Abstract
Decentralising vocational training: More than just a shift in scale. Lessons drawn from the French experience
Since 1982 the French Vet system has undergone a slow process of decentralisation. A new, important step had been made this year. Increasingly, the regional authorities are involved, as a key central actor, for the coordination of the supply of VET facilities at the regional and local level. One of the hypotheses is that the closer connection of the VET system to families and pupils, and to the economic needs of France, will enhance the efficiency of the system and its adaptation to the changing environment. But the decentralisation process is not a simple translation from the national level to the regional one. It implies a rebuilding of the political guidelines for the VET regional policies. It requires that the social and economic actors are organised and ready to cooperate at the regional level. It reveals also a lack of information and data at this level. Based on various evaluations of the decentralisation, the paper will develop the questions arising from this process of decentralisation.