When apprentices terminate their contract ahead of time, this is unpleasant for all parties involved. Many of these cases could be prevented by good preparation, says Ulrike Friedrich, vocational education and training expert at the Association of German Chambers of Industry and Commerce (DIHK).
Question: About a quarter of apprentices terminate their contract ahead of time, yet of these every second continues their apprenticeship in another business or a different occupation. How can one prevent such a development?
Ulrike Friedrich: Career entry needs to be sufficiently prepared to avoid the raising of false expectations regarding the future occupation. A good third of terminated apprenticeship contracts are terminated in the probationary period – the time during which both businesses and apprentices assess whether they are compatible. Apprentices furthermore have to ask themselves whether the chosen vocational training occupation was the right choice for them.
This is why good and early career guidance at school is a decisive condition for the successful completion of an apprenticeship. Yet everybody is also responsible for their own good fortune: we recommend adolescents to become active on their own part. Discussions with parents, acquaintances and friends help to get an idea of potential occupations and to become aware of one's own strengths and expectations regarding an occupation.
Most businesses offer work placements for career guidance. Moreover, a large number of information services and opportunities are available, which adolescents should make use of. Online information platforms can help, just as a personal discussion with a chamber of industry and commerce (IHK) training advisor or Employment Agency employee.
Question: Early career guidance is a decisive condition for the successful completion of an apprenticeship. Is enough done in this regard at our schools or is there plenty of room for more?
Friedrich: Especially the grammar schools still have a lot of catching-up to do with respect to career and degree course guidance. The latest DIHK vocational education and training survey shows that about 23 per cent of businesses find that their apprentices have vague concepts of their occupation. And when, according to an up-to-date Allensbach survey, 46 per cent of school graduates say that they have no idea which job is the right one for them or by what means they can attain further qualifications, then there is indeed a lot of room for more.
Question: How practical do you find the approach of teachers providing 'career guidance' at schools, although they have never made it outside the organisation school.
Friedrich: Career guidance should take place at school, because schools are the only place where all adolescents can be reached. To this end, teachers should be basically informed about our vocational training, university and qualification system; they should know about the structures and educational requirement levels as well as about career and advanced training prospects.
However, they do not need to know about every single occupation. Schools should organise career guidance together with external partners, for example, with businesses or other institutions providing vocational training.
In any case, training supervisors can report about requirements and experiences in a far more authentic way. And as many practical insights into the world of work as possible are an indispensable part of good career guidance.
Ideally, the school develops a systematic career guidance concept, which it then implements together with competent external partners from the field of professional practice. Of course, such a career guidance concept does not stand wholly unconnected to regular lessons.
Nearly every teaching subject provides links to certain occupations about which one can gather and evaluate information. Vocational education and training fairs could be investigated with regards to certain tasks, for example, 'How do I conduct an interview with a training supervisor?'. And the writing of job applications and CVs, presentations and conversation techniques are practised during lessons – all things one needs when applying for a job.
Question: Can the apprenticeship drop-outs be quantified; does this happen rather at smaller than at larger businesses and how could one provide improved support for small businesses?
Friedrich: Small and medium-sized enterprises are more often affected by contract dissolutions. One reason for this is: the small and medium-sized businesses have fewer options when they are confronted with challenges in the vocational education and training provision. It is less common for them to have a separate personnel department, which can address problems in a targeted manner.
If difficulties in the vocational education and training provision arise, the business and the apprentice should first try to solve the conflict by way of discussion. If that does not help, the vocational training advisors at the chambers of industry and commerce, the voluntary mentors from the 'VerA Initiative' and the 'vocational training assistants' from the Employment Agency can provide assistance.
Question: What advice can you give especially to our young readers who are dealing with the issue of 'vocational education and training' and 'Which job is the right one for me?'
Friedrich: Firstly: have fun in discovering your good prospects for your future career. The world is your oyster, even though the wide range of options might as yet make it difficult to decide in favour of a specific occupational field. Vocational education and training offers about 270 training occupations in the IHK sphere of responsibility alone, which all provide an optimal career entry as well as good income and advancement prospects.
Take time to find out what you enjoy doing and in which fields your talents lie. Talk to your family and friends and let them tell you what their working life looks like. Targeted support in choosing an occupation is provided, for example, by the talent check in the IHK apprenticeship Exchange. Once you have found a vocational training occupation that interests you, do a work placement and assess whether your expectations match the reality.