The author of this paper examines whether qualitative assessments of the work carried out at firms by apprentices are influenced by the assessment tools used. For this purpose, he analyses the work assessment tools adopted for use on higher educational apprenticeship training schemes. Three categories of “good apprentice” at higher educational level emerge from this analysis: the efficient apprentice, the self-sufficient apprentice and the technically accomplished apprentice. From the theoretical point of view, this study challenges those approaches which take individual competences to be a natural asset rather than a social construct. From a more practical point of view, it suggests that work assessment tools should actually be regarded as modes of regulating apprenticeship training courses.