Becoming a trainer does not require a specific diploma, but requires specific expertise in your field. After having accumulated a long professional experience, a large number of trainers have chosen this path. Therefore, training is a means of transferring knowledge and skills through retraining or diversification of people’s activities. Certifying your training organization is an essential step in achieving the success of the center.
The French market for training organizations
Becoming a professional trainer cannot be improvised. In France, adult training falls within a well-defined regulatory framework. Even though many people enter this field, it is still important to pay attention to several points to know exactly how to become a successful training organization.
Vocational training in France is a very competitive market. According to the latest data from the Vocational Training Federation, in 2016 the state registered more than 66,000 trainers (natural or legal persons). The market is concentrated on a small number of participants: 3,000 companies have registered 70% of trainers.
Importance of a training plan for a training organization
Investment in training is extremely important for companies and employees, so the economic resources allocated to it should no longer be considered as an expense, because training translates into human capital, increased productivity employees and increasingly high performance for the company.
Any good training plan must always have the commitment and support of management, be realistic and be designed to meet real training needs, in addition to being evaluable, to assess its functionality. It must also adapt to new technologies, a good training plan which guarantees the certification of the training organization covers all points (choosing the right e-learning platform, choosing the right targets, etc.)
The ultimate objective of a training plan will be its contribution to strategic plans, but the additional benefits it will bring are also numerous, since it will allow us to make the most of the potential of workers, updating their knowledge , skills and abilities, which they can then make available to employees of other employees, thus allowing the entire company to benefit from the training provided. All this makes the certification process easier.
A strategically organized training plan will also help streamline workflows, because by participating from different departments and organizational levels, it will help detect operational dysfunctions, while promoting a better working environment. In this way, we will also be able to improve the group feeling and personal motivation of workers, which in turn will result in an improvement in their attitude and job performance.
Because we must not forget that training and motivation are key elements of the performance of any worker and their productivity, and therefore, an effective commercial tool.
Certify your training organization
The emergence of new quality requirements, in particular the facts confirmed by the publication of the “Quality Decree” and its qualification standards for personnel responsible for training, has in fact led to the professionalization of adult training and the need to certification, including the Qualiopi certification.
Qualiopi certification is a mandatory process. All training organizations must implement it. First, Qualiopi certification is essential to benefit from common professional training funds. Secondly, it is about meeting the quality requirements of training organizations.
What is QUALIOPI certification?
Qualiopi was “born” on November 7, 2019. It is the logo and registered trademark of the national standard. More precisely, the QUALIOPI certification is the paper that you frame and place on the fireplace.
This is proof of your compliance with national quality standards. The certifier sent the verifier to your house, thought everything was fine, and issued you a “certificate”.
Certifying your training organization with Qualiopi is divided into two stages. The first step: Implement (or update) the quality method in the training organization. The second step: prepare for the face-to-face certification audit. The longest is the first step.
QUALIOPI certification is issued during the on-site audit. The certificate is valid for three years. In the area of certification, there is a certification monitoring process. It is based on a follow-up examination. This will take approximately 18 months. Indeed, the order from the Ministry of Labor provides for follow-up audits between the 14th and 22nd months after initial certification. Or renewal.
Who is affected by QUALIOPI certification?
Qualiopi certification applies to any organization that offers actions that can improve personal skills.
Certifying your training organization is for “structure”. Even if you are alone, pay attention to your body. Certification will be issued to the structure, which is “SIRET”. Certifying your training center serves to know if the structure is sufficiently capable of organizing high quality services in the design, organization, promotion and analysis of satisfaction feedback, in order to determine if it is capable of make improvements.
Which means that certifying your training organization does not seek to classify training centers and look for good or bad ones. It is simply for the quality of the services offered and the rendering of the training offered.
What is the use of QUALIOPI certification?
Qualiopi certification attests to the quality of the processes implemented by the training providers provided by your organization. Beginning in January 2022, certification will be mandatory and is essential for fundingable continuing education activities.
However, obtaining Qualiopi certification is a lengthy process, so it is recommended that you start preparing as early as possible. To be certified, you must learn the Quality Reference System (QRS) and verify that your organization meets all standards. The certifier will then have to review your entire training organization and ensure that your structure meets the quality standards and meets all quality standards.
The usefulness of the Qualiopi certification differs depending on the different objectives of the interlocutor. Certifying your training organization has several objectives:
It is essential, to want to certify your training organization, to keep these two objectives in mind, which you ensure to preserve and work to achieve them:
The 7 quality criteria
Understanding quality methods and continuous improvement helps to certify your training organization quickly. Participating in the certification process means first of all integrating the logic of professional activities for continuous improvement in customer satisfaction.
Continuous improvement means learning from mistakes or small problems encountered, telling ourselves that we will always do better tomorrow, and looking for reasons to find solutions to avoid such reasons.
Satisfaction aims to satisfy trainees, customers/influencers and your trainers, partners, etc. Before committing, you must also understand the concept of quality, which is proof of it.
Use meaningful metrics to organize yourself… Once you have integrated this logic, the rest of the process would be easy to manage.
Seven Qualiopi certification criteria can be found in the appendix to the Decree No. 2019-565 of June 6, 2019, which deals with national benchmarks for the quality of actions promoting skills development.
- Qualiopi criterion n°1 – Submit your offer
The first criterion lists all the information to be generated to present your training content (content, program and results indicators). The training organization used all existing communication supports for a long training period: website, general conditions of sale, training plan, annual education and financial reports produced in Direccte, etc.
- Criterion #2 – Offer training to meet needs
The second standard emphasizes the fact that the training courses offered are not ready-to-use products, but modular training courses with clear objectives. Therefore, the assessment of operational skills is carried out at the beginning and end of the course.
- Criterion #3 – Support and monitor learners at each stage
The third criterion details the appearance of the daily training course. He highlighted all the materials that will be provided and all the services that will be provided to the learners.
Objective: to inform the learner, reassure them and anticipate the difficulties they may encounter. The fundamental objective is to limit the dropout rate during training.
- Criterion #4 – Offer an ecosystem conducive to learning
Based on criterion No. 4, the training organization must show the means it has invested in successful training: reception locations, teams, equipment, educational resources, etc. which require very strict documentation and project organization.
- Criterion n°5 – Train the entire team of the training organization
The fifth brick of Qualiopi certification calls into question the training capacity of training organizations. This is the leader. The structure of support teams and internal and external teaching teams. If necessary, the recruitment process of training organizations and their practices regarding compulsory employee training should be reviewed from this perspective.
- Criterion #6 – Invest in your professional environment
Today’s training is also a learning experience. The sixth Qualiopi criterion lists the actions that training organizations must lead by example in this area. It is about maintaining a leading position in the legal framework of professional training, the development of its professional fields, education and technological innovation.
The standard also covers the framework for training of people with disabilities and the provision and outsourcing of salaries.
- Criterion #7 – Listen to and take into account feedback, good or bad
In the 7th criterion, the basis of the quality method aimed at continuous improvement of the training organization was formally introduced. For this reason, feedback from learners, companies, external funders, etc. must be carefully organized. Complaint management is strategic and must be organized in advance before an emergency arises.