Second Chance School
The “Second Chance School” project was designed and proposed in 1995 by the European Commission. Officially opened at the end of 1997, Marseille’s Second Chance School (E2C) was the first school of this type to be set up in Europe. Since its creation, more than twenty comparable structures have been created in other European countries.
In France, where every year nearly 150,000 young people leave the traditional system without a diploma or qualification, the Marseilles E2C actively participated in the creation of the network of French schools (the E2C-France network) that currently consists of 15 schools.
The Marseille School has been supported, since its creation, by all the local authorities: the Conseil Régional PACA, Conseil Général 13, Communauté de Communes Marseille Provence Métropole, Ville de Marseille and the Marseille Provence Chamber of Commerce and Industry. It has been supported by the European Union through the F.S.E. since 1998 and by the State since 2006.
The objective of the Marseille Second Chance School is to ensure professional and social integration, through education and training, for young adults aged 18 to 25 years, who have been out of the school system for at least a year, and who do not have a diploma or qualification.
Since its creation, the School has received more than 2,500 young people: the Second Chance School “trainees”. In the work/study programme offered by the School, each trainee benefits from personal support on a professional, educational and social level.
Partnerships with businesses are an essential part of the way that the Marseille Second Chance School operates. A “Business Centre” has been created, consisting of about ten people, that can be defined as a “commercial board”, constantly in contact with the twin realities of the corporate world and the School’s trainees.
At the end of 2006, nearly 1,700 businesses or groups of businesses were partners with the School and more than 650 partnerships are “activated” each year. The majority of these businesses are located in the Marseille metropolitan area; all sectors and all sizes of business are represented along with more than 100 different professions.