Indicator 13 — Coordinating work-linked learning

Indicator 13 only applies to work-linked training: apprenticeship contracts of course, but also professionalisation contracts and, more broadly, any pathway alternating centre sequences and company periods. Its principle: work-linked learning is not two juxtaposed worlds but a coordinated pathway where the centre knows what happens in the company and vice versa. For CFAs it is a structural indicator, examined closely at every audit.

What the auditor actually checks on the day

The auditor looks for coordination evidence in both directions:

• Shared planning: the alternation calendar sent to the company in advance, a teaching progression articulated with the company periods, anticipation of the activities entrusted to the learner.
• Liaison tools: an apprenticeship logbook or liaison book (paper or digital), filled in by the centre, the learner and the apprenticeship master; summaries of exchanges with the company.
• Identified contacts: a designated tutor or apprenticeship master on the company side, a referent trainer on the centre side, and traces of their contacts (emails, calls, meetings).
• Company visits or interviews: at least one formalised check-in per key period of the pathway, with a summary; a traced three-way video call is acceptable.
• Pedagogical use of the alternation: situations experienced in the company feed back into training (case studies, experience sharing) and the diploma standards are split between what is acquired at the centre and in the company.

In the audit, the auditor opens real logbooks and checks that all three parties actually fill them in — a blank logbook that was distributed but never completed is the most common finding.

Achieving compliance, step by step

1. Set the alternation calendar at contracting and send it to the company with the matching teaching progression.
2. Deploy a simple liaison logbook: period objectives, activities carried out in the company, the apprenticeship master's observations, the centre's observations. Digital tools ease completion, but a well-kept paper logbook beats a deserted platform.
3. Name the referents on both sides and put their contact details in the logbook and welcome documents.
4. Schedule the coordination check-ins: at least one formalised contact per semester (visit, three-way video call, traced phone interview), more if difficulties arise.
5. Close the loop with pedagogy: plan sessions that exploit company experience, and trace the split of the standards' competencies between centre and company.

Field advice

First: coordination is proven by use, not by the tool. An auditor will prefer three call summaries with the apprenticeship master and a scribbled but living logbook over a sophisticated platform with zero company logins. Choose the tool your partner companies will actually use.

Second: pair this indicator with dropout prevention (indicator 12). Most apprenticeship contract breakdowns start with a company problem detected too late; your regular liaison check-ins are your best sensor. Systematically note weak signals in the summaries.

Third: for a training provider occasionally hosting professionalisation contracts, the indicator applies too, proportionately: a shared calendar, an identified referent and traced three-way check-ins suffice. Finally, do not forget tutor development: offering apprenticeship masters a guide or support is not formally required here, but it is a mark of excellence that secures the indicator and genuinely improves your pathways.