In modern France, economic crises have presented an opportunity for administrations to intervene directly in economic and social affairs. On these occasions, the vocational education and training system was used as a policy instrument to address the difficulties of the time, i.e. the necessity to revive the French industry during the Long Depression, the will to direct the workforce toward disadvantaged professional sectors during the crisis of 1930s, and the requirement to facilitate the professional integration of youth into the labour market during the Oil Crises of the 1970s. This paper is thus concerned with the diversion of vocational training practices for the benefit of these issues, both at legislative and regulatory levels, as well as in a local context, provided by the industrial district of Saint-Étienne.