Print version Recommend this page Press release
48/ 2007
Bonn, 06.12.2007
More than half of all trainees learn a service occupation
Is Germany's 'dual' vocational training system with its strong focus on practical, in-company training at all suited to today's knowledge society? Is dual vocational training too strongly rooted in traditional, industrial-technical structures? And is the trend toward a service society leading to a lasting decline in the importance of in-company vocational training in Germany - as some vocational training experts have been predicting for years now? None of this is the case: According to the latest analyses conducted by the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB) on the basis of relevant statistics and representative surveys of enterprises and employees, Germany's dual vocational training system (which combines part-time schooling with practical work experience) is more modern than its reputation would indicate and has been in step with today's service and knowledge society for some time now.
Looking at current training patterns in the dual vocational training system, the focus of in-company vocational training is no longer on the manufacturing industry but is rather clearly to be found in the service sector. Approximately two thirds of all trainees undergo training in this sector. By comparison, in 1980 the private service sector accounted for only 38% of all training places, while the public sector and non-profit sector together were responsible for 11%.
"Germany's dual vocational training system has thus proven that it can very well respond to changing demands and conditions. It is more flexible, efficient and innovative than some critics would have us believe," said Manfred Kremer, president of the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training.
A clear shift in the direction of service occupations can also be observed when occupations rather than economic sectors are examined. For example, today some 57% of all training contracts are signed for occupations in the service field. As BIBB's analyses show, efforts to modernize and update the training profiles for service-sector occupations that require completion of formal vocational training ("training occupations") has particularly aided this adaptation process. These efforts have been intensified since 1996. This has made it possible to compensate at least in part for the decline in the number of in-company training places in traditional fields.
Despite the success achieved in adjusting the dual vocational training system to today's structures, there is still a shortage of training places, as the training place statistics of recent years show. "In this connection it is essential that we continue the reform process in the vocational education and training sector," noted Manfred Kremer. "If we are to bring the dual vocational training system further into line with the service society, it is crucial that we strengthen training in the particularly knowledge-oriented parts of the service sector, where primarily university graduates are to be found today."
BIBB's analyses show that there has been an increase in the number of jobs in the service sector not just for university graduates but also for persons with below-university-level intermediate vocational qualification. Today one out of every five gainfully employed persons who has completed formal in-company vocational training (some three million individuals) has a knowledge-oriented service job such as information technology specialist, medical assistant and insurance or finance management assistant. Consequently, as the BIBB studies show, the employment trend seen among specialists with intermediate-level vocational qualification or a university degree should not be reduced to the competition aspect.
According to the findings of the BIBB studies, those areas with a growing number of university graduates also generate fields of work for persons with intermediate-level qualification in their wake. Germany still has a large number of unskilled workers. However, if they were to be given the opportunity to undergo (continuing) vocational training or if the number of training places were to be increased, this group of workers would constitute a reservoir that would grow and stabilize the intermediate-level qualification field even as the number of university graduates increases parallel to this.
The BIBB analyses have been published as a compilation in:
- Günter Walden (Ed.):
Qualifikationsentwicklung im Dienstleistungsbereich. Herausforderungen für das duale System der Berufsausbildung. Bielefeld, 2007.
This BIBB publication can be ordered from:
W. Bertelsmann Verlag GmbH & Co. KG
Postfach 10 06 33 33506 Bielefeld
Tel.: +49 (0) 521 / 9 11 01-11 Fax: +49 (0) 521 / 9 11 01-19
Internet: http://www.wbv.de/ E-Mail: service@wbv.de
ISBN: 978-3-7639-1097-7 Code No. 110.486
292 pages Price: € 19,90
