The research objective is the "Analysis of work-based learning experiences of students from vocational and technical programs offered as alternance training or cooperative education with a view to improving the quality of the students' work-based education." This objective entails: 1) analyzing the work-based learning experiences of students enrolled in a program including alternance training or cooperative education internships; 2) examining, in conjunction with the mentors, ways to enrich these students' work-based education; 3) studying, in conjunction with the instructors, ways to flesh out these students' work-based education in relation to the curriculum requirements and the limits of business education partnerships; 4) looking into how to improve the quality of work-based education integrated into vocational and technical education. Our theoretical framework derives from research directed towards enriching work-based vocational and technical education in the United States (Rojewski, 2002), in Australia (Billett, 2001), and in Europe (Guile and Griffiths, 2001). It also tables on our analysis of students' internship outcome, broken down as follows: 1) establishment of connections between learning done at school and that acquired at work; 2) preparation for the job market; 3) occupational socialization; 4) mastering occupational techniques; 5) student's personal development; 6) validation of career orientation (Hardy, Ménard & Dolbec, forthcoming). This theoretical analysis draws upon the socio-cultural tradition within contemporary learning theory developed by, among others, Lave (1990; 1993), Lave and Wenger (1991), and Guile and Young (1999). The learning environment and the community of practice-i.e., the workplace-strongly influence the process of acquiring knowledge and skills. Our analysis will principally make use of the research of Guile and Griffiths (2001) characterized by their "Typology of Work Experience" and the research of Billett (1994; 1996a; 1996b; 2001; 2002) on workplace learning. We will also make use of Evans' (2002) analysis of tacit skill and knowledge in order to refine the study of students' learning as part of considering the development of their occupational and learning biographies, as well as the research of Fuller and Unwin (2002), especially their "Models of workplace learning and pedagogy" in order to identify the teaching strategies deployed at the workplace in relation to the development of students' knowledge and skills. The methodology focuses on identifying the learning as such acquired by the students in the workplace with a view to studying the change in the complexity of the tasks performed in the workplace by the students between the beginning and the end of their studies. Four vocational (n=2) and technical (n=2) programs in the computer and industrial mechanical production sector will be the subjects of case studies. Agreements have been reached with two vocational schools, two technical colleges, and representatives of employers and unions in the chosen industrial sectors. Data will be collected through semi-structured interviews with students, teaching staff who prepare or supervise internships, and individuals from the company that host and monitor the interns. As the students are entitled to four distinct months of work-based experience during their studies, each one will be met four times-that is at the end of each internship. These interviews will be structured around "critical incidents" (Billett, 1994; 2000), half of which are judged by the student to be positive and the other half, negative. The goal is to detect the technical and socio-professional problems more or less resolved by the student in the workplace and their use of their own academic knowledge and range of experiences, as well as the company's human and technical resources, in dealing with these problems. After meeting with the student, the mentors will be questioned on various aspects of the internship (activities, monitoring, learning), on the collaboration with the school, on the limits of the monitoring work, and the improvements to be made. The interviews with the teaching staff will also touch on various aspects of the internship, their strategies for assisting the student at school and in the workplace, the difficulties connected with this work, and the changes to be made. The results of these analysis will appear in the form of case studies of each program, followed by inter-case analysis of the programs by industrial sector and by type of educational institution, and then a comparison of all four programs. Discussions with the schools and companies that are our partners, during and at the end of the research, should bring out the potential that our results hold for the practitioners who use them. References : Billett, S. (1994). Situated learning - A workplace experience. Australian Journal of Adult and Community Education, 34(2), 112-130. Billett, S. (1996a). The role of vocational educators in developing workplace curriculum. Australian Vocational Education Review, 3(1), 29-35. Billett, S. (1996b). Towards a model of workplace learning: The learning curriculum. Studies in Continuing Education, 18(1), 43-58. Billett, S. (2000). Guided learning at work. Journal of Workplace Learning, 12(7), 272-285. Billett, S. (2001). Learning in the workplace. Strategies for effective practice. Crows Nest (Australia): Allen & Unwin. Billett, S. (2002). Critiquing workplace learning discourses: Participation and continuity at work. Studies in the Education of Adults, 43(1), 56-67. Evans, K. (2002). The challenges of "making learning visible": problems and issues in recognizing tacit skills and key competences. K. Evans, P. Hodkinson, & L. Unwin (Eds), Working to learn: Transforming learning in the workplace (pp.79-94). London: Kogan Page. Fuller, A., & Unwin, L. (2002). Developing pedagogies for the contemporary workplace. K. Evans, P. Hodkinson, & L. Unwin (Eds), Working to learn: Transforming learning in the workplace (pp.95-111). London: Kogan Page. Guile, D., & Griffiths, T. ( 2001). Learning through work experience. Journal of Education and Work, 14(1), 113- 131. Guile, D., & Young, M. (1999). Beyond the institution of apprenticeship: Towards a social theory of learning as the production of knowledge. P. Ainley, & H. Rainbird (Eds), Apprenticeship. Towards a new paradigm of learning (pp. 111-128). London: Kogan Page. Hardy, M. L. Ménard & A. Dolbec. (forthcoming). Alternance travail-études : les résultats des stages pour les élèves. [Alternance Training: Outcome of Students' Internship] Revue canadienne de l'éducation. Lave, J. (1990). The culture of acquisition and the practice of understanding. J. W. Stigler, R. A. Shweder, & G. Herdt (Eds), Cultural psychology (pp. 259-286). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Lave, J. (1993). The practice of learning. S. Chaiklin, & J. Lave (Eds), Understanding practice: Perspectives on activity and context (pp. 3-32). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Lave, J., & Wenger, E. (1991). Situated learning: Legitimate peripheral participation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Rojewski, J. W. (2002). Preparing the workforce of tomorrow : A conceptual framework for career and technical education. Columbus, Ohio: National Dissemination Center for Career and Technical Education, The Ohio State University.