BIBB vocational education and training workshop in Puebla
Diana Cáceres-Reebs, Michael Wiechert
On 8 and 9 May 2012, BIBB and the Mexican National College of Technical Professional Education (Colegio Nacional de Educación Profesional Técnica, CONALEP) staged an expert workshop focusing on the topics of "Training of VET staff" and "Legal framework of vocational education and training".
Participants in the expert workshop in Puebla
Approximately 60 participants attended the workshop. These included CONALEP's Director General Mr. Wilfrido Perea, the regional directors from the federal states of Mexico, Puebla, Guanajuato, Chiapas, Taxcala and Zacatecas, staff from the National Employers' Association COPARMEX and representatives from both the German-Mexican Chamber of Industry and Commerce and from German and Mexican companies. The Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) initiative iMOVE was also represented alongside employees from BIBB.
Francisco de Padua Flores, Director of CONALEP in the federal state of Puebla
The main purpose of the workshop was the exchange of information with regard to the legal structures and current challenges of the VET systems of the two countries. The subjects covered by the presentations given by BIBB and iMOVE included the basic legal principles underlying German vocational education and training, the training profiles of VET staff, the Ordinance on Trainer Aptitude, the training portal "foraus.de" and "train the trainers" measures undertaken by German initial and continuing training providers.
Wilfrido Perea, CONALEP's Director General
Apart from the integration of trade and industry into vocational education and training, the major challenges within the Mexican VET system are considered to be cooperation between schools and companies, flexibilisation of the school-based training system and the institutionalisation of the dual model. The main focus of the Mexican dual training model is on occupations in mechatronics, mechanics/electrics, the hotel and restaurant trade, tourism and information technology.
The considerable interest displayed by CONALEP in transferring its previous federal state experiences and successes to the national level strengthened the basis for concluding the workshop by the negotiating and stipulating a joint agenda between BIBB and the former governing further cooperation. The following measures are planned within the scope of this agenda.
- Institutionalisation of dual training in Mexico via the drawing up of a Mexican Vocational Training Act
- Establishment of an examination system based on the German model
- Exchange of experiences regarding the early recognition of training requirements
- Training for VET staff
Cooperation between BIBB and CONALEP has its foundations in a cooperation agreement signed in March 2009, which stipulates joint activities within the field of promotion and further development of vocational training.
