Print version Recommend this page Vocational training for human services
22/ 2004
Bonn, 24.06.2004
Vocational training for human services
- BIBB provides data, facts, analyses and suggestions for a pragmatic approach to reform -
Occupational human services in Germany are faced with serious problems: The "care for the elderly" category currently reports a shortage of 20,000 skilled workers. Forecasts for the entire nursing care field predict personnel shortages of up to two million skilled workers within the next ten years. It is presently not possible to say whether Germany's vocational training system will be able to deal with this shortage of manpower - not just in nursing care but in the entire human services field as well.01The reason: A lack of reliable planning and information bases - prerequisites for systematic education planning.
In response to this situation, Germany's Federal Institute for Vocational Training ("BIBB") recently issued the German-language publication Die pragmatische Utopie. Qualifikationserwerb und Qualifikationsverwertung in Humandienstleistungen ("The pragmatic utopia. Acquisition and use of skills in human services") which:
- Examines existing initial and continuing training paths and current lines of thought and decisions in the human services area,
- Compares them with fundamental analyses of legal, administrative, institutional, economic and educational aspects,
- Offers suggestions for ways to organize vocational training for human services occupations and
- Centres the entire discussion on the key issue of the quality of vocational training in this group of skilled occupations.
The aim of these analyses and suggestions is to push forward a realistic overhaul of the occupational profiles for human services occupations, by applying recognized and valid vocational training standards that assure quality. The objective is to take a pragmatic approach to this reform and, in doing so, "normalize" the initial and continuing vocational training offered in this area to date. In other words, initiate the legal and organizational integration of vocational training for human services occupations into the vocational training system which falls under the public sector's purview - be it vocational school training or "dual" vocational training which combines vocational school instruction with practical work experience.
The publication Die pragmatische Utopie. Qualifikationserwerb und Qualifikationsverwertung in Humandienstleistungen by Barbara Meifort can be ordered for € 17.90 from W. Bertelsmann Verlag GmbH & Co. KG, Postfach 10 06 33, 33506 Bielefeld, Germany; Tel. + 49 - 521 - 9110 111, Fax: +49 - 521 - 9110 119, E-mail: service@wbv.de
