Workplace learning has always been a core component of vocational training within the French“Compagnons” (independant guilds). Beyond this particular institution, this paper deals with the place and role of workplace learning in the French VET system since the period preceding the industrialisation phase. We use a didactic and historical approach focusing on the links, within the social debates and training practices, between the characteristics of the work activities, the knowledge required to perform these activities, and learning venues and pedagogical modes (including workplace learning) that are supposed to be the more relevant to learn this knowledge. Three periods are highlighted. Each one is characterised by different didactical conceptions and practices. During the period preceding the industrialisation phase, informal on-the-job learning was the most common way to prepare for a trade. Later at the end of nineteen century and until the seventies, the French authorities set up progressively a school-based VET system, in agreement with big employers. Finally, in the current period ‘alternance training’ (i.e. the combination of school-based teaching phases with workplace learning periods) is the new training paradigm. In the last part of the paper, some of the main didactic issues raised by this new pedagogical approach are addressed. We suggest some ways to raise these issues based on research carried out in vocational didactics. © 2023 Presses Universitaires de Rennes. All rights reserved.
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