Print version Recommend this page Press release
46/ 2004
Bonn, 15.12.2004
Vocational Preparation Training
The Steering Committee of the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training issues a recommendation -
At its meeting on 8 December 2004, the Steering Committee of the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB) deliberated upon the subject of "Vocational Preparation Training" and adopted the following recommendation:
"I.
Strengthening the linkages between vocational preparation training and subsequent vocational education and training is of primary importance in the effort to improve the training opportunities for disadvantaged young people. It must be done if vocational preparation training is to shed its current waiting-room image and associations with social welfare, as well as to avoid the creation of "subsidized" careers. Young people must be given the opportunity to learn skills gradually, according to their individual requirements - with the collaboration of everyone involved in vocational education and training. It is also important that young people engaged in vocational education and training gain tangible and immediate prospects of continuing to work in the learned occupation once training is finished.
Tapping into and developing all potential to achieve that is available is a key factor in bringing about positive social and economic development. Central to this is the promotion of youth who need additional support along their way into vocational education and training and an occupation due to personal or social deficiencies.
The prospect of social marginalization still threatens too many young people who are struggling with learning difficulties or social disadvantages. Many of them do not manage to enter an accredited programme of vocational education and training or fail to complete one successfully. According to census data from Mikrozensus 2003, 1.36 million young people between the ages of 20-29, or 14.9% of that age group, find themselves in this predicament. Non-German youth and young adults are the group most seriously affected: 37% of that population group have not completed any course of training.
In this context, an important step was taken when, on 1 January 2003, the decision was taken to incorporate vocational preparation training with training modules as a basic structural element into the Vocational Training Act. As a result, companies now have expanded opportunities to assess the potential of disadvantaged youth and help them get ready for in-company vocational education and training. In the course of in-company vocational preparation training using training modules, companies can acquaint disadvantaged young people with certain fundamental skills relevant to training and provide them with their first experiences within a company. This will increase the companies' chances of recruiting additional applicants for the training of qualified personnel at a time when shortages of skilled labour are being reported
Companies should make extensive use of these opportunities and chances.
II.
Schools providing vocational education should also take active advantage of the benefits of deploying training modules within the framework of in-school vocational preparation training. Schools should refer to the provisions in BBiG (§§ 50 - 52), the Vocational Training Act.
III.
The Federal Employment Agency has incorporated the deployment of training modules within its new concept for pre-vocational training [Fachkonzept für berufsvorbereitende Bildungsmaßnahmen]. The agency should urge those running programmes to actively employ this element of the vocational preparation training, in order to strengthen the transition and intensify the interconnection between vocational preparation training and the subsequent vocational education and training. 01)
IV.
All capabilities and resources should be consolidated, in the interest of the youth in question. This requires close cooperation among companies, education and training providers, and vocational schools, to ensure that disadvantaged youth have an adequate supply of preparation for training and an occupation available, and thereby to ensure their continuing occupational integration. Those participating should consult early on with the relevant bodies and the Employment Agencies.
V.
Due to their practical orientation, training modules represent an important component of vocational preparation training. Within the framework of vocational preparation training, the training modules create an opportunity to acquaint young people with certain fundamental skills relevant to training and provide them with their first working experiences. These experiences are consistent with existing training regulations and help prepare the young people to continue into in-company vocational education and training. Training modules help to clarify training requirements for a particular occupation. Oriented as they are towards actual in-company practices, they also offer a glimpse into the structures of working life, learning, and at what it's like to work under "normal conditions": i.e. they offer youth a taste of reality in the working world. Thus, the objective of the concept behind the training modules is to better integrate disadvantaged young people in vocational education and training, rather than to impart testable partial qualifications at a level below that of a vocational certification. The learning units in no sense replace vocational education and training in a recognized skilled occupation: they are limited in content and duration, developed from the actual substance of particular recognized skilled occupations, and subject to the training regulations of those occupations.
Successfully completed training modules can, when appropriate and on a case-by-case basis, serve as evidence supporting a reduction of the duration of training in subsequent vocational education and training (§ 29 Par. 2 BBiG)
VI.
The federal government has been promoting the development and deployment of training modules by supporting relevant projects. The project of the ZDH, the Zentralverband des Deutschen Handwerks (German Confederation of Skilled Crafts), in collaboration with the ZWH, Zentralstelle für die Weiterbildung im Handwerk (National Agency for Continuing Vocational Education and Training in the Skilled Crafts), has taken on a significant role 02) in this context. The BIBB has also developed sample training modules for skilled occupations that fall under the purview of the Chambers of Industry and Commerce and support for them is available 03)
The Steering Committee recommends that companies, education and training providers, and Länder that wish to deploy the training modules in the framework of vocational preparation training employ these examples to the greatest extent possible, or try to use them as a foundation for any necessary modifications or further development. The option of developing suitable new training models also exists. Designers of new modules should let themselves be guided by the structure and quality of the samples that are already available. Official certification by a competent body of a skill profile implies the establishment, with respect to substantive law, of compliance with BAVBVO (Berufsausbildungsvorbereitungs-Bescheinigungsverordnung), the ordinance governing the certification of basic occupational skills acquired during vocational preparation training. Therefore no additional confirmation of compliance is needed before such a skill profile is deployed within the purview of other competent body.
VII.
The Steering Committee draws attention to the fact that a national database has been set up at the GPC, the BIBB's Good Practice Centre for the Promotion of Disadvantaged Persons. This database contains information in a standardized format on all BAVBVO-compliant training modules that have received approval from the relevant chambers. The information in this database is fully available to the chambers, companies and education and training providers, and can be downloaded for their use. (http://www.good-practice.de/bbigbausteine).
The following sources of support have also been created by the GPC and are also available at the Internet address listed above:
- An overview of frequently asked questions complete with the relevant answers about development and employment of training modules in accordance with the Vocational Training Act;
- A checklist for certification of skill profiles.
This checklist was compiled in collaboration with the ZDH and the ZWH and is designed to provide useful tips to competent bodies on points to bear in mind in the process of certifying skill profiles in vocational preparation training.
VIII.
Support for in-company vocational preparation training of youth with learning difficulties or social disadvantages is also available for introductory training under the special EQJ Programme for the introductory training of youth, in effect for a three year term as of 1 Oct. 2004. Within this programme, subject to certain conditions, private-sector employers can apply to their local Employment Agency for a federal grant that will provide up to €192 per month to help pay persons in introductory training, as well as cover a €102 monthly contribution to the statutory insurance funds 04).
The Third Act on Modern Services in the Labour Market, which came into force on 01 January 2004, brought about legislative changes (§ 421m SGB III) that enable the Federal Employment Agency to support employers by taking over the costs associated with socio-educational flanking support necessary during vocational preparation training as defined in BBiG. Relevant applications can be submitted at the local Employment Agencies.
