DRAJES accreditation to deliver a BPJEPS, DEJEPS or DESJEPS: the procedure to know

A sports coach who wants to open a training center to prepare learners for a BPJEPS, a DEJEPS or a DESJEPS quickly discovers that an activity declaration and Qualiopi certification are not enough. These diplomas fall under the French sports code, not just the labor code: they require their own accreditation, issued region by region and diploma by diploma by the DRAJES (regional academic delegation for youth, engagement and sport). Many project owners lose several months discovering this requirement only after they have already obtained their activity declaration number (NDA) and their Qualiopi certificate. Here is the procedure to plan for.

Why an accreditation on top of Qualiopi

Professional diplomas in sport and youth work — CPJEPS, BPJEPS, DEJEPS, DESJEPS — are state diplomas issued under the authority of the ministry in charge of sport. Unlike a standard professional title, preparing learners for them is not open to any Qualiopi-certified organization: the sports code requires a prior review, specific to each diploma track, of the organization’s ability to run training that matches the professional standard. Qualiopi certification remains essential for access to pooled funding (CPF, OPCOs, apprenticeship), but it does not replace this sector-specific accreditation: the two processes are cumulative, not alternative, just as with other regulated diplomas and approvals covered in our professional certifications hub.

Who issues the accreditation, and on what legal basis

The accreditation is issued, on behalf of the regional academic rector, by the DRAJES — the regional academic delegation for youth, engagement and sport — under articles R. 212-10-8 to R. 212-10-16 of the French sports code. It is reviewed at the level of the academic region where the training takes place: an organization that wants to run sessions in two different academic regions must file a separate application in each one, even for the same diploma and the same track.

The file must meet the requirements of the specifications referred to in article R. 212-10-11 of the sports code, which assess both the organization’s general capacity to run professional training in the sector and its specific capacity to deliver the diploma track in question.

The file: general clauses and specific clauses

The specifications consist of two distinct parts, filed as two separate files:

• General clauses, filed once per training organization, regardless of how many diplomas or tracks it prepares learners for. They identify the organization and assess its overall capacity to organize and run training in the sport and youth-work sector: legal structure, permanent staffing, financial capacity, and sector experience.
• Specific clauses, filed for each diploma track and each region where the organization wants to train. They assess the organization’s capacity to deliver that particular training: how well its instructional objectives match the diploma track, the qualifications of trainers and workplace mentors, the equipment and technical resources specific to the discipline, and the system for tracking and assessing learners both in-center and on placement.

An organization must satisfy all of the general clauses and all of the specific clauses to obtain accreditation; failing a single clause can be enough to justify a refusal or a deferral.

The role of Qualiopi in the file

An organization already Qualiopi-certified for training actions, or for training actions delivered through apprenticeship, benefits from a presumption of compliance on certain clauses of the specifications — notably those covering instructional design and learner follow-up, already checked during the Qualiopi audit under the indicators on staffing and technical resources. This presumption lightens the file — it avoids demonstrating the same thing twice to two different authorities — but it never exempts the organization from responding to the clauses specific to the sport track in question: trainers’ specific qualifications and diplomas, technical facilities, and on-the-job assessment methods. For an organization preparing its first Qualiopi file alongside its accreditation request, our guide to creating a training organization sets out the order in which to run these two processes.

Duration, renewal and the calendar to plan for

The accreditation is granted for five years, a longer period than the validity period of Qualiopi certification. Renewal must be requested by the accredited organization at least six months before the end of the current period. The regional academic director then has two months to notify the decision, after checking three things: whether the commitments made in the initial application were kept, whether the file has been updated against the specifications, and the quality of the sessions already delivered, assessed from monitoring reports or inspections carried out during the period.

An organization that lets this six-month window pass risks being unable to enroll new learners while a new application is under review — a direct commercial risk for a session that has already been marketed.

What research on the professionalization of sports coaching confirms

The coexistence of several recognition frameworks — a state diploma, accreditation of the training provider, and a quality certification — is not a French peculiarity. A landmark study by Pat Duffy and co-authors, published in 2011 in the International Journal of Coaching Science (“Sport coaching as a ‘profession’: challenges and future directions”), examines the rising demands placed on sports coach certification systems worldwide and shows that the credibility of a sports training pathway depends directly on how solid and coherent these overlapping regulatory frameworks are. For a training organization, this has a very concrete consequence: a solid DRAJES accreditation file, built coherently with a Qualiopi certification, is also a selling point with candidates and funders.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Filing an accreditation request without planning for the review time, which can take several months: a session planned for the fall enrollment period should be secured the winter before.
• Neglecting the specific clauses on the assumption that Qualiopi certification or general sector experience automatically covers them.
• Forgetting to file a new specific-clauses request for a new diploma track or a new region, assuming that accreditation obtained for one diploma covers the entire JEPS field.
• Waiting until the five-year deadline to start the renewal process, when the six-month regulatory notice period is a minimum, not a target.

Take action

Running a DRAJES accreditation request and a Qualiopi process at the same time can quickly become hard to manage without a method. The Kit Certif Complet at €297 gives you the full set of templates and evidence auditors expect, reusable to support your specific clauses with the DRAJES. If you are starting from scratch, the ebook “Create your training organization in 30 days” at €67 lays out the first administrative steps in the right order, and the Kit + Ebook bundle at €347 combines both to secure the whole path, from the activity declaration through your first audit.