Launched in 2018, the reform of the National Diploma of Crafts and Design currently shows the limits of the transition from paper projection to reality, in particular on training in fine crafts. Since December, professors and students have been mobilizing to warn about the direct effects of this reform, which translates concretely into a drastic reduction in workshop hours.
Originally, the reform of arts and crafts diplomas (DMA) proposed a two-year passage (equivalent to BTS) over 3 years to become the National Diploma of Art and Design Trades. This License equivalent (by joining the European approvals for Bac +3) was intended in particular to facilitate the pursuit of studies, for example the integration of schools into foreign courses. Initiated in 2018, it has resulted in the reduction of the number of weekly hours of workshops: from 16 hours on a DMA diploma (diploma in crafts worth a BTS) to 8 hours or even 6 hours for the most restricted. Initially, 16 hours of supervised workshops were already considered by teachers as a non-negotiable minimum ceiling, knowing that “It takes ten years to form a ‘good hand’”
This reduction in hours, now observed and contested by all – in prestigious training courses such as regional schools – the Ecole Boule or ENSAAMA are not exempt – has serious consequences in the long term on the integration into the labor market. student work: current promotions are already seeing difficulties in integrating internships with less practice. This ultimately raises questions about the general level of professional know-how in France.
If initially, the reform of the arts streams opened up recruitment more widely, through the new supposed gateways, the students, who join these courses often at the end of a drastic selection, are therefore worried about the recognition of their skills, in the face of the need for skilled labor that professionals in the sectors strongly express. Because the reform also raises other questions, in this new very general course which links training in design and crafts, the risk is not to train as well future craftsmen without really training designers at the same time, in this dilution of skills. schedules and specializations. Not wishing to be “a sacrificed generation”, students across France launched a cry of alarm last December, which continues with a petition .
A forum to discuss training and the situation
The Craft Project association, founded by Pierre Salagnac and Raphaëlle Le Baud, organizes an online forum for DNMADE students for exchanges with professionals whose trade they are learning.
