Print version Recommend this page Press release
34/ 2007
Bonn, 31.07.2007
Annual report documents new alignment at BIBB
What were the research and work priorities at the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training ('BIBB') last year? What results were produced? What developments are emerging for initial and continuing vocational training in Germany? BIBB's new 2006/2007 Annual Report offers answers to these questions. Streamlined and fitted out with a new content concept, the 2006/2007 Annual Report uses prominent examples to illustrate the entire breadth of the Institute's research, development and advisory activities during the year 2006. It also spotlights longer-term trends in the initial and continuing vocational training field and points out upcoming challenges. Concentrating on focal areas and offering a wealth of current data and diagrams, the new Annual Report also documents last year's far-reaching realignment of the Institute's work.
Five thematic focal areas are reflected in the results of the research and work BIBB undertook during the 2006/2007 reporting period:
- Vocational training market and the employment system
- Modernisation of and quality development in vocational education and training
- Lifelong learning, permeability and equivalence
- Vocational education and training for specific target groups
- Internationalisation of vocational education and training
The section on the Vocational Training Market and the Employment System examines the many aspects of the current vocational training situation which continues to be shaped by Germany's tight training place market. This examination includes analyses of the situation of training place applicants who could not be placed and have therefore been carried over into the next placement year, an evaluation of the impact of so-called Eastern States vocational training programmes and a study on the interface between vocational training and employment (the 'second threshold'). Establishing regional structures with the aim of creating additional training places is the aim of the JOBSTARTER programme which BIBB is conducting with increasing success on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research. And lastly, this section points out previously unused resources that the newly amended Vocational Training Act has made accessible.
The section on the Modernisation of and Quality Development in Vocational Education and Training revolves in particular around ensuring a flexible and productive vocational training system in Germany. Working together with the social partners, BIBB developed four new training occupations (occupations that require completion of formal vocational training) and updated another 17 in the 2006/2007 training year. This team also developed or updated seven 'advanced training occupations' (which require advanced training qualifications). This section also presents the work BIBB has done to further develop vocational qualifications, on competence standards in vocational training and on the effects of new examination regulations.
The Lifelong Learning section describes BIBB's collaborative activities in the sweeping national and international task of making vocational qualifications and skills more transparent. These efforts aim to establish greater permeability and equivalence within the vocational education and training system and in many areas situated between initial and continuing vocational training. The crediting of acquired skills and qualifications is a priority area here. BIBB's contributions to the planned European credit system for the vocational training field is a particularly forward-looking example of the work BIBB is doing in this area.
Initiatives and analyses in the area of vocational training for youths who have learning difficulties, are socially disadvantaged or have a disability are presented in the section Vocational Education and Training for Specific Target Groups. In the area of training for juveniles with an immigration background, good practice examples from BIBB have made a decisive contribution toward improving the integration of this target group into the vocational education and training system and the labour market. At the same time, BIBB is also addressing the task of providing high-achieving youths training programmes that are more tailored to their needs and abilities.
The section on the Internationalisation of Vocational Education and Training describes the research and development work BIBB is pursuing in connection with the European and the German qualification frameworks (EQF and GQF). A wealth of new strategic collaborative activities and international networks underscores BIBB's noticeably stronger focus on the international dimension of vocational education and training which the Institute initiated last year as part of its strategic realignment. This section also presents the National Agency 'Education for Europe' at BIBB which successfully conducts European education programmes and the iMOVE (International Marketing of Vocational Education) initiative at BIBB which has been promoting the internationalisation of German initial and continuing vocational training services for more than five years now.
The 2006/2007 Annual Report is available in German at no cost from:
Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training
Bundesinstitut für Berufsbildung (BIBB)
Arbeitsbereich 1.2 - Kommunikation
53142 Bonn
Germany
Fax: + 49 (0) 228 / 107-2967
E-mail: vertrieb@bibb.de
Order code: 09.127
ISBN 978-3-88555-803-3
The German-language 2006/2007 Annual Report can be ordered or downloaded at the BIBB homepage at www.bibb.de/pub/jahresbericht
