Print version Recommend this page Press release
23/ 2004
Bonn, 30.06.2004
The times they are a-changing in commerce - Vocational training in the retail trade sector is being brought up to date!
The first of August 2004 marks the launch of revised training regulations for the occupations "salesperson" (two-year training programme for "sales assistant for retail services") and "retail trade clerk" (three-year training programme) that were extensively updated under the aegis of the Federal Institute for Vocational Training ("BIBB") in conjunction with unions and employers' representatives. These updated regulations supersede regulations which have been in force since 1968 (salesperson) and 1987 (retail trade clerk), replacing them with a training concept that is not only extremely flexible but also allows a high degree of lateral mobility. The new regulations allow companies that provide in-house vocational training to gear their training to their particular operational requirements. They also offer trainees an opportunity to pursue their interests and tailor their training through a wealth of electives they can choose and combine. And prospective salespersons who, after completing their two-year training programme, decide that they would like to obtain more training, can do so without a problem. The overall concept for both these occupations revolves around lateral mobility and makes it easy to continue receiving training up to certification as a "retail trade clerk".
In view of the enormous structural changes that the retail trade sector has seen in recent years, an overhaul of retail trade occupations - which currently report more than 100,000 trainees - has been long overdue. Rationalization and concentration processes, price competition, faltering sales and downsizing have resulted in lean operations. Given this situation, having qualified, highly customer-oriented personnel that can be deployed on a flexible basis provides an important foundation for being able to survive in the marketplace.
The extensive changes in both the structure of the training provided and in the curricula for the training programmes for the occupations "salesperson" and "retail trade clerk" reflect the new demands made of trained retail personnel. The new demands placed on retail trade clerks are reflected in the extensive changes in both the structure of the training provided and in the curricula for the training programmes for the occupations "salesperson" and "retail trade clerk".
Changes to the structure of the training provided:
- Common training concept with identical subject material during the first two years of training to improve lateral mobility between these two occupations and to enhance opportunities salespersons have to obtain more advanced training leading to certification as a retail trade clerk.
- Training based on a modular system that uses compulsory modules and two types of elective modules which can be combined, depending on the particular company's requirements and the trainee's needs and interests.
- The first two years will cover basic subject material for sales-related positions in both occupations during the course of the compulsory modules (21 months). During their third year of training, retail trade clerks complete another compulsory module and anywhere from three to seven of the elective modules offered (each lasting three months).
- Additional qualification - "Basics of entrepreneurship" - offered in the third year of training.
Changes in the curricula
- Broad knowledge of goods for all retail trade trainees.
- Application-oriented merchandise information systems, including computer-supported systems, and the use of information and communications technologies (obligatory for all regardless of the type of business).
- Accounting as a tool for controlling and monitoring rather than as a tool for documenting: cost accounting and results accounts, statistics and benchmarking rather than bookkeeping techniques.
- Interaction with customers, customer satisfaction activities, customer loyalty, conflict resolution, and other similar activities for improving customer-orientedness and customer service.
- Additional qualification: "Basics of entrepreneurship" - aimed at making trainees aware of self-employment as a career option as early as their initial training and delving into the prerequisites, risks and opportunities involved in starting up or taking over a company.
- Uniform examination concept for both occupations: The same intermediate examination at the start of the second year of training and a comparable structure for the final written and oral examinations.
Since the new training regulations are being enacted just as the current training year is about to start, a transition period will apply through February 28, 2005. This arrangement will give companies that provide in-house vocational training more time to make the change-over and allows them to take on previously unplaced trainees under the old provisions.
A new framework curriculum for formal (school-level) education was developed parallel to the new training regulations. This new curriculum was coordinated with the training regulations with regard to subject matter and timing.
Further information in German regarding the new retail trade occupations ("Neue Berufe in 2004") is available on the Internet at www.bibb.de/de/11772.htm
The article "Handel ist Wandel: Die modernisierte Einzelhandelsausbildung" by Hannelore Paulini-Schlottau will be published in the journal Berufsbildung in Wissenschaft und Praxis (Vocational Training in Theory and Practice), Volume No. 4/2004. It can be ordered for € 7.90 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
For further information regarding retail trade occupations, please contact Ms. Anita Krieger at the Federal Institute for Vocational Training, Tel. +49 228 - 107 2323, e-mail: krieger@bibb.de and Ms. Hannelore Paulini-Schlottau, Tel. +49 228 - 107 2423, e-mail: paulini@bibb.de
