In Eure, northern France, metalworking professions like machining, tooling and boiler making are crucial. The industrial region of Normandy offers good career prospects and working conditions, but metal manufacturing and related trades struggle to attract young people.

The Production School of Metallurgy offers an exciting new approach that aims to turn this around and offer young people the opportunity to train toward a well-paid, professional career. Formed in partnership with the local Union of Metallurgical Industries and Trades (UIMM) and supported by the European Social Fund (ESF), the Production School gives young people a hands-on educational introduction to the profession.

Students at the Production School learn in the school's in-house educational factory and spend two-thirds of their training time (22 hours a week) working in production for real customers. Designed to be motivating and rewarding, the approach prepares young people for a Certificate of Professional Aptitude (CAP) in just two years. According to data from production schools in recent years, 92 % of the participants obtain their CAP and 85 % of the participants go on to further training.

Maxence is 16 years old and already in his second year of a CAP Production Plant Manager course. ‘At the production school, I am training in machining, a profession that I did not know at all, but now find very interesting. I now have knowledge of turning and milling, and above all I have gained confidence and independence,’ Maxence says. ‘Today, I can make decisions on my own.’

Throughout their training, young people benefit from social support provided by the site coordinator and educational advisors. In-company internships – for two weeks in the first year and four weeks in the second – reinforce and broaden the students’ professional and interpersonal skills, which will help them to integrate into the labour market at the end of their training.