Apprenticeship
Apprenticeship with a length of 3 or 4 years are the most common ones. The certificate awarded after successfully completing a 3 or 4-year apprenticeship is called "Certificat Fédérale de Capacité" (), "Eidgenössisches Fähigkeitszeugnis" (EFZ) or "Attestato federale di capacità" (AFC).
Education in Austria
It is mandatory for pupils in Austria to complete nine years of school, four years in elementary school (Volksschule) and four years in a school for lower secondary education (Hauptschule/ Neue Mittelschule) or grammar school (Gymnasium). Students who want to do an apprenticeship additionally need to go to a polytechnic institute (Polytechnische Schule) for a year. After finding an apprentice position they have to attend vocational school (Berufsschule) for three years: this can be done either in block release (5 days a week for about four months) or day release (once a week in the same stretch of time as a normal school). On the days you are at school you don't have to go to work. At the end of those three years they have to take an exam, the final apprenticeship examination (Lehrabschlussprüfung).