BIBB's President Esser moderates German-Spanish Conference on Training in Stuttgart
"Important impetus for the Europeanisation of dual vocational training"
For young people in Spain, the chances of being offered a job after completing their formal vocational training are small: More than 50 per cent of the country's youth under the age of 25 are unemployed. Ways to support consideration that Spain's Ministry of Education is currently giving to establishing dual vocational training structures was the subject of the German-Spanish Conference on Training held in Stuttgart in mid-July. In the presence of Spain's Minister of Education José Ignacio Wert Ortega and his German colleague Annette Schavan, some 50 representatives from schools, education providers, social partners and enterprises that are already actively involved in vocational training in Spain discussed concrete ways for how 'dual' vocational training structures (the combination of part-time vocational schooling and practical work experience) could be established as widely as possible in Spain. The meeting was moderated by the president of the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB), Friedrich Hubert Esser. BIBB pledged its support in connection with the implementation of the German-Spanish declaration of intent in which the two ministries agreed on joint studies and curricula-specific materials, expert workshops, exchanges of training personnel and the use of European programmes.
Even prior to the German-Spanish Conference on Training, BIBB contributed its expertise at regional conferences organised by the autonomous Spanish regions Basque Country and Asturias. It was clear at these conferences, as at the conference in Stuttgart, that good rudimentary elements for dual, practice-oriented vocational training already exist in Spain. Particularly noteworthy in this connection is the ASET model through which, for the last 30 years, young people in Madrid and Barcelona have been able to sit final examinations that are conducted by the German Chamber of Commerce Abroad for German commercial occupations. According to the tenor of the conference in Stuttgart, it is now vital to develop systematic solutions from these individual models.
In his comments, Spain's Minister of Education Wert Ortega stressed that he would like to elevate the issue to the European level. BIBB's President Esser directly identified a number of starting points for this, citing the EU's Lifelong Learning Programme (LLP), the implementation of the European Qualifications Framework (EQF) and the testing of the European Credit Transfer System for Vocational Education and Training (ECVET). "The conference," Esser stated in his summary of the conference results, "has provided important impetus for the Europeanisation of dual vocational training."
Further information at
- Press release of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) (in German)
- BMBF website
- ASET (in German and in Spanish)
- Education for Europe 0 National Agency at BIBB (in German)
- ECVET (in German)
- ECVET project: AEROVET with relevance to Spain
