The huge fresco in ten paintings which overlooks the central patio of the Henri Senez high school in Hénin-Beaumont, in Pas-de-Calais, immediately attracts the attention of outside visitors: the work, signed by one of the precursors of street art Frenchman, Ladislas Kijno, tells the story of industrial life in the mining area. The discovery of coal, the hard work of the mining workers, the arrival of electricity…under the worried gaze of an underground miner. On this Friday in April, the approximately 1,600 students and apprentices who pass each other in the large hall of the establishment during the lunch break pay little attention to it. In the surrounding corridors are displayed several large portraits of these high school students enrolled in the various sectors, in particular car maintenance, trades, hotels and restaurants or sports trades. “These panels are modular, we renew them regularly. The idea is to give back a certain pride to all these kids and to promote their careers”, explains the headmaster Marc Telliez.
Increase their chances of integration by adapting training to the opportunities available to them: the stakes are high in this area in economic difficulty, ranked in the bottom five of the 304 employment areas of metropolitan France. The image of Hénin-Beaumont, whose mayor is called Steve Briois, is also associated with the conquests of the National Rally. What is stopping some potential employers? “The exterior tends to refer us systematically to the political color of the city, but that has no impact on the view that local entrepreneurs have of our establishment”, assures the principal for whom the school-business relationship “is part of the school’s DNA”.
This is also the guideline of the vocational high school reform project which must be presented by Emmanuel Macron during a trip to Charente-Maritime, this Thursday, May 4. During the presidential campaign, candidate Macron announced that he wanted to increase internships in companies by 50%. What arouse the mistrust of some teachers’ unions who see it “an attempt to control the employers on the high schools pros”. Last March, Carole Grandjean, Minister Delegate for Education and Vocational Training, recognized a “lack of consensus on the subject”. However, “the philosophy remains”, she then confided to L’Express.
Marc Telliez, precisely, has been trying for years to knock on all doors in order to forge links with the economic world. “I discovered the importance of networks late in life”, confides the one who had the click ten years ago, when he tried to bring companies for half a day in his high school. “I had sent a letter to a thousand of them… only four came”, says the principal who then decided to set up a local club, bringing together both business leaders and principals to strengthen ties and facilitate exchanges. First centered on the basin of Lens, it was extended to those of Béthune and Arras and took the name of “Comité Grand Artois”. “Result, when one of us needs an intern or a teacher wants to fit in a student, we just have to activate our laptops”, enthuses Michel Richard, ex-boss of the local Medef, at the head of the service company Agilis. The site of the Grand Artois committee lists the different internship periods set by the 36 vocational high schools in the area, detailed by sector. “This allows us, companies, to know who is available and on what date. Again, a huge time saver!”, continues Michel Richard, who welcomes this device “unique in France”.
Complicated for these young people aged 15 to 18 to apply alone to SMEs or large local boxes. This is why the Henri Senez high school has two referent teachers per student, whose mission is to help them find their internships and to follow them throughout. “Last year, 10% of our high school students found themselves without a company on the day of departure. Today, the failure rate has fallen to 3% and our ambition is of course to reduce it to zero”, explains Marc Telliez, which regularly organizes job dating, events that allow employers to conduct quick interviews and select their future recruits. If certain sectors in tension, such as trade, easily open their doors to high school students, others are less inclined to welcome them. The youngest, registered in particular in the boilermaking sector, do not yet master the necessary technical gestures. “Catering has the advantage of recruiting more easily, but the legislation does not allow minors to work after 10 p.m. or on Sundays. Which is quite understandable, but can be a deterrent for employers”, continues Marc Telliez, who has extended its partnership search scope to other European countries.
“Instill in students the codes of the company”
Thanks to the Erasmus + programme, 10% of the internships carried out by these professional high school students from Hénin-Beaumont now take place abroad. In a high school where the IPS – social position index, which measures the socio-economic and cultural conditions of families – is well below the national average, this perspective opens up new horizons. Lucie, born to a driver father and a stay-at-home mother, says she discovered Italy on this occasion. “It was the first time I flew and it taught me to fend for myself for three weeks,” praises the first-grade student, enrolled in the hotel and catering section. The Lille rectorate has also innovated by appointing a staff responsible for school-business relations in each vocational high school. Maryse Denoyelle has been carrying out this mission for three years. “We are committed to instilling in students the codes of the company, which most do not master at all when they arrive”, explains this professor of economics and management. Here jogging and caps are prohibited, and students must come in professional attire on certain days. “We, in the hotel and catering industry, it’s all the time. I find it a bit hard,” laments Lucie, dressed in a white shirt, black jacket and pants.
The young girl with blond curls in a ponytail has bad memories of her first internship in a restaurant, when she was in second year: “I was given tasks that the others didn’t want to do, such as peeling. I I didn’t learn much.” Marc Telliez acknowledges that some employers still tend to treat trainees as “cannon fodder”. “If they want to attract young people, especially in sectors in tension, it’s up to them to make an effort by welcoming them as they should,” he insists. Another challenge of the reform: to allow these high school students to continue their studies after the baccalaureate. Because, today, only 10% of those who wish to do so succeed. Vocational high schools are still partly perceived as a back door, reserved for a public with great academic difficulties. “From third grade, I set myself the goal of working in the human resources sector. My idea was to enroll in management-administration but I had to fight with one of my teachers who found it a shame that I leave general education”, says Margaux, 16 years old.
“Fortunately, on the Lille academy, the lines are moving a little”, assures Marc Telliez who organizes a bus pick-up service to allow college students in the area to come and visit his high school. The opportunity for them to go around the huge car garage, the kitchens worthy of a quality establishment or even the boiler workshop equipped with the latest machines. What, perhaps, to arouse vocations. “I who have always been attracted by vehicles, mechanics, the manufacture of systems or circuits, I chose the professional path to be able to set foot very quickly in the world of work”, explains Baptiste who, after his terminal , is about to follow a BTS of Design, realization, bodywork.
Two-thirds of dropout students from professional high schools
“We welcome an audience that sometimes has trouble with traditional teaching methods. This is why I offer a maximum of concrete projects to my students”, describes Naima Ait M’Bark, professor of economics-management-sales, who has the particularity to address a mixed audience, made up of both young people with school status and apprentices. What does she think of the government’s desire to build on the current success of apprenticeships – since 2018 the number of apprentices has tripled? “The young people enrolled in our apprentice training unit (UFA) acquire the professional codes more quickly since they are in close contact with the company, they are also more mature and more quickly employable. This gives them a head start. on others,” said the teacher.
A discourse running counter to that of the vocational education unions. The latter believe that increasing the time spent in business would risk encroaching on general lessons and denounce an underlying desire “to exploit a docile and cheap workforce”. “Of course our students also need to do maths, French and master the fundamentals. However, as far as professional education is concerned, nothing will replace the time spent in the field. Take my specialized classes in reception: it is not by remaining seated on a chair that they will improve”, insists Naima Ait M’Bark.
Edifying indicator: only half of the students from vocational high schools manage to get a job. These establishments alone also account for two-thirds of dropout students in France. Hence the urgency of reviewing the system by drawing inspiration from field experiences that work. Lucie dreams of working in a starred restaurant later, “because you learn rigor there”. In the meantime, she tries her hand at the school’s educational restaurant, open to outside customers for lunch and dinner. Her parents have not yet been able to come and see her as bookings are taken by storm each month. Marc Telliez is delighted: “This is another reason for pride that we do not fail to highlight”.