“Pedagogical transformation” of apprenticeships through a competence-based approach in the Benin crafts sector

This article examines the pedagogical transformation generated by dual apprenticeship training and its impact on the Benin crafts sector. Dual training combines vocational education at training centres with on-the-job training in workshops during the week. Graduates of this programme receive a certificate of professional qualification (Certificat de Qualification Professionnelle – CQP). For this qualitative research, the authors visited 7 training centres and 39 workshops to make direct observations. Using a life-history approach, they conducted formal and informal interviews with craftspeople and semi-structured interviews with CQP graduates, non-CQP graduates, professional association personnel, training centre staff and CQP trainers. This research was carried out in Parakou, the most important city in central and northern Benin. In total, 96 individuals were interviewed, using purposive selection to pick actors from professional associations, convenience sampling with non-CQP graduates and snowball sampling to reach other participants. The study is underpinned by social change theory, with an emphasis on the factors and agents of change. The research findings indicate that dual training has a favourable impact on skills development, competency transfer and job performance in the crafts sector. CQP graduates benefit from both theoretical knowledge and practical expertise gained during their training. Those who succeed in finding a job or even setting up their own workshop contribute to building a competence-based approach to apprenticeships and stand out in the competitive labour market. Craftspeople who are unable to stand out in the labour market face employment insecurity. The majority of the CQP graduates interviewed had developed high self-esteem and were proud of their valuable knowledge and their ability to deliver high-quality services to satisfied clients. This also affected their relationship with older generations of craftspeople in terms of contradictions in the execution of specific tasks in occupations. © 2023, UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning and Springer Nature B.V.