First considered at the beginning of the 20th century in response to the perceived “apprenticeship crisis” (“crise de l’apprentissage”), the development of technical education was regulated after the First World War by the Astier Law of 1919. However, this development, particularly in the form of schools and courses, required resources that the law did not provide. The creation of the apprenticeship tax in 1925 was a response to this problem and built on various projects and debate that had taken place before the war regarding the respective roles of employer representatives and the State. This tax is here put back in the international context of choices in the management of technical education in order to examine the British precedent. It reflects power struggles for control of this type of education and introduces an original French way of funding and governing it.