Adult apprenticeship: what is it about?

General information

Adult apprenticeship is intended for people who are of legal age and would like to learn a trade/a profession or make a career change in their professional life.

It is intended for adults with an employment contract as well as for job seekers registered with the Employment agency (Administration pour le développement de l’emploi - ADEM).

Training programmes may lead to the following qualifications:

• CCP - Vocational Capacity Certificate (Certificat de capacité professionnelle),
• DAP - Vocational Aptitude Diploma (Diplôme d'aptitude professionnelle),
• DT - Technician's Diploma (Diplôme de technicien)

Adult apprentices are paid the social minimum wage for unskilled workers (salaire social minimum pour salarié non qualifié - SSM) by the training company. The training company may receive support for apprenticeship.

As with the initial apprenticeship, the normal duration of the adult apprenticeship is three years. Derogations may be granted under certain conditions. The duration of the apprenticeship may in no case be less than one year.

Note that courses can be taken as cross-border apprenticeships.

Conditions

Candidates for adult apprenticeships must:

• be at least 18 years old,
• have left the initial school system (or initial apprenticeship) at least twelve months ago,
• have been affiliated with the Luxembourgish Joint Social Security Centre (Centre commun de la sécurité sociale – CCSS) for at least twelve months, whether continuous or not, based on at least 16 hours per week.

Class attendance is conditional on the language skills required by the training.

Structure

The training proposed under an adult apprenticeship contract is structured as a sandwich course:

• Training at school, in a secondary school.
• Practical training to be gained through the job performed in the company with which the candidate has concluded an apprenticeship contract. The company must be entitled to train apprentices.

Applicants for the adult apprenticeship must submit their file in person to the ADEM's Vocational Guidance Service (Service d’orientation professionnelle).

The application is submitted to the Advisory Committee for a decision: the applicant will be informed of this decision by letter. If the application is successful, the adult apprentice having found a company to train with contacts the ADEM's Vocational Guidance Service in order to obtain the required documents to enter into the apprenticeship contract.

The adult apprenticeship contract must be concluded between 16 July and 1 November of the apprenticeship year.