Bundesinstitut für Berufsbildung (BIBB)

Training in less complex trades: a promising model?

Young, disadvantaged and without any training position: do less complex trades offer a promising model for these people?

One of the most important objectives in training and vocational training policy is to make it possible for young people to receive a qualified education. The desultory situation in the field of training at present is making it difficult especially for young people with so-called "limited resources" to find a suitable training position. It is being contemplated whether to launch less complex trades, including those with a two-year training period and staged trades in order to boost the training opportunities of these target groups. Can less complex training and shorter training period offer a promising alternative?

The number of new training contracts compared to the previous year dropped unexpectedly sharp in 2002: the number of new training agreements concluded (572,227) was 42,000 below the previous year. A clear improvement in the market for training positions probably will not materialise in training year 2003, either. The sluggish economy and a downbeat assessment of future needs for skilled labour are the main reasons for this. This trend is worrying due to the fact that vocational training offers individuals a basis with which to secure long-term employability, while making qualified skilled labour trained in the state of the art available for society. Moreover, vocational training performs an important function in the area of social integration and individual promotion.

As a result of the slump in the area of training at present, young people with so-called "limited resources" (for instance young people who have no secondary school diploma or who performed poorly in secondary school are having a hard time finding a suitable training position).

Given the fact that the ability of the labour market to absorb people without any vocational training is dwindling all the time, unskilled labour face a significantly higher risk of unemployment. Looking more closely at the specific qualifications of unemployed, it appears that a solid training still constitutes the best protection against unemployment. Almost one out of every four unskilled workers is unemployed, while this only applies to 5.7% of persons who have undergone vocational training.

From the perspective of vocational training policy, current possibilities are being discussed at present on how young people with limited resources can be integrated into the training system in a targeted manner. In addition to activities which have already been carried out, in particular including those involving preparation for vocational training, one possible approach towards the creation of new vocations having less complex requirements along the lines of "training for simple professions" is at the centre of discussion, perhaps linked with a training period of only two years.

The creation of less complex training programmes, including two-year and staged programmes in new regulation procedures, is also a focal point of the Federal Government's "Training Offensive 2003".

Training in less complex trades: a model for the future?

The topic of "training regulations with less complex requirements" and "two-year training programmes" is currently a subject of heated discussion from a wide variety of angles: training programmes in simple vocations could offer young people basic qualifications, but the question of suitable fields of employment and possibilities of finding a job after the completion of training cannot be ignored. Moreover, these training programmes lead to lower demands on performance - not to the creation of so-called "vocations for disadvantaged people".

In addition this broaches the question as to whether offering a two-year training can bring about a net increase in the number of training positions without at the same time causing a decline in the number of three to three and a half year training programmes.

Nor is there much in the way of empirical studies analysing this question at present. The last comprehensive study, carried out in 1993, concluded that there is no urgent, general need for two-year programmes. A current study from 2002 (IW survey of 633 enterprises) found, however, that 62% of the companies surveyed would welcome shorter training periods. This falls short of any conclusive assessment of employment possibilities, however. Nor is it clear whether a two-year training programme would meet with acceptance on the part of the young people involved. One important criterion for this is no doubt the expandability and ability to add modules onto such two-year training professions.

In its capacity as a consultative body for issues relating to vocational training, the Standing Committee of the Federal Institute for Vocational Training (BIBB) is currently addressing the topic of "training for simple vocations". At a meeting which took place on July 10, 2003, it issued a recommendation for the creation of new recognised trades with less complex requirements for qualified skilled labour. Training strategies with less complex requirements to serve as a basis with which to create new recognised trades for qualified skilled labour activities are welcomed in the recommendation. The Standing Committee endorsed such trades being created for the fields of industrial manufacturing, commerce, assembly and recycling, repair and maintenance, supervision and nursing care and organisation, leisure and logistics with the objective of issuing the first training regulations as early as 2004 and creating new training opportunities.

BIBB research project on two-year trades with a more limited theoretical component

BIBB is addressing issues involving acceptance of two-year trades where the theoretical part has been reduced in a current research project entitled "acceptance  of two-year company training programmes". The project seeks to generate empirical evidence on the acceptance of these vocations, to quantify the willingness of companies to train and the quantitative need for skilled labour with two years' training. This project must be seen as a contribution to moving the discussion over these trades at a more objective level.

Flexible training trajectories and vocational preparation for targeted individual promotion

The creation of new trades for the said target groups constitutes and attempt to improve the training and professional opportunities of young people in the labour market. This is one possible approach, but one must also always keep one eye focused on the far-reaching possibilities of promoting young people by flexibly structuring the existing vocational system and preparing people for a profession. Solutions using modules and partial qualifications offer the possibility to structure training in a more targeted, discriminating manner based on individual skills and qualifications. Qualification modules which convey the content of ensuing vocational training as early as during preparation for a vocation could be one important way of doing this.

At the 4th BIBB congress "Vocational Training for a Global Society - Prospects in the 21st Century", which took place in Berlin October 23-25, 2002, the Secretary General of BIBB, Professor Dr. Helmut Pütz, advocated the development of simple trades which are more oriented towards the field of practice and the use of qualification modules and partial qualifications to help trainees attain training objectives. These less complex trades would also offer young people requiring special encouragement more opportunities to obtain a vocational degree recognised by the state.

A wide variety of requirements apply to a strategy of qualification components and thus far many components have been developed in different contexts. Different definitions and ideas on the part of the participants have thus far prevented any uniform understanding of the purpose and use of qualification modules. There is accordingly a need to understand the possible functions of these components, for instance as part of a whole in the system of vocational training, especially with respect to preparation for a trade.

In order to integrate qualification modules into preparation for a trade and to turn these into a standard for measures of this sort, BIBB holds the following points for particularly salient:

• Development of qualification modules for all or at least for the most common vocational profiles in preparing for a trade
• Stipulation of qualification standards and quality criteria for qualification modules
• Inclusion of the skills acquired in preparing for a trade in a uniform training passport or certificate and
• The creation of support structures to assure the quality of documents documenting skills involving chambers, employers' associations and the trade unions.

Using qualification modules which are oriented towards trades as the fulcrum of the vocational training preparation structure which has now been adopted in the Vocational Training Act to improve the training and employability of young disadvantaged persons constitutes an important step in this direction.

Qualification modules in the vocational promotion of disadvantaged persons

Qualification modules are being used to structure the curricula of qualification processes in the vocational promotion of disadvantaged persons. These describe learning units and the certification of qualifications. The BIBB Good Practice Center is a central office for documentation, information, transfer and networking in the promotion of disadvantaged persons, offering a database on qualification modules. The aim here is to make the broad spectrum of qualification modules more transparent by use of a uniform matrix for the actors involved in the promotion of disadvantages persons. 141 qualification modules have been placed in the matrix thus far. In addition to general information, the database also relates experience gained in the implementation of these modules. An online questionnaire has been developed for those who would like to include qualification modules in the database.

Supplementary information

The promotional programme of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research

• The Federal Ministry of Education and Research has created a programme to promote the variety of initiatives to further develop the promotion of disadvantaged persons and to improve the educational and training situation of immigrants entitled "Promoting skills - vocational qualification for disadvantaged target groups". The programme is to run until December 31, 2005.
• The project offers its own online portal under the rubric of "promoting skills" at www.kompetenzen-foerdern.de

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