Print version Recommend this page Press release
14/ 2008
Bonn, 03.04.2008
Improved vocational guidance for pupils -New funding programme at BIBB
Young people who, following their secondary schooling, want to take up an occupation that requires completion of formal vocational training need one thing in particular: a realistic idea of working life and their own abilities and interests. Individualized vocational guidance that starts early - in the eighth grade as a rule - also makes it easier for firms to recruit young, qualified skilled workers on a timely basis. With immediate effect, the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB) is offering a new option for early, practice-oriented, systematic vocational guidance which supports inter-company vocational training centres or comparable vocational training facilities that make it easier for youths at general schools to make the transition from school to the 'dual' vocational training system (which combines part-time vocational schooling with practical work experience). BIBB is implementing this new programme on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research. The programme is also intended to increase pupils' interest in completing their secondary education and, in the process, boost their chances of landing a training place.
Designed to improve vocational guidance, these measures offer young people the opportunity to spend two weeks at an inter-company vocational training centre or similar training facility, gathering practical experience in three occupation-specific workshops. Under a trainer's supervision, participating youths will have the opportunity to test their abilities and disposition through practical work in three occupations - first and foremost skilled trades - of their choice. Participants receive certification upon completion of this vocational guidance. This certification is intended to provide pupils -and firms that will one day perhaps provide them an in-house training place - a decision-making aid for their choice of occupation / for determining whether to offer them a training place.
Due to their important role in the dual vocational training system along the interface between school and industry, their proximity to day-to-day vocational practice, their different areas of focus, their equipment, and the skills and experience of their instruction personnel, inter-company vocational training centres are particularly well-suited to preparing pupils for the working world through vocational guidance measures and to laying the groundwork for formal vocational training. Furthermore, inter-company vocational training centres are in operation throughout the country, making it possible to generate constructive impetus nationwide. Comparable training facilities with similar experience in the initial vocational training field could also take on these new tasks, either directly or on a collaborative basis.
The Federal Ministry of Education and Research will allocate € 15 million a year for this new programme until the year 2010. The Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training has been tasked not only with implementing the programme but also with evaluating it. BIBB's evaluation will also include an examination of the programme's impact on young people's motivation.
Further information is available on the BIBB website at www.bibb.de or the BIBB hotline +49 (0) 228 107-1031.
Point of contact for further information at BIBB:
Renate Lauterbach, e-mail: lauterbach@bibb.de
