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40/ 2012
Bonn, 26.11.2012
Germany and Spain intensify cooperation in vocational education and training
In the next year, Germany and Spain will jointly start several pilot projects in vocational education and training. The topics "qualifying vocational training personnel", "developing vocational training and examination standards" and "improving cooperation between learning venues" will be the centre of attention in the project work. This is provided for in an action plan adopted in Madrid at the constituent meeting of a German-Spanish working group on vocational education and training. The goal of the closer cooperation is to strengthen vocational competence and to improve the transitions of young people into the world of work. On behalf of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB) has taken on the management of the working group for the German side.
The "task force", which will operate for three years, will start its work in the next year with several reciprocal expert-level visits which will result in specific recommendations for developing and strengthening dual vocational education and training. Along with the German and Spanish government delegations, representatives of the lead organisations of the social partners and the chambers in each country will participate in the working group as well.
The action plan now adopted is the product of a corresponding agreement signed at a meeting in Stuttgart in July by the Federal Minister of Education and Research, Annette Schavan, and her Spanish counterpart, Ignacio Wert Ortega. This agreement names the establishment of vocational education and training as a key factor in economic and social development and the promotion of company-integrated educational opportunities following the dual model as common goals.
Currently there is a great interest in the German dual system in many European countries. This is in part due to youth unemployment, which is very high in many EU countries. In Greece and in Spain, for example, more than half of the young people under 25 years are unemployed, and according to Eurostat, the statistical office of the EU, the rate for the EU was 22.8% in September. In Germany, however, the rate is 8%.
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