The aim of this article is to situate the teaching body of the "écoles d'arts et métiers" in their historical context in nineteenth-century France, and to discuss the history of the specificity of teaching in technical schools. The success of this form of vocational education is commonly ascribed to the prominence it gave to manual work. This explanation, however, fails to acknowledge the role played by the general education teachers and workshop foremen and deputy-foremen. An analysis of the information contained in a wide number of archival documents is of interest for three main reasons. First, it dispels the myth of vocational training based exclusively on a 'hands-on' approach to tools and machinery. Second, the documents can be used to reconstruct the career paths of college teachers. Finally, such an analysis rehabilitates the activities of this provincial teaching body, whose pedagogy, scientific production and work to promote a technical education played an important role in the development of basic vocational training in France.