News about VET from Germany

Retail apprentices earn above average. This is the result of the up-to-date evaluation of apprenticeship salaries prepared by the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB).

"The vocational training opportunities for young people in Germany have been further improved this year. It was possible to give an increasing number of young people an occupational perspective."

Compared to qualified workers, unskilled labour are significantly more often found working in menial and thus usually also more precarious jobs. Moreover, their gainful employment is concentrated on a few occupational fields only.

Binational teams of pupils from two technical grammar schools in the Czech Republic and Germany have developed vehicles and transport units by using CAD and CNC programmes and changed their everyday school life with their project work.

Receiving one's vocational training or continuing education abroad in a European country and having one's achievements acknowledged at home – this is what the so-called ECVET intends to facilitate and promote.

"We never would have dreamed of these figures", admits Professor Dr Heribert Weber, President of the University of Applied Sciences Würzburg. At present, 171 men and women study at his university without having a formal university entrance qualification.

The dual vocational training system is a major asset for Germany's innovation power, an aspect systematically underestimated in international studies. The highly innovative medium-sized businesses without proprietary research departments in particular greatly appreciate the well qualified skilled labour in this country.

What shall I do after leaving school? This is a question many pupils in Thuringia ask themselves each year. For their search for an adequate dream job to be successful, it is necessary to inform the pupils well ahead in time and comprehensively as to the occupational perspectives and development possibilities available in the region.

Seventeen occupations requiring vocational training and various forms of schools are at the centre of attention during the Vocational Training Day. Young people, parents, teachers, master craftsmen and their employees have come to attend the Day of Vocational Training.