Choosing your training centre in 2026: the 6 official indicators to check before you sign

Two training centres offer you the same qualification, the same schedule, the same promise of employability. One places 8 graduates out of 10 in a job within six months; the other, 4 out of 10. Nothing in the brochures will tell you which is which — but French law requires every apprentice training centre (CFA) to publish its results, and those figures are free and open to everyone, a few clicks away.

Before you sign up for the new term, spend twenty minutes reading the right indicators. It is probably the best return on time in your whole work-study search. Here is the method, with SuperAlternant.

What the law requires of your future training centre

Since the "Avenir professionnel" act, article L.6111-8 of the French Labour Code requires the annual publication, for every CFA, of six result indicators — provided the cohort is large enough for the figure to be meaningful:

Indicator	What it actually tells you
Qualification pass rate	Does the programme lead you to the diploma, or merely to the end of the year?
Rate of continuation to further study	Do leavers move on to a higher level?
Drop-out rate during training	How many apprentices quit before the end?
Employment rate	How many are in work after leaving?
Added value of the institution	Does the centre do better or worse than its intake and its local area would predict?
Contract termination rate	How many signed apprenticeship contracts break down along the way?

These indicators are calculated by the ministries through the InserJeunes scheme and published on the official platform inserjeunes.education.gouv.fr. The CFA is legally required to signal that they are available — on its website, its welcome booklet, its brochures. If it does so nowhere, that is already a signal.

The benchmark figure to keep in mind

Six months after leaving training, 62% of apprentices at levels CAP to BTS are in salaried employment, according to combined data from Dares, Depp and InserJeunes.

Remember that number: it is your yardstick. A centre showing 75% employment on a comparable programme is doing distinctly better than average. A centre at 45% owes you an explanation.

The indicator almost nobody looks at: added value

It is the subtlest — and by far the most honest.

A Paris centre training students to a bachelor's level in a buoyant job market will mechanically post a good employment rate. A rural centre taking in vocational-certificate students in a high-unemployment area starts with a handicap — with no reflection whatsoever on the quality of its teaching.

Added value corrects precisely that bias. It compares the employment rate actually observed with the rate that would be expected given the apprentices' profiles, the programmes taught, and the local unemployment rate.

• Positive added value: apprentices find work better than comparable young people, on comparable programmes, in comparable areas. The institution is adding something.
• Negative added value: the centre underperforms relative to what could be expected of it, even if its raw rate looks respectable.

A raw employment rate of 70% with negative added value is worth less than 58% with clearly positive added value. The first is coasting on its environment; the second is pulling you up.

The termination rate: the real test of support

A broken contract is rarely one side's fault alone. It usually signals that the centre prepared the apprentice poorly, framed the company's expectations poorly, or left the two to fend for themselves after signing.

A high termination rate tells you three things:

1. the sourcing of partner companies is weak or approximate;
2. in-company follow-up (visits, mediation, a named contact) is thin;
3. the risk that you are the one left without an employer mid-year is not theoretical.

And if that happens, remember you have a window to find a new company without losing your place in training. But it is better not to need it.

Two non-negotiable technical checks

1. Qualiopi certification

Since 1 January 2022, Qualiopi is mandatory for any training provider or CFA seeking access to public or pooled funding. Without it, your apprenticeship contract cannot be funded by the OPCO. The certificate must be displayed, with its number and certifying body: ask to see it.

One caveat: Qualiopi certifies the process (the organisation, the procedures), not the quality of the results. It is a floor, not a guarantee. Which is exactly why the InserJeunes indicators matter.

2. Registration with the RNCP

The qualification must be registered with the RNCP, the French national register of professional certifications, searchable on the France compétences website. Check that:

• the record exists and matches exactly the title being sold to you;
• the certifying body is the one the school claims;
• the record is still active (a certification can expire);
• the level is what you think (level 5 = 2 years post-secondary, level 6 = bachelor's, level 7 = master's).

A "Mastère" that is not a master's degree and has no active RNCP record is worth, on the job market, exactly what the brochure selling it is worth.

Five questions to ask at the open day

Write the answers down. A serious school answers with figures; a vague school answers with adjectives.

1. "What was your termination rate on this programme last year?"
2. "How many of your apprentices had signed a contract by 1 September?" (does the centre genuinely help you find the company, or leave you alone?)
3. "Who is my named contact, and how many company visits are planned?"
4. "Which companies have hired your work-study students on this track?"
5. "What is the real cost to me?" — In an apprenticeship, training is free for the apprentice and funded by the OPCO. Steep "administration fees" should raise an eyebrow. If you are self-funding a non-work-study course, look instead at how to use your CPF training account.

Your action plan before the new term

1. List your 3 to 5 candidate centres among the courses listed on SuperAlternant.
2. Open InserJeunes and note, for each, the employment rate, the termination rate and the added value for the exact programme you are targeting — not for the institution as a whole.
3. Check Qualiopi and the RNCP record.
4. Cross-check against the market: is the sector hiring? Test your choice against the sectors recruiting most work-study students in 2026.
5. Start hunting for the company in parallel — everything hinges on it. Apply the complete method for finding a work-study placement, polish your CV and cover letter, prepare your interview and browse the available work-study offers.

Frequently asked questions

Where do I find my centre's indicators? On the official InserJeunes platform (inserjeunes.education.gouv.fr). The CFA must also flag their existence on its website and materials.

What if no figures are published for my programme? Indicators are only published when cohorts are large enough to be statistically reliable. An absence is therefore not necessarily a bad sign for a small class — but do then ask the school for the figures directly, in writing.

Is Qualiopi enough to guarantee quality? No. It certifies compliance with a process, not the results achieved. It is necessary, not sufficient.

Is apprenticeship training really free? Yes: the teaching cost is covered by the company's OPCO. You pay no tuition, and you are paid — see the 2026 pay scale for work-study students.

Is a professionalisation contract the same? The framework differs, but the verification logic is identical. Still hesitating on the route to take? Compare work-study and internships.

The right reflex

You are not choosing a brochure: you are choosing a qualification, a host company and a first job. The six official indicators are public, free and binding. Use them.

Once the school is picked, the next step is the company: explore the work-study offers and courses on SuperAlternant, and remember to remind your future employers that they benefit from apprenticeship hiring incentives. Once the contract is signed, deal with the rest: housing and student aid and good deals.

Sources: article L.6111-8 of the French Labour Code; the InserJeunes scheme (Dares, Depp, Ministries of Education and Labour); France compétences (RNCP); the Qualiopi national quality standard. Figures applicable in 2026.