The development of the "school-company" concept

The development of the "school-company" concept

The remit of Fédération Nationale des Ecoles de Production ("national federation of production schools", or FNEP) is to foster and support the development of production schools in France.

These last offer occupational training with experience to young people in difficulty having dropped out of school.

FNEP represents schools with the state and works to gain the recognition of the status of production school.

Every year, nearly 110,000 young people leave school without a diploma. Numerous young people having dropped out of school need to attend hands-on training courses with a direct link to the professional world. Production schools guide young people toward lasting employment through meaningful education, helping them to obtain their state diplomas (CAP and high-school vocational degrees) by learning a trade through real-life production (at a single training venue, two-thirds in production situations for "real"customers and one-third in classroom training). The resulting sense of usefulness felt by the young people generates motivation, responsibility and business-like behavior.

The FNEP's development project focuses on three pillars:

• Increasing the number of production schools (school-business) and promoting existing schools,
• Having production schools recognized as an initial training method and creating a mechanism to help the creation of production schools as well as a certification process for these last,
• Implementing a communication and lobbying policy