In Quebec, in the mid-1970s, there was a loss of interest among students in Vocational Training (VT), or training in the trades, coupled with strong criticism regarding its quality from both the economic community and educational stakeholders. The Quebec Ministry of Education undertook a process of upgrading VT in the mid-1980s, but it does not seem to have stemmed this disinterest. The starting point of the article is to address this issue of recruitment and access to VT in order to understand access to its programs by studying the educational pathways of those who enrol in them. The different pathways that lead students to VT are analysed as well as the impact of different educational and social factors on the probability of access to VT.