European education systems, and particularly vocational education and training (VET) systems, are under increasing pressure to support national competitiveness, reduce unemployment, and adapt to digital and ecological transitions — challenges that have led the European Union to more frequently invoke the notion of “excellence” as a driver of innovation and attractiveness (Le Mouillour et al., 2021). In this context, Germany is often cited in French political discourse as an example of a successful VET system, reflecting a broader aspiration to enhance the status and perceived excellence of vocational pathways. However, it is important to acknowledge that the imperative of excellence also applies to the German system, albeit with distinct interpretations and a specific internal coherence (Granato & Moreau, 2019). Indeed, the meaning attributed to “excellence” varies significantly across national contexts.

Understanding a VET system requires taking into account the socio-historical and institutional contexts in which it has emerged and developed (Maurice, Sellier & Silvestre, 1992; Verdier, 2016). Whereas VET represents a recognized and valued component of the educational system in Germany, the concept of excellence in the French education system has historically been associated with the selection of an academic elite (Olympio et al., 2022), while vocational knowledge has been undervalued. This creates a paradoxical situation: VET continues to be socially devalued (Maillard, 2024) and primarily attended by students from disadvantaged academic and social backgrounds (Bonnard et al., 2022), while simultaneously being expected to embody or reveal talent and excellence. The adoption of the notion of excellence in French secondary vocational education is thus both complex and ambivalent (Albandea et al., 2025; Olympio et al., 2021).

In view of the current lack of empirical research on how this notion is interpreted and coherently implemented across countries, a comparative study is essential to explore its meaning within the French VET system. Drawing on an institutionalist approach grounded in the economics and sociology of conventions (EC/SC), this paper examines the nature of valued and certified skills within the French VET system and explores how the notion of “excellence” is constructed in relation to skills formation, understood as a social convention (Boltanski & Thévenot, 2006; Diaz-Bone & de Larquier, 2022; Imdorf & Leemann, 2023; David, 2023). VET systems can evolve along several possible paths (Marhuenda-Fluixá, 2022). How will the French VET system evolve under the injunction to excellence? We hypothesize that the understanding of excellence is more ambivalent in France than in Germany, and that this concept — still in need of clarification — is being operationalised through local initiatives and discourses.

This paper therefore seeks to analyse how the notion of excellence is received within national VET systems and, more specifically, how France and Germany interpret and manage this concept. The reception and understanding of excellence by different VET stakeholders are also explored.

The methodology is mixed and multi-level. First, both the French and German VET systems will be analysed through the lens of excellence. In recent years, little research has explored the characteristics of the French VET system — especially in comparison with Germany — and no study has yet established a link between current challenges and the proclaimed pursuit of excellence in recent reforms. This section will highlight the evolution of educational structures and policies over the past decades, as well as the position and status of excellence within skills formation in both countries. A systematic policy review and analysis will identify how the concept of excellence has evolved in VET policies in France and Germany, retracing its genesis and development in this field. The goal is to determine the institutional and political contexts in which this evolution occurred, to distinguish the various uses of the concept, and to examine proposals for developing and embedding excellence in VET systems — particularly through how supranational political orientations are transposed, translated, and reinterpreted at national and regional levels. Secondly, results from various empirical studies conducted in France and Germany will be mobilised to analyse how the notion of excellence is understood and defined by VET actors themselves — notably vocational students and teachers. Several national datasets, such as the Génération survey conducted by Céreq in France and surveys carried out by BIBB in Germany, will help shed light on vocational students’ relationship to work and their transition into the labour market.

This study aims to develop an analytical framework within the EC/SC approach, reviewing possible conventions within VET regimes by reflecting on forms of hybridisation and the complexity of the compromises involved. In the French context, Germany has been repeatedly cited over the past fifteen years as a benchmark of excellence in VET. Our research will demonstrate the importance of understanding the overall coherence of a VET system rather than limiting analysis to a point-by-point comparison. It will also shed light on how European excellence policies have been interpreted within these two national systems. Furthermore, the first empirical results, particularly in France, challenge certain core assumptions of excellence — such as the idea that vocational education should primarily respond to labour market needs through a direct alignment between training specializations and job types. The implications for key actors, including young people and teachers, will also be discussed.

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