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Framework of Actions for the Lifelong Development of Competencies and Qualifications - France
Source: European Union
In March 2002, the European social partners adopted a framework of actions for the lifelong development of competences and qualifications, as a contribution to the implementation of the Lisbon strategy.
2004 was characterised above all by application of the national cross-sectoral agreement dated 5 December 2003 on employee access to lifelong learning on the basis of the law dated 4 May 2004, sectoral agreements and enhanced concertation at company level.
The year 2003 was marked by conclusion, between all representative employer and worker organisations at national and cross-industry level (MEDEF, CGPME, UPA, CFDT, CFE-CGC, CFTC, CGT-FO, CGT), of the agreement dated 20 September 2003 on worker access to lifelong vocational training. This agreement, on which negotiations started in January 2003, relates to the areas for priority action defined at European level, developing four major avenues:
In order to make the entire apparatus of negotiated agreements on vocational training easier to understand, the social partners assembled in one and the same text the negotiated provisions applicable in this area. This text gave rise to conclusion of the agreement on 5 December 2003.
The government incorporated the provisions of the 20 September 2003 agreement in a draft law introduced in a fast-track procedure. Adopted in first reading by the Assemblée nationale on 6 January 2004, it is expected that it will be definitively voted through in February 2004.
Actions taken at national level
• to identify and anticipate competence and qualification needs
Further to the national cross-sectoral agreement dated 5 December 2003 on employee access to lifelong learning, the social partners negotiated two additional provisions relating respectively to:
- work assessment interview, skills scoreboard and training passport
- validation of experience-based skills
These texts now await signature.
CFDT, in partnership with UNSA, carried out a reflection exercise on trade unions taking charge of skills development. This joint work concluded with a triple requirement: development of social dialogue, creation of new guarantees for the employee of greater recognition and greater protection in his or her professional life, and modification of trade union practices in the company.
• to recognise and validate competences and qualifications
In 2004, the social partners participated in creation, on the initiative of the state, of a Répertoire National de la Certification Professionnelle (RNCP – national repertory of vocational certificates). The purpose of this tool is to catalogue, in a single repertory, all existing certificates in order to be able to establish bridges and equivalences between them with a view to promoting employee mobility and preparing career plans. This RNCP, which covers all levels of competences, including higher, will be operational from the start of 2005.
• to inform, support and provide guidance
In order to promote dissemination of the content of the national cross-sectoral agreement, the social partners participated on several occasions in bilateral presentations of the 5 December 2003 agreement and 4 May 2004 law on lifelong learning. In addition, each of the employer and trade-union organisations developed information for its own members. In order to relay this information, the social parties decided to finance for one year, through a national bilateral coordination body, four hundred agents recruited by OPCAs to pass on information and provide guidance to companies and staff representation bodies on the new provisions.
• to mobilise resources
In application of the 5 December 2003 national cross-sectoral agreement, in 2004 companies perceptibly increased the minimum amount of their investment in training, which grew for companies employing fewer than ten employees from 0.25 to 0.40% of their total payroll costs, and for companies with ten or more employees from 1.5 to 1.6% of their total payroll costs. It should be recalled that the average training expenditure of companies with ten or more employees is currently 3.2% of their total payroll costs, with contrasting rates and developments depending on company size and area of activity. The amounts deployed by companies with more than employees for financing individual training leave increased on average from 0.17 to 0.20% of their total payroll costs.
In order to promote achievement of the objectives set out above, the 20 September 2003 agreement offers workers the right to receive training throughout their working life with a view to enhancing their skills. It makes provision for exercise of:
The social partners have developed the principle of training outside working hours in order to inject greater flexibility into the realisation of training.. They have also simplified the practical arrangements for alternance-based contracts for young people and jobseekers by creating a single contract “competence development contract”) and entrusted sectors with new responsibilities for definition of categories or types of training eligible under the contract or the competence development period. They have also made provision for establishment of observatories to forecast trades and qualifications needs in each sector, in order to stimulate preparation of work-related projects by workers and training plans implemented on the initiative of the company.
These different measures are accompanied by a larger financial investment by companies. With effect from 1 January 2004, companies employing ten persons or more will be required to make a contribution equivalent to 1.6% of their total payroll costs, as compared with 1.5% at the present time. Companies with fewer than ten employees will invest at least 0.4% of their total payroll costs with effect from 1 January 2004, and then 0.55% with effect from 1 January 2005.
The new arrangements provided for in the 20 September 2003 agreement will be implemented after the vote on the law on vocational training. Sectors will then be able to define their priorities and assign to these priorities the resources at their disposal, in order to ensure greater complementarity between the needs of companies and the need to increase the skills level of all employees.
Actions taken at sectoral level
2004 saw intense negotiations at sectoral level to allow definition of priorities, in terms of target publics and type of training, for the training plan, individual right to training, employability-enhancement contract for young people and jobseekers joining companies and period for employability enhancement designed to promote improvement of the qualifications of certain employees. In 2004, 36 such sectoral agreements covering more than 80% of employees were concluded.
• to identify and anticipate competence and qualification needs
Each sector put in place a forward-looking observatory for skills and qualifications, whose purpose is to flank companies in the sector in question when defining their training policy and employees when preparing their career-related plans.
• to recognise and validate competences and qualifications
Sectors created vocational qualification certificates which constitute one of the forms for certification of acquired skills and competences, alongside academic and vocational diplomas.
• to inform, support and provide guidance
OPCAs at sectoral level developed information for companies on the new orientations for continuing vocational training and on the priorities defined through each sectoral agreement.
Actions taken at company level
• to identify and anticipate competence and qualification needs
When staff representation bodies were consulted about the training plan for 2005, company managers for the first time applied the new provisions flowing on from the 5 December 2003 national cross-sectoral agreement. In this way, three categories of training action have been defined:
- work station adaptation actions
- training actions linked to evolution in jobs
- actions designed to develop skills
With the employee’s agreement, some categories of action can be implemented partially or totally outside working hours and, accordingly, give rise to payment by the company of a training grant, commitments by the company and recognition of the efforts made by the employee.
• to recognise and validate competences and qualifications
Many companies have facilitated their employees’ access to validation of experience- based skills, either through an individual initiative or on a collective basis.
Examples of good practice
At sectoral level, all sectoral agreements concluded in application of the 5 December 2003 national cross-sectoral agreement are examples of good practice and concertation at sectoral level. At company level, some agreements are extensions of sectoral agreements, e.g. those concluded by the AXA group or VEOLIA-Environnement.
La Poste carried out a sociological study on traditional postal skills. Among other things, this study identified new or “undervalued” aspects of these skills. The project and its main findings were the subject of presentations to trade-union organisations. The results of the work will be incorporated in assessment tools and will also serve to build career plans.
SNCF, Société Nationale de Chemins de Fer Français, is fully committed to the priorities of the framework of actions for lifelong learning. Actions taken relate notably to creation of a skills institute, internal initiatives for validation of experience- based skills, and a mechanism for vocational advice and guidance.
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