Vocational education and training in the 21st Century - Perspectives for a global society
Globalisation and internationalisation have discernibly reached and are determining the direction of German vocational education and training research as well as vocational education and training. The increasing international networking of ways of working and living confronts vocational education and training research and the system of vocational education with new challenges, problems and questions. In the context of the 4th BIBB Congress, 2,500 experts in initial and continuing vocational education and training from Germany and abroad discussed the consequences of internationalisation and globalisation for the vocational education and training system, for vocational education and training research, for initial and continuing vocational education and training practitioners and for trainees.
The 2002 Congress of the Federal Institute for Vocational Training, held in Berlin from 23 to 25 October 2002, was a special and outstanding event.
After the 1988, 1992 und 1996 Congresses, the Federal Institute returned for its fourth Congress to Berlin, the city in which the Federal Institute had its headquarters until September 1999. About 2,500 experts in initial and continuing vocational education and training from Germany and abroad responded to the invitation of the Federal Institute.
It was a sign of the times that the 2002 Congress was held under the leitmotif "Vocational Training for a Global Society - Prospects for the 21st Century". In planning the Congress programme the Federal Institute took up the issue of the increasing international networking of ways of working and living. For globalisation and internationalisation have discernibly reached and are determining the direction of German vocational education and training research. Vocational education and training research and the system of vocational education and training are confronted with new challenges, problems and questions that were only looming in the distance six years earlier at the third Congress.
The programme planners took this development into account. In 11 forums and 42 workshops, the discussion centred either on internationalisation and globalisation themselves or on the consequences arising from them for the vocational education and training system, for the practitioners of initial and continuing vocational education and training and for the trainees.
The thematic opening and orientation of the 2002 Congress also reflected the polishing of the self-image of the Federal Institute pursued since 1999. The research work of the BIBB is increasingly marked by European and international work and references. Logically enough, the self-image has developed from that of a national vocational education and training research institute into that of a national and international competence centre for initial and continuing vocational education and training that has numerous international contacts and cooperation relationships in Europe, Asia, America and elsewhere. These international cooperation relationships and the research work arising from them make it possible, for example, to answer the question of how the German education and training system and the principle of professionalism can turn out to be open to reform in times of globalisation. Detecting and formulating the need for reform giving impetus to implementation without discontinuity of what is tried and tested was one of the main objectives of the Congress.
The goal of the work of the Federal Institute continues to be to identify and process questions regarding the future of vocational education and training. The Federal Institute for Vocational Training promotes the orientation and performance of people in working life through its vocational education and training research and with its methods and instruments (for example early detection of qualification needs). The dynamics of skills development is intensified through the increasing propagation of information and communication technologies. More and more occupations have to be adapted more and more quickly to new requirements; new occupations have to be developed.
I would like to thank all those involved in the fourth BIBB Congress, all German and foreign participants, all forum chairpersons, all exhibitors and all the staff of the Federal Institute who were involved in organising it for their exceptional and great personal commitment. Thanks also to the high-level representatives of politics and business, especially those who spoke on the opening day. I thank in particular the Federal President, Dr. Johannes Rau, whose keynote address set a political course and provided stimuli for further development of initial and continuing vocational education and training.
Prof. Dr. Helmut Pütz
President, Secretary General.
