Bundesinstitut für Berufsbildung (BIBB)

Structural issues in vocational education and training

Against the backdrop of demographic change and ever-increasing occupational specialisa-tion, an effective system of initial and continuing vocational education and training is essential in order to meet the demand for highly skilled workers. This issue of BWP takes up structural issues and models that are being discussed and implemented in the course of work to refine occupational profiles and design new vocational qualification pathways. Aspects include information about trends in the occupational qualification structure, the concentration of occupations into occupational groups, flexible and competence-oriented occupational profiles, greater outcome-orientation, and better compatibility and permeability between vocational training programmes. Representatives of policy, research and practice make introductory statements from their own viewpoints. In his editorial the President of BIBB, Prof. Dr. Friedrich Hubert Esser, emphasises the high regard in which dual-system initial vocational training is held internationally. Yet this should not distract from the further improvements that are necessary – particularly to address structural challenges in practice. All stakeholders in vocational education and training need to keep a close eye on such areas. Other articles in the issue deal with apprenticeship-entry maturity as a topic of media cover-age, the new BMBF-funded ANKOM II programme, and the consequences of the German National Qualifications Framework for regulatory design.