Print version Recommend this page Press release
31/ 2007
Bonn, 28.06.2007
Continuing training qualifications improve opportunities for ad-vancement
At least 720,000 continuing training qualifications and certificates are awarded in Germany annually. Berlin alone has every year around 5,000 courses leading to a qualification, these involving a total of just under one million teaching hours. Continuing training is useful for obtaining school qualifications at a later date, builds on skills and competences previously gained and, in times of upheaval, assists in the acquisition of qualifications enabling a person better to adapt to new prevailing general conditions. The problem is the virtual incomprehensibility of the multiplicity of provision available. How can those involved assess the real benefits they may gain? A new publication issued by the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB) shows, however, that there are a large number of continuing training qualifications and certificates available which precisely meet the demands of the world of work and comes to the conclusion that continuing training is significantly better than its reputation.
Around 70 % of those in possession of a Chamber of Industry and Commerce Certificate report subsequent career advancement or an improvement in income. 67 % of those unemployed had found work again not later than 6 months after obtaining a state recognised qualification. The study shows that the (later) acquisition of a lower secondary school leaving certificate has long since become a minimum requirement for gaining access to the world of work. Despite the stagnating or decreasing public funding available, obtaining an upper secondary school leaving certificate/university entrance qualification via second-chance education is booming right across Germany. The very first detailed sample analysis for the State of Berlin also formed part of the investigation.
The study finds, however, that there is a lack of greater endeavours to achieve a structuring and systemisation of the continuing training qualifications market, extremely unclear to lay persons and experts alike. Too little is being done to check the uncontrolled growth of the system and create transparent and efficient training pathways. Many learners find it difficult to gauge the quality of and level of acceptance enjoyed by the numerous qualifications on offer. This means that word-of-mouth or the prestige attached to a provider all too often determine which courses learners attend and where.
In order to improve the situation, the recommendations made by the study exhort the following courses of action.
- A national system of continuing training statistics should be established to record certified continuing training provision on a regular, comprehensive and cross-provider basis.
- Modular certificate systems should be introduced which apply across all institutions nationwide and accord due consideration to European developments. Especially the European Qualifications Framework (EQF) and the European Credit System for Vocational Education and Training (ECVET) provide great potential for improving the transparency and comparability of qualifications and certificates.
- Given that very few academic research studies have been available on this theme hitherto, further empirical investigations should be funded to look into the benefits of continuing training qualification within employment biographies in a more detailed and longer term way.
Further information is available in the German language publication:
Bernd Käpplinger: Abschlüsse und Zertifikate in der Weiterbildung ("Qualifications and certificates in continuing training"), Bielefeld, 2007.
Ordering address:
W. Bertelsmann Verlag GmbH & Co. KG
Postfach 10 06 33
33506 Bielefeld
Telefon: 0521 / 9 11 01-0
Fax: 0521 / 9 11 01-79
E-Mail: service@wbv.de
Internet: http://www.wbv.de/
ISBN: 978-3-7639-1093-9
Order-No. 110-484
Price: 19,90 Euro
Point of contact at BIBB for further information:
- Dr. Bernd Käpplinger, Tel.: 0228 / 107-2601, E-Mail: kaepplinger@bibb.de
