Part-time jobs are a good opportunity to achieve a work-life balance. Although this is a view to which experts, employers and employees would probably all subscribe, at least in terms of everyday working life, part-time training is an option which is very infrequently used. And yet there are many young people who could benefit.
Dorota Witkowska is 32 years old. She is a single mother to a daughter aged seven and one of just under 5,800 part-time trainees in Germany. "I am training to be an office management clerk."
Weekly training time is reduced to between 25 and 30 hours per week in order to give part-time trainees time to meet their family commitments or indeed to care for elderly relatives. The period of training is extended by a maximum of one year if training time falls to below 25 hours.
"It wouldn't be feasible for me to train on a full-time basis unless I had such a strong social network that my child could be looked after somewhere virtually every single day. However, this would not make me feel good as a mother. This is why I am in part-time training. It's ideal for me."
It is certainly great if part-time training works out. However, Angelika Puhlmann from the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training, regretfully points out that this is a very rare circumstance. "The total number of part-time trainees at the moment is 5,793. This is, of course, an extremely low number in overall terms. It definitely must rise."
The need is, in fact, huge. Around two million young adults in Germany have not completed vocational education and training. Just over 140,000 of these persons are single parents.
Part-time training is often their only chance of gaining a long-term foothold in working life. But there are too few companies which also provide training on a part-time basis. Angelika Puhlmann says that although most firms have heard of the concept of part-time training, few are willing to offer it. "The main question is how to do it. Stronger and more targeted recruitment efforts need to be undertaken in order really to have proper training places."
This was the case with Dorota Witkowska. The targeted acquisition process of Start NRW, a company which was part-founded by the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, has enabled her to commence training with the Duisburg Civic Foundation. Start and the foundation share administrative responsibility and payment of the training allowance.
Manfred Berns, the Managing Director of the Civic Foundation, finds this to be an ideal solution. "The assistance offered by Start in the form of the sharing arrangements delivered this solution on a plate, so to speak. It would actually be idiotic not to accept."
Up until this point, Manfred Berns had never heard of part-time training. Now, after eighteen months of experience, the conclusions he draws are entirely positive. "There's less time, but the person we have is older and more mature, and things are working well. I would certainly do it again."
Angelika Puhlmann from BIBB believes that policy makers will need to do their homework and resolve major issues such as financing if more people are finally to have the opportunity to pursue part-time training.
She points out that training allowances are often completely inadequate when caring for young families. In order to close this budget gap, part-time trainees still need to knock on too many doors. Mrs. Puhlmann thinks that a better option would be to have funding from a single source and to introduce a training grant.
"It should be the case that people receive money because they are undertaking training rather than having to rely on benefits. Single mothers in particular are often on the fringe of poverty. They need to be lifted out of this status. We should tell them that we are happy to provide support and they should get a grant like school pupils and higher education students."
A petition for a training allowance for part-time trainees was submitted to Parliament in September 2014. Nothing has happened thus far. Dorota Witkowska will doubtlessly make the grade without such assistance. She counts herself very lucky to have acquired a part-time training position in the occupation of office management clerk at the Duisburg Civic Foundation.
"It's a good principle and a good idea. For mothers, this form of part-time training is the only and best option available. I believe that I will have a rosy future." And it looks as if Dorota is right. The plan is for her to complete her part-time training in May next year, after which time she will continue to work for the Duisburg Civic Foundation. Obviously, the part-time solution also means that she has enough time for her daughter.