CléA certificate: definition, the 7 core-skills domains and who it is for

Within the landscape of French professional certifications, the CléA certificate holds a singular position: it does not validate an occupation, but the core knowledge and professional skills base (socle de connaissances et de compétences professionnelles) — what anyone needs to master in order to work, whatever the job. For millions of low-qualified adults, it is often the first certification of their working life. Here is what CléA actually certifies, how the scheme is organised, and why it also matters to training organisations.

CléA, the certification of the core skills base

CléA is the name of the certification attached to the core knowledge and professional skills base, defined in the French Labour Code following decree no. 2015-172 of 13 February 2015. The scheme was launched in 2015 by the social partners (through Copanef) and later taken over by Certif’Pro, the national joint employer–union association that is now its certifying body.

Three features set CléA apart from almost every other certification:

• Cross-industry: it depends on no professional branch and no occupation. The skills it attests are useful in any work situation.
• Joint governance: the certificate is awarded by a jury made up of employer and employee representatives, on the basis of the candidate’s assessment file — never by the training organisation itself.
• Registered in the Répertoire spécifique of France compétences, like other transversal certifications — a status whose implications we cover in our article on registration with the RNCP and the Répertoire spécifique. This registration makes CléA preparation pathways eligible for the CPF (individual training account).

The 7 domains of the core

The CléA framework covers seven domains, defined by the Labour Code:

#	Domain
1	Communication in French
2	Basic calculation rules and mathematical reasoning
3	Everyday digital information and communication techniques
4	Working in a team within a defined set of rules
5	Working autonomously and achieving an individual objective
6	The ability to keep learning throughout life
7	Basic gestures, postures and elementary health, safety and environmental rules

Two principles structure how this framework is used. First, the certificate is obtained on the full set of domains: the candidate must master all of them, but domains validated at the initial assessment do not have to be worked on again. Second, assessment is contextualised: no school-style exams, but situations rooted in the candidate’s professional reality — a deliberate choice for an audience often ill at ease with academic formats.

The journey itself follows three steps — initial assessment, training targeted at the domains not yet mastered, then final assessment and the jury. We walk through it step by step in our article on how a CléA journey unfolds.

Who is CléA for?

The core target is explicit: employees and job seekers with few or no qualifications, often without any diploma to their name. For them, CléA performs a function nothing else provides: officially attesting, at national level, mastery of the fundamentals expected in the world of work.

The scale of the need is well documented. The analysis of Insee’s “Information et vie quotidienne” survey published by Nicolas Jonas in Insee Première no. 1426 (2012) estimated that 16% of 18-65 year-olds living in metropolitan France struggled with written material, and that 7% of those schooled in France were in a situation of illiteracy. More recently, the 2023 results of the OECD’s PIAAC Survey of Adult Skills place France below the average of participating countries in both literacy and numeracy, with particularly low scores for adults without upper secondary education.

CléA also speaks to employers in sectors with a high share of low-qualified staff — cleaning, logistics, food processing, personal care, construction: the certificate gives them a national framework to objectify and develop their teams’ basic skills, alongside job-specific training.

Finally, the scheme directly concerns training and assessment organisations: only providers authorised by Certif’Pro, or by the networks it has mandated, may run the core-skills assessments and training.

What CléA is not

Three recurring confusions are worth clearing up:

• CléA is not a generic refresher course. It is a certifying, individualised pathway, built on a national framework and decided by a joint jury — not an off-the-shelf “French and maths” course.
• CléA does not certify organisations. It certifies people. The provider, for its part, must be authorised by Certif’Pro to take part, and Qualiopi-certified whenever pathways are funded through the CPF or pooled funds.
• CléA is not CléA numérique. The latter is a separate certificate covering basic digital skills only, with its own framework.

Why this certificate matters to a training organisation

For a provider, positioning on CléA means addressing a massive audience that mainstream training provision persistently under-serves, through a national, well-tooled and fundable scheme. It is also a demanding positioning: basic-skills pedagogy, genuine individualisation of pathways, documentary quality of the files sent to the jury. The Certif’Pro authorisation has to be applied for, prepared and earned — we devote a dedicated article to it.

One more structural argument: the certificate is frequently a first step. A CléA holder can move on to CléA numérique, a qualifying programme or validation of prior experience (VAE). Providers that prepare that next step from the final assessment onwards do their audience a real service — and open up a natural stream of follow-on activity.

Take action

Considering positioning your organisation on the core skills base? Start with the full scheme sheet on our CléA certificate page — status, procedures, and how it fits with Qualiopi. The Kit Certif Complet (€297, 14-day guarantee) also provides the evidence templates you need to prepare your quality certification with confidence — the mandatory gateway to funded pathways.