France creates CAP Ferronnerie d'art, first exam session in 2029

The Ministère de l’éducation nationale has created a new vocational diploma, the certificat d’aptitude professionnelle (CAP) “Ferronnerie d’art”, by an arrêté signed on 22 July 2026 and published in the Journal officiel de la République française n°0193 of 20 August 2026 (reference JORFTEXT000054717780, NOR MENE2617334A). The first examination session of the new diploma will take place in 2029.

The diploma trains the profession of ferronnier d’art, an artisan who works metal — mainly iron — by hot or cold deformation to produce building elements of varying size, from protective and decorative pieces to interior and exterior fittings. The holder intervenes from the design of the work through to its installation and handover.

A new diploma replacing the old “Ferronnier d’art”

The new CAP “Ferronnerie d’art” succeeds the previous CAP “Ferronnier d’art”, created by the arrêté of 7 January 2015, whose last examination session will be held in 2028. The arrêté of 22 July 2026 sets out the correspondence between the old and new examination units, so that marks already obtained can be carried over.

• The last session of the old CAP “Ferronnier d’art” ends on 31 December 2028, after which that arrêté is repealed.
• The new CAP “Ferronnerie d’art” opens its first session in 2029.
• The diploma is open to pupils under school status and to apprentices.

Training content and workplace placement

The preparation for the CAP “Ferronnerie d’art” includes a period of training in a professional environment of 12 weeks, whose arrangements, organisation and objectives are defined in annex V of the arrêté. The diploma combines mastery of the material with a sense of aesthetics, and develops knowledge of art history and styles as well as graphic and volumetric means of representing the works to be produced.

The training is structured around three professional poles, each leading to an examination unit:

• Pole 1 – Study and preparation of an artistic ironwork piece (unit U1).
• Pole 2 – Realisation of an artistic ironwork piece (unit U2).
• Pole 3 – Preparation and installation of an artistic ironwork piece (unit U3).

These are completed by the general-education blocks covering French, history-geography and moral and civic education, mathematics and physics-chemistry, and physical education and sport.

Access and examination conditions

Candidates under school or apprenticeship status sit all the examinations in the same session, unless they benefit from exemptions or are authorised to spread their examinations over several sessions. Other candidates may choose to sit all examinations in one session or to spread them, in accordance with articles D. 337-9 and D. 337-10 of the code de l’éducation.

At registration, candidates must provide a training certificate on the use of foot scaffolding, in accordance with recommendation R. 408 of the Caisse nationale d’assurance maladie (CNAM); without this certificate they will not be authorised to sit the examination. The diploma is awarded to candidates who pass the examination defined by the arrêté, in line with articles D. 337-5 to D. 337-20 of the code de l’éducation.

A new pathway for the craft trades

The creation of this CAP opens a formal pathway into the artisanat d’art for pupils and apprentices, at a time when the integration of digital tools is becoming increasingly frequent alongside traditional hand-forging techniques. The holder of the diploma reaches a level of general and professional skills allowing either direct professional insertion in level-3 jobs or pursuit of further vocational training at qualification level 4, strengthening the supply of skilled craftspeople in the building and decorative metalwork sectors.

Source: Journal officiel de la République française, n°0193 of 20 August 2026, section I (official reference: JORFTEXT000054717780, NOR MENE2617334A).