User data is collected from you whenever you visit this site. To find out how the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB) handles your data and the purpose of processing your data please refer to our statement on data protection .
Despite what is suggested by the word “dual”, the provision of initial vocational training in Germany is not limited to the two learning venues of the part-time vocational school and the company. Skills for vocational proficiency are also taught in inter-company training facilities, vocational training centres and – in the form of dual courses of study – at higher education establishments.
The different venues used for initial vocational training are the focus of this issue. It highlights how learning is organised and structured in these various settings, and how they ideally work together to deliver the skills for vocational proficiency.
Particularly for young people with the lower secondary school leaving certificate, dual vocational education and training continues to be “the route” to a vocational qualification. This makes it all the more significant to investigate how many such school leavers succeed in progressing to dual vocational education and training and how their chances of progression develop over the course of time. It is frequently the case in this regard that so-called arithmetical progression rates are calculated by using statistics as a basis for relating the number of those commencing training to the number of those completing general schooling. Nevertheless, there are a number of pitfalls in calculating such seemingly simple indicators. The issues that need to be borne in mind are explained below.
Questioned about the characteristics of the dual system, respondents usually mention the two learning venues of the workplace and the part-time vocational school, supplemented in some instances by inter-company or external training facilities. Nevertheless, on the face of it, learning venues are no more than a means to an end: namely, to impart the competences for vocational proficiency in a recognised training occupation. So naming the three learning venues raises some fundamental implicit questions: Is the institutional designation of learning venues helpful when it comes to assessing their respective potential and limitations for achieving the objectives of vocational training? Which learning venues or combinations of venues best fulfil the training objectives? Which factors contribute to the quality of vocational training processes in the learning venues? – This sets out some of the main questions which are pursued in the article.
As a learning venue, the workplace offers diverse learning opportunities which consciously or unconsciously influence not only vocational competences in the narrow sense but also, over time, broad aspects of personality. However, not all workplaces are conducive to learning per se. For work-based initial vocational training, the quality of the assigned work tasks plays a critical role in addition to the direct instruction given. The article pursues the question of which attributes make an assigned work task more or less conducive to learning.
The introduction of the “field of learning” concept in 1996 was tied to the aim of organising teaching in line with company business processes, and thus contributing to better links be-tween school-based and workplace-based learning. Yet even 20 years later, learning pro-cesses in the school and the workplace bear little relation to each other. Evidence of this emerges from an interview study which asked how the stakeholders involved ensure the linkage of school-based and workplace-based learning. The main results are presented in the article. On that basis, diversification of the field-of-learning concept is advocated, and exemplified with reference to the learning venues, the object of learning and the learning processes of German dual-system initial vocational training.
Within the vocational training system, inter-company vocational education and training makes an important contribution in terms of securing the training capability of small and medium-sized companies. It facilitates technology transfer whilst also making training provision available to various target groups. The present article highlights the educational remit and the development of the learning venue of the inter-company vocational training centre and uses the training provision to illustrate the diversity of the target groups reached. Against this background, the article concludes by presenting the challenges and opportunities for inter-company vocational training centres within the context of lifelong learning.
In the German-speaking countries, training networks have been supported by the relevant national ministries for vocational education and training since the end of the 1990s. In the initial vocational training model supported by the Swiss state, the trainees are rotated between training companies several times and thereby gain a broader insight into the fields of work covered by their training occupation. On the basis of a study on training networks in Switzerland, we investigate how far this model contributes to broader competence for vocational proficiency, but also how trainees and companies evaluate this rotation between learning venues.
Educational plans are crucial in vocational education and training when it comes to improving the links between school-based and workplace-based learning. Against this backdrop, thought must be devoted specifically to how the linkage of school-based and workplace-based learning, also known as “school-workplace connectivity”, can be integrated into educational plans. In addition, there is a need for instruments with which educational plans can be analysed for such connectivity. The article describes a schema for the analysis of educational plans and outlines how it can be applied in reality with reference to three training occupations. In conclusion, other possible uses of the instrument are discussed.
Cooperation between the part-time vocational school and the workplace as learning venues is the vital prerequisite for the success of a dual-system initial vocational training programme. Although the German Vocational Training Act expressly provides for cooperation between these learning venues, in practice it frequently remains unclear how cooperation can be organised in reality. The following interview with Frank Barth, a teacher at the August Horch School in Andernach, and Reiner Hürter, a trainer at Westnetz GmbH, shows what opportunities such cooperation potentially offers. At the same time, the lessons learned over a twenty-year track record of cooperation make it clear how many basics must be in place to support collaboration as an everyday practice, if the aim is to bring together the school-based and workplace-based viewpoints into an integrated vision of the trainee.
Timber construction is characterised as much by traditional as by innovative techniques. While classical craft techniques are needed on the one hand, many construction processes involve the use of modern machines and highly complex planning and organisational procedures. Over the years this has led to the development of new qualification profiles at the interface between vocational and higher education. Which new requirements emerge from this for cooperation between learning venues from different educational sectors is the subject-matter of this article. The Biberach model presents the cooperation between Hochschule Biberach – University of Applied Sciences and the vocational rehabilitation organisation of the skilled carpentry trade in the State of Baden-Württemberg.
The Deutsches Museum Bonn's “ExperimentierKüche” (experimental kitchen) is a lab where school groups can learn chemistry with everyday materials. It offers vocational orientation for scientific and technical careers in the form of an introductory programme in practical lab work. Designed for pupils of lower secondary and comprehensive schools, it teaches the basics of chemistry and provides the impetus for vocational orientation in chemistry-related fields as well as personality development. The article sets out the background, concept and lessons learned.
The 18th German Higher Education Conference on Vocational Education (Hochschultage Berufliche Bildung) takes place from March 19 to 20, 2015. The host – as on one previous occasion in 1998 – is the Technische Universität Dresden, which will convene expert representatives from research, politics and vocational practice. In view of rising numbers of university entrants and an increase in training programmes offered at the interface between vocational and higher education, this year’s overall theme chosen by the organisers, “Changing significance of vocational education due to academicisation?” takes up a question that is highly current. In the interview, this year’s coordinator Prof. Dr. Hanno Hortsch explains the background to the theme and gives insights into an attractive programme.
The requirement for action-oriented initial vocational training still collides with practice that is heavily influenced by teacher-centred instruction. The article outlines principles of process-oriented and competence-based learning and gives an account of the changing self-perception of initial vocational training staff in the Online Competence Centre for Office Management Clerks (KOMZET). Over the last three years, flexible tools for the instructional design of inter-company apprentice instruction have been developed on this platform.
Companies in the textile and fashion sector are offering modern training occupations and seeking qualified trainees. In order to provide young people with more differentiated information on jobs and fields of employment, teachers and other stakeholders will make three new instruments available in future for professional vocational orientation in this vocational field. These are introduced in the article.
For a state recognised training occupation, the German federal government regulates the initial vocational training elements that take place in-company by passing a training regulation. The Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs of the Länder (KMK) passes a framework curriculum for the elements of training that take place at the part-time vocational school. The article describes the coordination of the two curricula, and gives a perspective on future developments.
On October 1, 2014 legal provisions for the national qualifications framework for vocational education certificates came into force in Switzerland. They pave the way for the introduction of the National Qualifications Framework for Vocational and Professional Education and Training (NQF-VPET) together with the corresponding certificate supplements and diploma supplements. The new instruments are intended to increase transparency and comparability in vocational and professional education, to position vocational certificates internationally and to promote the mobility of skilled workers. The article outlines these objectives as well as the status of implementation.