📋 Tender Overview
DHandwierk: Why did you launch the 1st DAP now? Claude Meisch: The implementation of the 1st DAP responds to several converging observations. On the one hand, craft businesses have been facing a persistent shortage of qualified labor for several years, which is likely to become even more pronounced in the future with retirements and the continued evolution of professions. On the other hand, we observe that a growing number of young people obtain a secondary school diploma without immediately finding their professional path. The 1st DAP is also fully in line with the commitments made in the coalition agreement, particularly in terms of promoting professional training. Finally, it responds to clear requests from professional chambers, and in particular from the Chamber of Trades, which called for more flexible, more attractive courses and better adapted to the realities on the ground. The objective is twofold: to offer young people a new concrete perspective and to respond to the real needs of craft businesses. DHandwierk: How does the 1st DAP contribute to better guiding young people and promoting talents related to Crafts? Claude Meisch: The 1st DAP makes it possible to recognize and promote talents which are not always sufficiently highlighted in traditional school courses: manual know-how, precision of gesture, practical sense or even customer relations. For young people who already have a secondary school diploma, it opens a clear, structured and recognized professional path. Concretely, this formula allows them to go from an essentially theoretical diploma to a complete professional qualification, in just one year. It thus facilitates a positive reorientation, and contributes to changing the way we view craft professions, by presenting them as modern, demanding careers with a promising future. DHandwierk: Is the DAP obtained in one year strictly equivalent to the traditional DAP? Claude Meisch: The DAP obtained with the 1st DAP is exactly equivalent to that at the end of a DAP in the traditional course, with the same official recognition and the same value on the job market. The 1st DAP guarantees students the acquisition of the same professional skills as those developed within the framework of a traditional DAP. The difference lies in the course: candidates for the 1st DAP are exempt from general education modules, already validated by their secondary school diploma, which makes it possible to concentrate the year of training on practical and technical learning of the profession. The final integrated project (PIF) of the 1st DAP is identical to the PIF of the traditional DAP. It is subject to the same evaluation criteria and constitutes the guarantee that graduates have the level of skills required to practice their profession under the same conditions as graduates from the traditional route. DHandwierk: Do the training courses offered respond directly to the needs of companies? Claude Meisch: Yes, the choice of the first training courses offered in 1st DAP was made in close consultation with stakeholders in the field and professional chambers. The professions selected correspond to sectors where the need for qualified labor is significant and sustainable. Craft trades occupy a central place in this first phase, notably carpentry, pastry making, and even aesthetics. These are professions which require a high level of practical skills and which offer real prospects for advancement. The offer is expected to gradually expand, depending on the needs of the economy and feedback from the field. DHandwierk: How is training organized on the ground? Claude Meisch: The training takes place over a full school year, with an intensive time volume of 35 to 40 hours per week. Courses take place mainly in the specialized workshops of the National Center for Continuing Professional Training (CNFPC) in Esch-sur-Alzette and Ettelbruck, as well as in specialized establishments such as the Lycee technique agricole in Gilsdorf. Teaching is focused on practice and technique, and supplemented by internship periods, particularly during school holidays. Close collaboration between the CNFPC, high schools and companies is a key element of the system, in order to guarantee coherent training, close to the realities of the profession and the expectations of the labor market. DHandwierk: What role do craft businesses play in this model, particularly in terms of internships? Claude Meisch: Craft businesses play an essential role in the success of the 1st DAP. Internship periods allow candidates to confront the reality of the profession, acquire professional reflexes and develop their employability. We are waitingdonations from companies that they welcome these young people, supervise them and pass on their know-how to them. In return, they have the opportunity to discover profiles who are already well trained theoretically, motivated and quickly operational. The 1st DAP can thus become a real pre-recruitment tool for craft businesses. DHandwierk: What are the opportunities after obtaining a first DAP? Claude Meisch: The opportunities after a first DAP are particularly wide. The winners can directly join a craft company as qualified employees, with a solid mastery of professional gestures and technical skills specific to their profession. The specificity of the 1st DAP, however, lies in the hybrid profile that it allows to form. Thanks to their traditional, general or technical secondary school diploma, graduates already have theoretical background which they complement with very concrete professional training. This dual skill allows them to occupy, beyond purely operational positions, intermediate functions, sometimes described as middle office, at the interface between production, administration and customer relations. In craft businesses, these profiles can contribute to the preparation of quotes, planning of construction sites, tracking orders or coordinating teams, while fully understanding the realities on t
