Demand-oriented and modern training in technical trades indispensable!

Im Bericht "Zur technologischen Leistungsfähigkeit Deutschlands 2002"
(http://www.technologische-leistungsfaehigkeit.de/), herausgegeben vom Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung, wird auf die starke Abhängigkeit zwischen den wirtschaftlichen Entwicklungsmöglichkeiten und dem Angebot an beruflichen Qualifikationen und Fachkräften hingewiesen. In diesem Zusammenhang wird festgestellt, dass in Deutschland im Vergleich zu anderen Ländern mittlerweile ein sehr viel kleinerer Anteil junger Menschen Interesse an technisch-naturwissenschaftlichen Berufsausbildungen in Betrieb und Hochschule zeigen. In der Folge ist hier ein Mangel an Fachkräften absehbar, der sich im Innovationswettbewerb mit anderen Ländern¹ negativ auswirken könnte. Abhilfe sollten die vor ein paar Jahren erfolgreich eingeführten IT-Berufe im dualen System schaffen, die zum einen einzelne "alte" gewerblich-technische Berufe ersetzten, zum anderen zusätzliche Ausbildungskapazitäten geschaffen haben.

New occupations create flexibility in the system of vocational education and training

To adapt the vocational education and training system to changes in technology and the economy, special emphasis has been placed since 1996 on the development of new recognised occupations. A total of 38 new recognised occupations have been introduced since then, with special consideration being given to the creation of new training opportunities and media. The new occupations have reinforced the technological orientation in the dual system of education and training and the vocational education and training system as a whole has become more flexible. The large number of new courses of training have provided the economy with some very well-trained skilled workers, especially in the ICT sector. Nevertheless, these reforms cannot compensate for the dearth of university graduates, but can only serve as compensation for the huge drops in the traditional training spheres in manufacturing.

Most trainees opted for the recognised occupation of computer specialist². However, the growing numbers opting for information and telecommunication systems electronics engineering and other ICT occupations speak for the success of the strategy of making technical trades more attractive again for young people and providing more training opportunities in the enterprises. This trend towards technology-oriented new occupations in the training system is particularly pronounced among men. Among women the trend continues to be towards service occupations; they have not benefited from the boom in new IT occupations (proportion of women only 14%). Increases for women were detected in 2001 only in the new media design occupations³.

Increasing the proportion of women in technical and scientific education and training courses

In order to get more young women interested in technical, technology-related and scientific training and education courses and significantly increase the proportion of women employed in future-oriented occupations in the long term⁴, at this year's Girl's Day on 08 May 2003, for example, more than 3,500 enterprises provided more than 90,000 girls with a practice-related insight into the world of work in order to awaken their curiosity about the sciences and technology. Proceeding from the fact that at present only 23 per cent of all trainees in the information and communications technology occupations are female, and that a disproportionate number of girls still frequently opt for typical "female" occupational fields or subjects, the Federal Government has set itself the target of increasing the proportion of girls and women in these areas to 40 per cent by 2005⁵.

Decline in the importance of technical occupations in vocational education and training

In the long run, there has been a sharp decline in technology-oriented occupations in Germany, although in the last few years this negative trend has abated somewhat owing to the new IT occupations. This process is particularly apparent in the technical production occupations that are important for technological efficiency⁶.

The structural shift in the German economy, the changes in the world of work and other socio-economic factors have certainly contributed to this trend. Another important factor, however, is the more elaborate and cost-intensive training in the technical occupations, since the training takes place in part in company training workshops which involve high plant and material costs and in which for the most part full-time trainers have to be employed. The integration of trainees into productive tasks at the workplace is also frequently much more difficult than in other occupations. Lower training yields are the consequence⁷.

Need-oriented and modern training in technical occupations indispensable

Taken together, the trends cited can in the long run result in the risk of under-investment in training in technical occupations for the economy as a whole. The fact that owing to demographic developments and the trend to higher qualification Germany is moving towards a medium-term shortage of skilled labour among specialised employees⁸, will make itself felt in the technical occupations as well.

It will be the task of vocational education and training policy and of labour market policy to develop useful strategies for resolving the problems cited here, for example by opening up additional training capacities in enterprises that have not provided training up to now, since at present only one quarter of the enterprises in Germany are providing any training at all⁹. Specifically the enterprises not providing training must be shown the advantages of providing their own training; for instance, that they can economise on the costs of personnel recruitment, induction and continuing training and minimise the risk of hiring the wrong person for the job by employing those they have trained themselves. The great success of the newly established recognised occupations, especially those with a pronounced technological orientation, also shows how their attractiveness and acceptance among enterprises and young people can be enhanced.

Current developments in the field:

Technical training occupations in transition
The current status of technical occupations in vocational education and training and more long-term trends are described in a new BIBB publication entitled "Technical Training Occupations in Transition" - written in the context of the participation of the Federal Institute for Vocational Training in the "Bericht zur technologischen Leistungsfähigkeit Deutschlands 2002" (Report on the technological efficiency of Germany), published by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research.

Costs and benefits of in-company vocational education and training
For the third time the Federal Institute for Vocational Training has undertaken a representative assessment of in-company training costs. The data are based on a large-scale survey conducted in 2001 for the reference year 2000 among enterprises providing training. The costs were established for all fields of training and but separately for 52 recognised occupations. The following new publication of the Federal Institute for Vocational Training will appear soon in the series "Berichte zur beruflichen Bildung" (Reports on vocational education): Ursula Beicht, Günter Walden, Hermann Herget: "Kosten und Nutzen der betrieblichen Berufsausbildung in Deutschland". The publication will contain a wealth of information and analyses on the costs and benefits of in-company vocational education and training.

Federal Ministry of Education and Research proclaims "Year of Technology" for 2004
The Federal Ministry of Education and Research has been proclaiming so-called science years jointly with the Science in Dialogue Initiative since the year 2000. These years have the purpose of giving a transparent picture of ongoing research and promoting a lively dialogue between science and the public. The aim of the Year of Technology is to show where technology is applies and what modern engineering sciences do for the shaping and development of society.

Literature

• Gerald Mechnich, Margit Ebbinghaus
  Prüfen in einem "neuen" Beruf
  Mediengestalter/Mediengestalterin Bild und Ton
  Federal Institute for Vocational Training, The Secretary General, 2003
• Heike Krämer
  Mediengestalter/-in, quo vadis?
  Verbleib von Absolventinnen und Absolventen der Ausbildung zum Beruf Mediengestalter/-in für Digital- und Printmedien (Whereabouts of graduates of training in the occupation of media designer for digital and print media)
  In: Berufsbildung in Wissenschaft und Praxis (BWP) (Vocational Education in Science and Practice), Journal of the Federal Institute for Vocational Training, 2/2003