A charm offensive for dual training

Chancellor Angela Merkel gets behind the dual vocational and education training (VET) system in Germany. VET also continues to be strongly promoted in the fields of policy and research and in trade and industry.

In order to increase the attractiveness of vocational training, Angela Merkel called upon schools and vocational schools to align their curricula more closely to the requirements of modern occupational profiles. In addition to this, not all new occupational fields characterised by digitalisation should be geared towards courses at Universities of Applied Sciences or at institutes of higher education.

The Chancellor is not alone in launching a charm offensive for dual training. Over recent weeks and months, experts from the fields of policy, research and practice have also come up with a number of new ideas to promote VET and make it a genuine alternative to higher education study. We provide a summary of the most important innovations below.

The government is planning a reform of the Upgrading Training Assistance Act, which has been in place since 1995 and is used by the state to support skilled worker training or training leading to a master craftsman qualification in the craft trades. The intention is that those who receive funding will enjoy better conditions in future.

In future, for example, 50 percent of the contribution towards covering living costs will come in the form of a grant which does not have to be repaid. In making such a move, Federal Education Minister Johanna Wanka is seeking to send out a "strong Signal" for master craftsman training.

The chambers and the Federal Ministry of Education already offer special programmes for the specific placement of higher education drop-out's with companies, and there are special portals for this target group.

Various initiatives have also been established with a view to making training more attractive to those who fail to complete their degree courses. The "Speed it" Programme, for example, facilitates shortened vocational education and training for former students of STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering, mathematics and related disciplines) who have studied for at least two semesters and amassed 20 credit points.

A number of separate initiatives have been put in place for the relatively new recruiting group of "refugees". The Federal Government has ensured that young people with leave to remain in Germany and undergoing vocational education and training will be able to be deployed by companies at an earlier stage in future. They will also receive better financial support.

The private sector is also endeavouring to integrate young refugees into the labour market. Siemens, for example, is seeking to pave their way into training and work in Germany by creating up to 100 internships for this purpose. In addition, refugees are also being incorporated into existing programmes. One instance of this is the extension of the six-point action programme run by the German Association for Human Resources Management (DGFP) in conjunction with the Future Alliance for Work and Society to encompass the refugee target group.

Providers of recruiting and continuing training have also recognised foreigners newly arrive in the country as a target group. The provider U-Form has now made its trainer aptitude test available in Arabic. Language schools and training providers such as WBS are seeking to woo this new target group with free taster courses, and coaching providers such as the International Coach Federation (ICF) are lining up refugee aid workers as potential customers.

Special information portals already exist in order to ease the transition. These provide information on topics such as systematic vocational orientation at general schools, introductory training and training preparation for young people who require extra support. The Federal State of Baden-Württemberg, for example, has just redesigned its Internet presence.

Many companies offering training, which were previously often content to recruit via familiar means, have clearly recognised the effectiveness of human resources marketing measures, at least nationally.

The fact that company visibility is mostly restricted to Germany remains a drawback. Only about four percent of companies surveyed have thus far attempted to recruit trainees from abroad.

Although initiatives aimed at creating a bridge between companies offering training and trainees have been in existence for some time, such as the Alliance for Initial and Continuing Training, the question is whether these and numerous other initiatives will be able to improve the training situation in Germany.

A study recently published by Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB) gives some ground for hope. According to the 2015 figures from BIBB, the number of training contracts rose by 1,100 compared with the previous year to reach 503,200.

The initiators of the Alliance for Training were also able to point to cautiously positive feedback at the end of last year. A joint declaration published by the Association of German Employer Associations (BDA), the German Federal Association of the Liberal Professions (BFB), the Association of German Chambers of Commerce and Industry (DIHK) and the German Confederation of Skilled Crafts (ZDH) contained the following statement.

"Despite a fall in the numbers of applicants and an unbroken trend towards higher education study, contract numbers in the three areas of trade and industry (474,485) increased by 0.2 percent in overall terms. This shows that companies in Germany are continuing to exhibit a high degree of readiness to provide training, that they are bracing themselves against the demographic trend and that they are also offering training opportunities to lower ability trainees."

The Association of German Chambers of Commerce and Industry (DIHK) offered positive news by indicating that a higher education qualification was by no means mandatory for anyone seeking to assume a role with management responsibility.

According to a study conducted by the German Institute for Business Research, those who had completed VET and subsequent upgrading training leading to a qualification such as master craftsman or certified senior clerk enjoyed the same status as employees in possession of a Bachelor or Masters degree.

The study also demonstrated a further attractive bonus of training followed by upgrading training by revealing that trainees pursuing this route enjoyed above average career opportunities and salaries.

The 2015 BIBB survey also showed that training allowances based on collective wage agreements rose significantly for the fourth year in succession.

Source: haufe.de (website of the Haufe publishing company), revised by iMOVE, May 2016