Bundesinstitut für Berufsbildung (BIBB)

"Education controlling" - An important issue, particularly for large enterprises

A comparative examination of BIBB surveys from the years 1997 and 2008

Controlling is very important in many enterprises. But what about controlling of enterprises' continuing vocational training? The Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB) conducted a survey on company education controlling in 2008 to follow up on the controlling survey it conducted in 1997.

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All quiet on the eastern front?

20 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, vocational training is facing enormous challenges

The situation on the training place market is presently better in Germany's eastern states than it is in the country's western states, whereby it is impossible to say at this time what effects the current financial and economic crisis will have in the future. This difference between the eastern and western sections of the country is primarily due to the massive decline in the number of school leavers and the sizable amounts of government funding made available to the eastern states.

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Areas of potential for innovation in European vocational training

BWP 6/2009 now available

Cedefop Director Aviana Bulgarelli has given an interview to the current issue of BWP in which she makes a plea for "a more relaxed approach towards innovations" in European vocational education and training. The papers included investigate the question of where vocational education and training stands with regard to achieving the Lisbon objectives and which innovative approaches requiring sustainable support have emerged at a European level.

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An improvement in the individuals chances of undergoing vocational training or a pointless holding pattern?

The importance and effectiveness of training programmes for the transition from general schooling to vocational training

The German vocational training system has seen the difficulties involved in making the transition from general schooling to vocational training increase dramatically in the last 15 years. There has been little information to date about how large the share of youths is who attend one or more such transition measures before they start vocational training that leads to full vocational qualification. How many youths use these programmes to earn a school leaving certificate or a higher-level certificate than the one they already hold? Where do these youths land after completing a transition measure? Do they start vocational training that leads to full vocational qualification and how long does it take until they start this training? The following report examines these questions using data from the Transition Study conducted by the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB).

Read more An improvement in the individuals chances of undergoing vocational training or a pointless holding pattern?

The quality of vocational training

BWP 5/2009 now available

The latest issue of the journal "Berufsbildung in Wissenschaft und Praxis - BWP" (Vocational Training in Research and Practice) revolves around a subject that is highly topical at both national and European level. In addition to initial observations regarding the implementation of the European Reference Framework for quality assurance in initial and continuing vocational training in Germany, this issue of BWP features research findings on quality assurance and development in enterprises and educational institutions, including findings from two recent BIBB studies on the quality of in-company vocational training.

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Unfilled training places - Why enterprises do not succeed in filling them

Findings from the BIBB Vocational Training Monitor survey

Respondents in company surveys generally cite a lack of the capacity to perform and insufficient educational qualifications among applicants as the primary reasons that training places remain vacant. The following analysis shows that some of the causes for unfilled training places are to be found among the firms offering them. The trainee placement process is a field of research that has not been sufficiently studied to date. This process exhibits a number of sizable deficits. They make it difficult for training place providers and training place seekers to come together. This is substantiated by the findings from the 2007 and 2008 Ausbildungsmonitor (Vocational Training Monitor) surveys conducted by the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB).

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New look for the AusbildungPlus portal

More straightforward, informative, user-friendly and accessible for people with disabilities: These words describe in a nutshell the new look of one of Germany's most popular portals for vocational training programmes for additional qualifications and for dual courses of study. At the heart of the AusbildungPlus (TrainingPlus) portal is an extensive database with more than 41,000 vocational training programmes which are being offered by enterprises in Germany and through which nearly 130,000 trainees or students can currently earn qualification. The AusbildungPlus database presently contains information regarding more than 2,300 different models for earning additional qualification and more than 700 dual courses of study.

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Many bright spots - but shadows too

The quality of dual vocational training from the trainees' point of view

Vocational schools and firms that provide in-house vocational training (training companies) have considerable freedom in how they organise and conduct 'dual' vocational training programmes. Germany's Vocational Training Act and training regulations for the respective occupations stipulate the parameters and content for the in-company part of vocational training that apply nation-wide and the states' school laws and curricula provide the foundation for the part of vocational training that is provided by vocational schools. However our knowledge about how training companies and vocational schools currently shape and organise their day-to-day training on this basis and how trainees rate the resultant quality of their training has been insufficient to date.

To learn more, the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB) surveyed some 6,000 trainees undergoing training for 15 occupations that can be learned in the "dual" vocational training system (which combines part-time vocational schooling with practical work experience).

Read more Many bright spots - but shadows too

Vocational guidance

BWP -Vocational Training in Research and Practice issue 4/2009

The articles in this issue of BWP examine the importance and function of guidance services in the context of lifelong learning. This will be done first of all with an eye to certain target groups / certain fields and secondly in light of the question "What potential can guidance services tap in order to create transparency in a very complex (continuing) training market?"

In his commentary in this issue of BWP, Professor Dr Reinhold Weiß, head of research at BIBB, draws attention to the heterogeneity of this field and argues for better linking of service offerings, improving and stabilizing structures and emphasizes the importance of systematic but differentiated training for skilled workers.

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