Vocational training

Supporting the development of vocational training in third places

Third places are essentially places of training and transmission. According to France Tiers-Lieux, 60% of them offer training activities in the form of accredited professional training, peer-to-peer and hands-on learning, or more informal knowledge-transfer activities. 134,000 people benefited from training in third places in 2019.

As providers of lifelong learning opportunities, third places help to provide responses to the fragmentation of career paths and doubts about the validity of the traditional pattern: initial training, a single profession, and then retirement. Their network enables universal access to training, even in areas located far from major urban centres. Finally, by placing hands-on learning at the heart of their approach, they offer innovative educational programmes enabling apprentices and trainees to explore new paths. Through the “Training Transformation Plan” (“Plan de transformation de la formation”) included in the French Recovery Plan (“Plan France Relance”) and overseen by the High Commission for Competencies, the French Ministry of Labour, Employment and Integration will be actively supporting the development of training activities in third places, in conjunction with the Regions.

Third places can play a central role by:

  • enabling better access to training for trainees and learners, particularly through online training tools (digital resources and educational content, virtual or augmented reality modules, etc.)
  • forging closer links between stakeholders in training within third places in order to disseminate a more attractive and accessible training model that provides better responses to learners’ needs, through exchanges of best practices, introductions to tools, or innovative teaching methods
Ministère du Travail, de l'Emploi et de l'Insertion professionnelle

Key figures

€50 million invested in the development of training in partnership with the High Commission for Competencies at the French Ministry of Labour