“The reform of vocational high schools is vital for the industry”

Alexandre Saubot is general manager of the Haulotte group (manufacturer of aerial work platforms) and president of France Industrie.

Le Figaro. - What will the reform of vocational high schools change for businesses?

Alexandre SAUBOT. - It is essential for our sector. Behind the success of professional training lies our ability, as industrialists, to find the skills to meet the formidable recruitment challenge facing our sector. It is estimated that more than 1 million people will be recruited in the industry in the next ten years. A necessity if we want to meet the challenges of reindustrialization, decarbonization and electrification.

To achieve this, we need vocational high schools. Before being a subject for businesses in general and industry in particular, this reform is first and foremost vital for our country. Sending a third of high school students to a course where the employment rate upon leaving study is less than 50% has become a problem for France. This largely explains the low employment rate of young people, and refers to the idea that professional sectors are paths to failure. We must act with determination to change this.

The question of attractiveness is therefore at the heart of this reform…

Yes, and it's one of our biggest topics. We must restore the nobility of professional training, seen today as a second choice. At the same time, statistics show that the difficulties of students in vocational high schools in basic subjects are much more significant than in the general and technological sectors. 40% of vocational high school students have a fragile mastery of French in second grade, compared to 6% in general and technological high schools. In mathematics, 70% of vocational high school students have gaps, compared to 20% in general and technological.

What do you concretely expect from this reform?

The reform must make it possible to expand the number of well-trained people who will be able to come and work in our companies, while today less than 50% of courses train for industrial professions. Behind the subject of the content and quality of the courses, there is that of the tools and the level of technical platforms necessary for training young people in the specialties of the industry. If we have managed to upgrade them in our apprentice training centers (CFA) through investment, the vocational high schools have more difficulty.

We are therefore delighted that a line of the France 2030 plan, around 1 billion euros, is earmarked for investments in vocational high schools. This money will be used to upgrade the platforms: a valuable help to better prepare these students for the future. This reform aims to ensure that the curriculum is adapted to young people, both in terms of content and opportunities, to increase the employment rate upon leaving. This will further encourage parents - who want their children to find a path that they enjoy but also that secures their future - to guide them along this path. But to increase the employment rate upon leaving vocational high schools, it is also essential that we involve the economic world more.

How does the industrial sector intend to take its part?

It is essential that the industrial sector but also the entire economic world be consulted. Because as long as the content of training is not discussed with companies, and adapted to their needs, we will not increase the employment rate upon leaving vocational high school. We support the initiative to overhaul the training map, which aims to reallocate a quarter of the courses within three or four years. This will have to be done in collaboration with businesses to identify the sectors that lead to nothing and those that offer jobs, and reallocate resources based in particular on employment areas.

These changes will have to be confronted with their social acceptability, the issues of opening classes, the attractiveness of sectors for young people, and the mobilization of the business world which must be present wherever it is needed. to make things happen. We are ready, with France Industrie and our professional branches, to commit ourselves alongside the public authorities - with the prefects, the rectors and the regions - so that the reform succeeds, while not neglecting any sector. This will involve a permanent link with business offices, created in each vocational high school, to develop exchanges between teachers and the business world. Some branches have already designated their correspondents, aware that it is only by creating links and precisely identifying needs that we will achieve this.