SEPR – Société d’Enseignement Professionnel du Rhône

Who are we?

SEPR is a VET centre that was created in 1864, more than 150 years ago. It is the first VET centre of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes area and one of the biggest in France. As a non-profit organisation, SEPR trains more than 4,500 learners each year in 6 excellence hubs: 

• arts and design: cabinetmaking, jewellery, fashion design, rare trades (upholstery, shoemaker, clockmaker…) 
• catering and catering trades: butchery, bakery, pastry, cooking, service… 
• visual communication and graphic chain: photography, graphic design, printing… 
• beauty, social and health care: hairdressing, aesthetics, dental prosthesis, pharmaceutical assistant, social workers… 
• commerce and trade: seller, florist, storeman… 
• technical and IT: automobile, electricity, electronics, topography… 

SEPR offers training from EQF level 2 to 7, within different pathways as apprenticeship/ dual system, full-time study and continuous training, with its 300 staff members, including 220 teacher-trainers of general and professional education. 

SEPR has been awarded the Erasmus+ VET charter (2021), the Erasmus+ charter for higher education (2021) and the “Good Practice” label from the Erasmus+ French National Agency (2019). SEPR cooperates with foreign VET centres for innovation and exchange of good practices (Erasmus+ KA2), related to different topics such as internationalisation, social inclusion, digital technologies and e-learning, etc. Since 2022, SEPR is the leader of MOSAIC, an EU Centre of Vocational Excellence on Arts & Crafts and their relation to Design and Industry. 

Why are we participating in the project

SEPR has a ‘Student Life Hub’ that employs 10 people. The hub works on several themes such as citizenship, support to learners and engagement. It has already implemented many actions and interventions towards all types of learners (apprentices in the dual system, students, pupils, reskilling or upskilling learners, migrants, disabled learners, etc.). However, most of them remain far from the notion of engagement, so our aim is now to increase it by allowing them to play an active role in school life, listen to and support their projects and help them achieve them. We think these experiences can help them be more active and involved in their social, professional and citizen life, so this project is important for our organization especially in terms of ‘engagement’. It also enables a more detailed examination, day by day development and more time devoted to think about the concepts of inclusion and student engagement that exist at SEPR.

Our role in the project

SEPR collaborates with more than 30 training centres and 100 companies all around the world, inside and outside Europe, e.g. Canada, China, India, Armenia,… We are welcoming learners with special needs, SEPR has a dedicated department that takes care of these students, in terms of educational approach and practical adjustments, depending on the disabilities (workstation layout, sign language for the deaf). We aim to develop social commitment, citizenship, solidarity among and for the learners: SEPR implements many projects in order to raise learners’ awareness on social issues (tolerance, struggle against any kind of discrimination, social networks risks, addiction, bullying…) and provides professional and social support for disadvantaged learners (social worker, psychologist, solidarity/food baskets). As a coordinator of this project, SEPR shares its years of experience with other partners of the project and with the local, national and international stakeholders thanks to the dissemination events and webinars about Inclusion and Student Engagement.

Our Team