BIBB President Esser: Continuing education and training needs to become more flexible

Since 2019, the National Skills Strategy has brought together the federal government, the federal states, social partners, business organisations and the Federal Employment Agency as key stakeholders in continuing education and training policy-making and has become established as a platform supporting cooperation and coordination in continuing education and training policy in Germany. It provides key impetus in the further development of structures and provision in occupation-related continuing education and training. At the National Skills Conference in November 2025, the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (BMAS) and the Federal Ministry of Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth (BMFSFJ) were strongly in favour – together with the other partners – of an ambitious continuation and further development of the National Skills Strategy.

In conversation with Federal Minister Bärbel Bas (BMAS) and Federal Minister Karin Prien (BMBFSFJ), Friedrich Hubert Esser, President of the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB), discussed the further development of continuing education and training in Germany as part of the high-level panel at the National Skills Conference in Berlin. Together with National Skills Strategy partner representatives, discussion focussed primarily on the goals for the next phase of the National Skills Strategy. These were published in the update paper “Weiterbildung 2030 – Chancen eröffnen, Qualifizierung stärken, Zukunft sichern!” [Continuing education 2030 – opening up opportunities, strengthening training, securing the future].

The National Skills Strategy partners set out their ambitions in the update paper. This also includes, in particular, the federal government’s aim, as part of the EU's 2030 strategy, to increase participation in continuing education and training in Germany to 65% – an 11 percent rise – by 2030. Implementation of their plans will enable partners to make an important contribution to supporting innovative strength and competitiveness and to promoting individual opportunities and professional development in Germany.

The partners have agreed the following objectives for the third phase of the National Skills Strategy:

• To train people without a vocational qualification or without qualifications compatible with the labour market.
• To empower employees and companies engaged in continuing education and training in the process of structural change.
• To exploit opportunities provided by digitalisation and artificial intelligence to support continuing education and training and successfully address the challenges.

BIBB President Esser explained: “Training people who do not have vocational qualifications which can be used and exploiting digital opportunities in continuing education and training in a beneficial way will enable the National Skills Strategy to address the central problems and challenges in continuing vocational education. These areas in particular offer huge potential if we now approach them in the right way. We have to make formal continuing education and training more attractive by means of targeted flexibilisation, modularisation and ‘dualisation’ – in other words, successfully linking systematic learning with practical application in the workplace – and link it more strongly with non-formal learning. In this way, we can successfully attract even more people in Germany into continuing education and training. It is not acceptable, either in terms of labour market policy or social policy, to have large groups of people excluded from the labour market. The attractiveness and individualisation of continuing education and training formats are critical in this respect.”

Background

Society, the economy and the labour market are changing fundamentally. As we move towards a digital and climate-neutral economy, strategies and measures will be required for securing a supply of qualified skilled workers, strengthening the innovative capability and competitiveness of companies, and opening up individual areas of potential for development. Continuing education and training will have a key role to play in this. In collaboration with its partners, the German federal government is seeking to enhance the status of lifelong learning and continuing education and training in the economy and in society with the aim of strengthening continuing education and training in Germany.

Since 2019, the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training has supported the National Skills Strategy both professionally and in terms of organisation on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Education. It generates ideas for the ongoing development of the strategy, supports its work formats and utilises its varied expertise to contribute, for example, to qualification and occupational field projections. As part of the National Skills Strategy, BIBB also implements funding programmes such as the INVITE innovation competition as well as the training and deployment of continuing training mentors. The “Servicestelle Weiterbildungsagenturen” [Continuing Education and Training Agencies Service Centre, SWBA] is also based at BIBB.