Hermann Schmidt Prize 2006
Innovative Pathways to In-company Vocational Education and Training
Six prizes awarded for outstanding achievements
Innovative Pathways to In-company Vocational Education and Training was the focus of this year's Hermann Schmidt Prize. At the award ceremony conducted at the Outlooks for Vocational Training in Germany conference held by the W. Bertelsmann Verlag in Bielefeld, the Innovative Berufsbildungs e.V. association (Association for Innovative Vocational Education and Training) singled out a total of six projects and initiatives for their outstanding contributions.
Working along the lines of a "regional transition management system" and using the cooperation between all the responsible players, each of the winners exemplarily and successfully developed and implemented "short" and innovative pathways from school to in-company vocational education and training.
About two-thirds of all school leavers, male and female, aspire to in-company vocational education and training. But too many of them at this "first threshold" fail to find a training company; the road from school to initial vocational education and training has become longer and harder. Hence a considerable proportion go through phases of orientation and promotion between leaving school and starting initial vocational education and training. At the same time, many companies are either unable to find any applicants or unable to find suitable ones to fill their training places. Either that or they do not provide training in the first place because either they are unaware of the advantages of doing their own training or because they think they are incapable of training young people with special needs without outside help.
The "Innovative Berufsbildung e. V.", or Association for Innovative Vocational Education and Training, has set itself the task of awarding an annual Hermann Schmidt Prize to draw attention to innovative approaches in vocational education and training practice, promote such approaches and recommend them as models for emulation. The prize is being awarded for the tenth time this year, and the focus is on "Innovative Pathways to In-company Vocational Education and Training". The projects and initiatives receiving recognition are those that have exemplarily and successfully developed and implemented innovative and "short" pathways from the school to in-company vocational education and training through the cooperation of all the responsible protagonists in a spirit of "regional transition management".
Out of 26 initiatives competing, the winners were:
- 1st Prize (2 000 euros):
The Benteler AG, Paderborn, for the "SchuB" ("School and Benteler") project.
The target group consists of lower secondary school students interested in technology whose chances of placement in the training market are slight. Personal and social competencies are strengthened and the students are made "fit" for training through very close links with the company, project work, a special "SchuB" class in the tenth form and direct contact with trainees. The Benteler AG offered training places to four young people. Other students obtained placement in other companies, so that about two-thirds of the participants had found a training place by the time the school year was over.
Contact: Thomas Koch, Benteler AG, Residenzstr. 1, D-33106 Paderborn, E-mail: ausbildung_pb@benteler.de - 2nd Prize (1 000 euros):
The METRO Group, Düsseldorf, for its initiative "Metro macht Schule" (Metro sets an example).
The purpose of the concept introduced by Metro Cash&Carry, Galeria Kaufhof and real in 1999 is to provide professional career choice support to young people attending schools of general education at an early stage and to reduce the number of potential training discontinuers. For that purpose, regional supermarkets and branches do intensive work with schools in the neighbourhood in more than 80 "learning partnerships" in which young people are informed of the complex training and career opportunities in commerce in preparation for choosing a career. Early in their schooling, the young people are given a deep insight into the internationally active company, which provides about 8 500 training places in more than 20 occupations in Germany.
Contact: Olaf Stieper, METRO Group, Schlüterstr. 1, D-40235 Düsseldorf, E-mail: stieper@metro.de, Internet: http://www.metro-macht-schule.de/ - 3rd Prize (500 euros):
The Vocational Training Centre (bbz) of the Chamber of Industry and Commerce (IHK) in Siegen for the "Workshop Project for Lower Secondary School Students".
The bbz offers all lower secondary school students in the Siegen-Wittgenstein district the opportunity to attend a basic metalworking course on a volunteer basis. During the summer of 2005, 51 young people accepted the offer and supplemented their tenth-year school classes with the course on weekends and during summer holidays up to the end of July 2006. In exchange, the bbz provided a sort of training place guarantee on the condition that the course was attended 90% of the time. Result: Forty male and female students were subsequently given a training place in a metalworking or electrical occupation in the region.
Contact: Klaus Gräbener, bbz der IHK Siegen, Birlenbacher Hütte 10, D-57078 Siegen, E-mail: klaus.graebener@siegen.ihk.de
Special prizes of 500 euros each went to:
- The Bildungszentrum Wolfen-Bitterfeld e. V. for its project "InBAz - Integrated Hands-on Vocational Guidance by Trainees for School Students".
The key issue of this initiative is to integrate trainees into the vocational orientation process, since they are close to the same age as the school students. The trainees function as practical vocational advisers and guidance counsellors for the schools; they learn by teaching and consolidate what they have learned. Occupations in the chemical, environmental, metalworking and electrical spheres are involved.
Contact: Renate Schiffel, Bildungszentrum Wolfen-Bitterfeld e. V., Saarstr. 6, D-06766 Wolfen, E-mail: info@bildungszentrum-wobi.de - The Glauchauer Berufsförderung e. V. for its project "MAJS - Mobile arbeitsweltbezogene Jugendsozialarbeit" (Mobile Job-related Juvenile Welfare Work).
Two years before the end of schooling, the MAJS begins its pedagogic-preventive juvenile welfare work in the school itself and can thus exert a positive influence on the way the students choose their careers. MAJS is meant to provide goal-oriented preparation for future job demands, promote personal and social competencies and stimulate autonomous behaviour.
Contact: Volker Bilz, Glauchauer Berufsförderung e. V., Bahnhofstr. 3, D-08371 Glauchau, E-mail: info@gbf-ev.de - The "Hans Bürger" regional governmental support centre in Blankenhain for its project "Practical Vocational Orientation in Special Schools".
Grade 7 to 10 students requiring special pedagogic assistance in learning and behaviour are systematically and individually prepared for later training. With the support of a multitude of regional collaborative groups, competence in choosing a career is promoted in an action-oriented manner and important job-related key qualifications and work ethics are developed.
Contact: Heike Rosenberger, staatliches regionales Förderzentrum "Hans Bürger", Christian-Speck-Str. 4, D-99444 Blankenhain, E-mail: heike_rosenberger@t-online.de
Brief descriptions of the prize-winning projects and other competing projects submitted can be found in the BWPspezial No. 11 supplement to volume 5/2006 of the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB) journal "Berufsbildung in Wissenschaft und Praxis (BWP)". The journal can be obtained for 7.90 euros from W. Bertelsmann Verlag, Fax: (+49)0521/9 11 01 19, E-mail: service@wbv.de
