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Stages of education and training between completion of lower secondary education and working life

Trend towards upskilling has stabilised, more young people in the transitional sector once again

Regina Dionisius, Amelie Illiger

Various education and training opportunities are open to young people between completion of general lower secondary school and entry into working life depending on their interests and the qualifications they have obtained. Data from the “Integrated Training Reporting System” (iABE) shows how young people are distributed across these different stages of education and training and which changes have occurred during the past twelve years.

Integrated Training Reporting System

The Integrated Training Reporting System has been documenting the stages of education and training attended by young people since 2005. Various official statistics are linked together (“integrated”) for this purpose. Stages of education and training are systematised on the basis of four sectors (cf. Information Box).

The Figure illustrates the numbers of entrants to the four education and training sectors. In 2016, around 705,000 young people (35%) commenced fully qualifying vocational education and training. Just over two thirds of these began a programme of dual training pursuant to the BBiG/HwO whilst just under a third embarked upon school-based VET. Around 299,000 young people (15%) progressed to the transitional sector. The proportion of young people seeking to achieve a higher education entrance qualification or a degree was about a quarter in each case (515,000 and 511,000 respectively).

Four sectors in the Integrated Training Reporting System

  • Vocational education and training: young people in dual vocational education and training pursuant to the Vocational Training Act (BBiG) or the Crafts and Trades Regulation Code (HwO), in school-based VET or civil service Training
  • Transitional sector: young people in partially qualifying Federal Government and federal state programmes, such as the pre-vocational training year, or in a vocational preparation scheme provided by the Bundesagentur für Arbeit [Federal Employment Agency]
  • Acquisition of a higher education entrance qualification: young people attending general or vocational schools with the aim of achieving an upper secondary school leaving certificate or a specialised upper secondary school leaving certificate
  • Studium: Higher education: young people at institutes of higher education, colleges of public administration or universities of cooperative education

Development of the education and training sectors

Figure: Numbers of entrants to the education and training sectors between 2005 and 2016
Figure Numbers of entrants to the education and training sectors between 2005 and 2016

Numbers of entrants to the education and training sectors between 2005 and 2016 exhibit different trends:

The vocational education and training sector shows an increase until 2007. Entrant numbers have been falling since the beginning of the economic crisis in 2008. Compared to the base year of 2005, a decrease of five per cent (- 34,000) has been recorded in this sector. Within this context, consideration needs to be accorded to the fact that dual vocational education and training in accordance with the BBiG/HwO has been in decline (- 7%), whereas there has been particularly strong growth in the school-based VET programmes offered in the healthcare, education and social sector professions (+ 22%).

Between 2005 and 2014, the number of young people entering transitional sector fell by about 40 per cent (- 165,000). This development was largely in line with demographic development. However, figures began to go up again in 2014 and were already showing an increase of 18 per cent two years later (+ 46,000). This growth is particularly due to a drastic rise of 133 per cent (+ 60,000) in the numbers entering a pre-vocational training year (Berufsvorbereitungsjahr) and to a 21 per cent (+ 2,000) jump in take up of introductory training (Einstiegsqualifizierung). Many of the young people undertaking a pre-vocational training year are refugees who are also learning German in addition to basic vocational knowledge. Account also needs to be taken of the fact that reforms within the transitional sector, such as those instigated in North Rhine-Westphalia, have created considerable shifts in the numbers of entrants to this area. The rising figures in the sector of acquisition of a higher education entrance qualification (+ 13.3%) and in the sector of higher education itself (+ 39.5%) point to a growing trend in this direction. One point to be borne in mind, however, is that the switch to eight-year upper secondary education that has taken place over recent years has produced double cohorts after completion of the lower secondary level and upper secondary school leaving certificate. In 2010, for example, we see an impact in the sector of acquisition of a higher education entrance qualification from North Rhine-Westphalia, the federal state with the largest population. The changeover to eight-year upper secondary education (G8) has now been completed in all federal states, and figures in these two sectors have now stabilised.

 The most dynamic developments compared to the year 2005 are revealed in the sector of higher education. The number of persons commencing a course of study has been influenced by the introduction of eight-year upper secondary education and by an influx of foreign students who acquire a higher education entrance qualification abroad before moving to Germany to study. The Statistisches Bundesamt records around 99,000 foreign students for the year 2015. The corresponding figure for 2005 was 56,000 (+ 78%).

To sum up, it can be said that the trend towards higher education is beginning to stabilise across all federal states. Growth in the sectors of acquisition of a higher education entrance qualification and higher education has been stagnating since 2011. At the same time, fewer young people have been entering vocational education and training. After an initial considerable decline, the transitional sector is currently once again showing rising figures.

Differences between the federal states

Overall values for Germany comprise very different individual federal state profiles.

The federal states of Eastern Germany, for example, display an above-average fall in the numbers of young people entering vocational education and training and the transitional sector. In contrast to Germany as a whole, acquisition of a higher education entrance qualification in these states has also declined compared to 2005. The rise in the numbers of persons entering higher education study is also below the national average. This does not, however, permit us to draw the conclusion that vocational education and training or acquisition of a higher education entrance qualification is less attractive for young people in the east. This data is first and foremost a reflection of demographic development. Whereas the number of school leavers in Eastern Germany halved between 2005 and 2011 (- 49%), corresponding pupil numbers in the west remained stable (+ 4%). This is one of the reasons why the sectors of acquisition of a higher education entrance qualification and higher education are still exhibiting growth levels in the west that are above the national average. The declines in vocational education and training and in the transitional sector are also more moderate in the west. However, alongside demographic influences, other federal state-specific circumstances also play a role. These include the ways in which unsuccessful training place applicants are dealt with, the introduction of G8 and the situation on the training and labour markets.

Literature

STATISTISCHES BUNDESAMT: Integrierte Ausbildungsberichterstattung 2015 – Anfänger, Teilnehmer und Absolventen im Ausbildungsgeschehen nach Sektoren/Konten und Ländern [Integrated Training Reporting System 2015. Training entrants, training participants and those completing training within the training system by sectors/accounts and federal states]. Wiesbaden 2016

STATISTISCHES BUNDESAMT: Schnellmeldung Integrierte Ausbildungsberichterstattung 2016 [Integrated Training Reporting Flash Report 2016]. Wiesbaden 2017

REGINA DIONISIUS
Research Associate in the “Vocational Training Supply and Demand/Training Participation” Division at BIBB
AMELIE ILLIGER
Research Associate in the “Vocational Training Supply and Demand/Training Participation” Division at BIBB

Translation from the German original (published in BWP 3/2017): Martin Kelsey, Global Sprach Team, Berlin