"Practically unbeatable" - now also internationally

"Practically unbeatable" - this is the slogan under which vocational education has been advertised in Germany for the past years. Against the background of high rates of youth unemployment in many countries, the export of the successful German dual system of vocational education and training is a hotly discussed approach. Now, the Chamber of Industry and Commerce (IHK) organisation launches its implementation.

The German Chambers of Commerce Abroad (AHKs) play the decisive role in this project. After all, vocational education is first and foremost an economic issue. The required transfer of know-how to the AHKs is made possible via the network of chambers. The IHKs thus can support the activities of their member companies in doing business abroad.

The range of tasks allocated to the AHKs in the context of this project is particularly demanding. In many of the involved countries, the dual system partners first have to be identified and brought together at one table. The aim is to create basic structures to be able to sensibly support vocational education and training within companies and at vocational colleges: establishment of a vocational education committee, compilation of training curricula, the passing of examination regulations, training of trainers and examiners - these are only some of the milestones. By the end of the project term (2015), dual vocational education and training programmes on the basis of the German model should be up and running; the apprenticeships will conclude with an examination that is organised and carried out by the AHK. If possible, this professional qualification should be recognised in the respective countries; this, too, is an agreed goal of the project. All in all, a truly demanding programme!

Moreover, the effort in convincing youths of the advantages of an in-company apprenticeship is often far more laborious than in Germany, because the image of vocational education tends to be fairly bad in these countries. These efforts at persuasion include the young people's parents, who for the same reasons prefer to see their children choose other forms of job qualification.

Supported by their member businesses in their efforts of ensuring the skilled labour supply, the eleven AHKs perform the task of export business assistance abroad. The situation on site can be very varied: whereas countries such as Latvia are only getting started, Portugal, for example, already has a good 30 years worth of experience with the dual system of vocational education and training. In the context of the project, the aim here is to take the next step in making the dual system of vocational education and training the norm.

In project countries with little experience or without starting points in the form of a previously established tradition of in-company vocational education and training, the successful project implementation is meant to demonstrate how dual system vocational education and training based on the German model can work. Ideally, something like a nucleus for the development of dual system structures is thus created in the country in question, with effective support extended not only to the political agreements on government level, but also to the AHKs in their (further) development of vocational education and training as a business field. In the long term, all will benefit: the concerned countries benefit from lower youth unemployment rates, the youths benefit from good jobs and the businesses benefit from a well-trained skilled labour force.