Behind the Scenes of Designing the 2021 Certification and Training Offering

How are professional certification and training offerings developed?

Marie: The arrival of France Compétences transformed the vocational training landscape in 2018. We need to consider this new body and integrate its doctrine: thinking through activity rather than competency to ensure coherence between training and workplace implementation, which we call employable value.

Valérie: Creating an activities and competencies framework (REAC)[1] is the prerequisite for training or certification. The certification and training design teams work in synergy to achieve a coherent offering adapted to sector employees' needs. It's teamwork. On one side, the RTCs (note: Regional Certification Representatives) define activities following France Compétences' recommended methodology. Conversely, the RTFs (note: Regional Training Representatives) tackle training considerations from an academic perspective. There are numerous inter-departmental exchanges to ensure everyone fully understands the subjects.

Marie: Then, we must consider issues at both the IPERIA and sector levels and ensure coherence between certifications (qualifications, blocks) and the modular training offering. We aim to professionalize employees with limited time and availability. They must be able to use their skills development plan, which is credited with 58 hours annually, for our training and certification offerings. The question of hourly volume is crucial.

Valérie: And of course, there's all the content work. Each time, it's about questioning and completely reviewing what exists. The offering stems from evolving field needs, and we must adapt. Teams need to review the existing offering and conduct a comprehensive study of everything that was initially proposed.

More specifically, how does this teamwork operate?

Valérie: The RTCs conduct job studies and organize focus groups with employees and individual employers to assess job realities and new needs. We also consult experts and incorporate the branches' objectives into our thinking.

Marie: Meanwhile, RTFs monitor job developments that might impact training, such as research from major schools, trends, ministerial studies, etc. Then, jointly, during a seminar, RTCs and RTFs form hypotheses incorporating all these parameters. These are the beginnings of the offering, which will be refined over time. The precise determination of activities, followed by the writing of competencies with an important semantic dimension, is used to choose appropriate terms, such as "grain." The competency is broken down into know-how, knowledge, and interpersonal skills to define a verb and implementation context.

Valérie: Regarding assessment, RTCs take the lead. Given our knowledge of the jobs, we consider and determine the most suitable evaluation for each block. There are three methods across the three qualifications: professional situation simulation, digital professional situation study, and written professional situation study. These methods relate to real-life professional situations that learners will experience daily in their future work.

What professional skills are needed in training or certification design?

Marie: RTFs need two primary skills. A training design competency, meaning knowing how to think about methodology, breaks down and defines skills to ensure the person can perform consciously and that the technique is mastered. They must identify needs and translate them into training objectives, define appropriate hourly volumes and methodology, and what we call pedagogical design. But RTCs don't work in isolation. They're attentive and alert to developments. They focus on jobs and their evolution and monitor "What to learn and how to learn." What are the methods and means of acquisition, and how can they be translated? This monitoring is equally important as we must constantly adapt.

Valérie: As RTCs, we must have the necessary professional skills in training and certification design, which are complementary skills. We must also understand the evolution of jobs through field observation, monitoring, and benchmarking. We also need to wear multiple hats to adjust certification and assessment to the reality of professional situations experienced in homes, the expected level, and the reality of the training organization.
[1] The "Employment Activities Competencies Framework" (REAC) is a public regulatory document. It describes a typical job and represents professional activities and skills grouped into skills blocks for certification purposes. This document enables training organizations to develop a training program and pedagogical design to prepare candidates for a professional qualification examination.

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THE NEW TRAINING DESIGN PROCESS IN NUMBERS:
2,700 people surveyed: Including employees, individual employers, jury members, and experts on specific topics related to the jobs.
7 studies conducted: Covering jobs, soft skills, digital skills, home automation, green skills, governance, care, and more.
19 months of work: From May 2019 to November 2020, with ongoing efforts.
75% of existing offering revamped: Redesigned to better meet the needs of current and future employees and individual employers.