ;
- the results of tests organised by the teachers ;
- information contained in the school record or communicated by the Centre for Psychological, Medical and Social Services ;
- meetings with the pupil and parents.
The decisions are recorded in minutes signed by the head of a school or his representative and by two members of the board.
Conditions for admission to the third year (2nd stage) of full-time vocational education
Regular pupils who satisfy one of the following conditions may be admitted to the third year of full-time vocational secondary education :
- to have obtained the certificate for the first stage of secondary education (CE1D) ;
- to have been directed by the class council into a third year of secondary education in the forms and streams defined by it, one of which is the vocational form ;
- to be 16 years old, not to satisfy the equivalence provisions for foreign diplomas and certificates of study, and to be the object of a favourable opinion issued by the admissions board (see above).
Conditions for admission to dual vocational education and training
Pupils subject to part-time schooling obligation may attend a CEFA from the age of 15 provided that they have regularly attended two years of secondary education. Pupils subject to part-time schooling obligation, from the age of 16 years old, as well as those pupils that turned 18 years old in the calendar year, can attend a CEFA, whatever their pathway (sometimes without a CEB).
In addition, youngsters that are more than 18 and less than 21 years old can be enrolled as regular pupils in CEFAs provided they have signed an apprenticeship contract for a profession exercised by salaried workers (industrial apprenticeship), or an employment-training agreement, or any other form of contract or agreement recognised by the labour legislation and falling into the framework of dual education and training that has received the approval of the Government of the French community. Young people that are older than 21 and less than 25 years old that have signed one of the agreements or contracts mentioned above can also enrol in a CEFA provided that they have benefited from dual vocational education and training since October 1 of the year in which they attained the age of 21.
Students of legal age who have not completed either a third qualification-stream year or a sixth transition-stream year and who wish to continue their education but cannot be enrolled in full-time education, may not be refused enrolment in a CEFA and may have priority over other adults in obtaining an employment-training agreement or an industrial apprenticeship contract.
The conditions for access to each of the years of ‘article 49’ dual vocational education and training are the same as for the corresponding full time secondary education. To have access to the upper stage of ‘article 45’ dual vocational education and training, pupils need a lower secondary education certificate, or a qualification certificate (of specialized education), or a certificate of vocational competences for the 2nd stage of dual vocational education and training. Pupils that have not obtained any of these certificates can only be enrolled as regular pupils in the 2nd stage.
More generally, under the terms of the decree on dual education of 8 January 2009 (décret "alternance"), candidates for dual vocational education and training must, subject to compliance with the law on compulsory schooling, enter into a dual vocational education and training contract and actually undergo training at a company, as well as satisfying one of the following conditions :
- to have successfully completed the first stage of secondary education or the third year of vocational secondary education, in ordinary education or form 4 specialised education ;
- to have attended the third year of differentiation and orientation within ordinary or form 4 specialised education or the second phase within form 3 specialised education ;
- to have attended the second supplementary year of the first stage ;
- to have attended the second year of the differentiated first stage ;
- to have attended the first stage in 3 years ;
- to have passed an admission test relating to the prerequisites, arrangements for which are determined by the General Educational Inspection Service of the French Community.
If necessary, the young person will undergo a preparatory period with the training provider which is intended to ensure he or she has mastered the necessary prerequisites (see above).
Age levels and grouping of pupils/students
See Organisation of Lower Secondary Education
Pupils that have not repeated a year are aged between 14 and 18 years old, if they attend 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6thgrade.
The number of pupils in a class varies according to the grouping of pupils and the options they are offered, but certain maximums have been set by the decree on class sizes of 3 May 2012. These numbers are always lower for laboratory courses, professional practice, as well as when safety so requires.
Years of study | Courses | Average to be respected (calculated annually on the basis of the classes organised by degree) | Maximum number of students in each class |
From 3rd to 7th technical and artistic (qualification-stream) | All except professional practice | 25 | 28 |
professional practice | 16 or 12 | 19 or 15 | |
where safety so requires | 10 | 12 | |
3rd et 4th vocational | All except professional practice | 19 | 22 |
professional practice | 16 or 12 | 19 or 15 | |
where safety so requires | 10 | 12 | |
From 5th to 7th vocational | All except professional practice | 22 | 25 |
professional practice | 16 or 12 | 19 or 15 | |
where safety so requires | 10 | 12 |
Organisation of the school year
In full-time education
See Organisation of Lower Secondary Education
In dual vocational education and training
Dual vocational education and training is scheduled as 600 x 50-minute periods per year spread over at least twenty weeks in school, and at least 600 hours of in-company work-based training activities per year, spread over a minimum of 20 weeks.
The training year may be organised in accordance with the school calendar, or according to other arrangements determined by the relevant authorities. The training may be organized in training modules.
Organisation of the school day and week
In full-time education
See Organisation of Lower Secondary Education
In full-time secondary education, in the second and third stages, the number of periods per week varies from 30 to 36, depending on the programme, options chosen, and stage.
Two periods per week of remediation at the most may be added to the authorised maximum, in the 2nd stage.
In dual vocational education and training
Dual vocational education and training is scheduled as 600 x 50-minute periods per year spread over at least twenty weeks in school, which means, most of the time, 15 50-minute periods per week, and at least 600 hours of training in the workplace.
Dual vocational education and training may be provided outside normal school hours for full-time education. Evening or weekend classes are authorised. It may also be organised in modules.