Print version Recommend this page Press release
36/ 2007
Bonn, 16.08.2007
"Career choice clock" ensures a timely approach to vocational education and training
"Career choice clock" ensures a timely approach to vocational education and training
Young people aspiring to initial vocational education and training are in an important orientation phase which is not, however, without its difficulties. This applies to a greater degree to young people from a migrant background who are experiencing problems at school or social problems. They are at a particular disadvantage when it comes to seeking an apprenticeship, and it is precisely such young people who require assistance and specific support in such areas as obtaining information, compiling applications documentation or preparing for selection interviews. Assistance for them and the specialist workers who look after them has now been made available in the form of a "career choice clock", which makes excellent use of check lists to enable the chronological correlation of finding information, making a decision and applying or registering to be demonstrated in the 9th and 10th classes. The "career choice clock" forms part of a new database provided by the Good Practice Center for the Support of Disadvantaged Young People in Vocational Education and Training (GPC) at the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB).
This database provides companies, educational providers and schools with information and practical help on supporting disadvantaged young people in vocational education and training. To obtain the support they need in their daily work, specialists can choose materials and products of various types relating to more 30 key topics, such as work aids, documentation, practical materials, concepts and research planning work. The thematic scope stretches from A to Z and includes everything in between.
Since the end of 2001, extensive development work to provide occupational support for disadvantaged young people has been ongoing in over 120 projects within the scope of the "Promoting Competences - Vocational Qualifications for Target Groups with Special Needs Programme" (BQF). The results of this have been incorporated into the products and materials contained within the new database, these being just under 500 in number and picking up on successful approaches and concepts in order to make them available to more broadly based practice.
The BQF Programme has a budget of around 62 million euro and has been co-funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and the European Social Fund. The GPC at BIBB acts as the central transfer body and, operating under the auspices of BIBB, coordinates the dissemination of good results into practical measures to provide support for disadvantaged young people.
Further German language information is available at www.kompetenzen-foerdern.de .
Point of contact at BIBB for further information:
- Dr. Ursula Bylinski, Tel.: 0228 / 107-2628; e-mail: bqf@bibb.de
