With his 20 years, Mustafa Sahin is one of many apprentices in the Swabian town of Schorndorf. Sahin, who has Turkish roots, is being trained for the occupation of construction mechanic and now enters into the second year of the three and a half year vocational education and training course. The business providing his vocational training is the company Almepro Metalltechnik. For company boss Alain Meyer, a Frenchman born in Alsace, who came to Baden-Württemberg at the age of 18 because of work, commitment in the field of vocational education and training is a clear-cut affair. "We provide training because we need good people." Although the company was established only a mere year ago, a lot is already happening in the factory building. High-quality machine casing elements are being lasered, welded and trimmed. There are plenty of orders to keep the 38 employees busy.
Amongst them is Mustafa Sahin, who initially had difficulties in finding an apprenticeship placement. His performance at the secondary modern school left much to be desired and his school certificates were accordingly deficient. Actually a clear case: no hope of an apprenticeship placement. A candidate for the many waiting loops in the transitional area or a job hopper in the employment market. This can be a rather attractive course of action in economically good times. The highly powerful economic region around Stuttgart still provides plenty of jobs for unskilled labourers. Yet as an unskilled or semi-skilled labourer, Sahin would have been unlikely to be able to advance his career.
Assisted vocational education and training programme
However, the young Turk, who was born and grew up in Schorndorf, was not satisfied with only earning money. He wanted to train for an occupation. So through the employment agency he got into contact with the vocational training centre in Waiblingen, a social welfare institution operated by the Diakonie Stetten. "At first, it was not clear which occupation Mustafa wanted to train for", remembers Daniel Bürzele, who is responsible for the Carpo project, an assisted vocational education and training programme. The first attempt in retail remained unsuccessful. The short internship at Almepro revealed that a metal working occupation was the right choice. At the end of the orientation phase, the apprenticeship contract for vocational training as a construction mechanic was signed. In addition, a co-operation agreement was entered into between Almepro and the vocational training centre Waiblingen. This stipulates the rules between the business and the provider of education.
So far, assisted vocational education and training is confined to Baden-Württemberg, where 18 project partners in 20 regions work with 1,039 youths. It is intended for people who want to achieve a professional qualification whilst working in a business. Bürzele explains: "The preparation phase is about placement in a vocational education and training course. To this end, applications are written together. Internships are facilitated. German language and maths skills need to be refreshed. We talk also about living conditions and whether debts have accumulated."
Everything ought to be clarified well in advance of starting an apprenticeship, all that might make a successful start difficult or even prevent it. Carpo offers equal support to both the young people and the businesses. Companies obtain a service provision: the selection of the right apprentices and organised learning support. The additional private lessons are paid by the employment agency. "The idea is to enable disadvantaged young people to start and complete a regular apprenticeship both in full-time and part-time contracts", says vocational education centre staff member Bürzele, explaining the concept. Eligible for participation are young mothers and fathers, youths with a migration background, youths who want to launch themselves in an occupation that is unconventional for their gender as well as young people who have been unable to find an apprenticeship placement for more than one year.
At Carpo, the providers of education consciously refrain from providing vocational education and training on their own account. They limit themselves to supporting businesses, that is, to assist them, if they provide training for youths who are in need of special support.
Changed situation on the employment market
The social consensus that all young people should start their working life with a sound vocational education and training basis is good and right, but in practice it is fraught with difficulties. The researchers at the German Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB) have found out that some 1.5 million young jobholders below the age of 30 have not achieved this goal in the past years and that they remain without professional qualification. So something has to happen, if this disastrous pattern is to be discontinued.
The social welfare associations "Der Paritätische Baden-Württemberg" and the "Diakonisches Werk Württemberg" are the sponsors of the Carpo project. "We were moved by the fact that there are groups who bring with them a whole range of competences and resources, yet who are not called upon because they seemingly do not fit", says Berndt Korten, co-ordinator at Carpo. The Baden-Württemberg Federal State Ministry of Employment and Social Affairs and the German Federal Employment Agency allocate funds from the European Social Fund to support the idea of "assisted vocational education and training".
The changed situation on the employment market helps Carpo in its efforts. For businesses now are forced to completely rethink their criteria for hiring workers. Business manager Alain Meyer has directly experienced the difficulty of winning over young people for an apprenticeship in a small business. Sheet metal working is loud and it is a hard job. "We have found two new apprentices, who now will start with us in September. But that cost us a lot of effort."
Surveys reveal that every seventh business tends to lower its demands regarding apprentices-to-be. This course of action is recommended also by Raimund Becker, Member of the Board of the German Federal Employment Agency. "It is important that employers give weaker youths a chance." The fact that this strategy is gaining ground has been confirmed also by the German Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training. BIBB researcher Günter Walden: "Businesses seem to open up towards weaker youths and more rarely strictly exclude them from being hired as an apprentice."
The Association of German Chambers of Industry and Commerce (DIHK) confirms this assessment. In his annual skilled personnel survey, Walden has found out that already about a third of businesses are prepared to award apprenticeship placements also to weaker performing youths. Because school and out-company compensating measures fail to achieve sufficient rates of successful integration in the first employment market, the involved stakeholders increasingly place their bet on in-company concepts.
For the providers of education this signifies less business. They have to reposition themselves. This, too, is something Korten works on. He wants the providers of education to develop into competent service providers for the businesses. "Youth welfare work can be promoted to become the third power within the dual system of vocational education and training."
Training assistance in addition to apprenticeship
By now, the number of businesses providing private tuition is rather large. 58 per cent of businesses that find themselves confronted with a lack of educational standards amongst young people introduce additional measures. Nationwide, 42,000 young people make use of the training assistance offered in addition to their apprenticeship. This package, tied by the employment agencies, exists in addition to the normal vocational education and training provision. It relies on remedial teaching in the subjects of mathematics and German. The programme can help also in the event of deficiencies regarding trade-specific theory and practice. Sometimes, problems exist also regarding the so-called soft skills. If somebody does not manage to get to work on time, they are helped to get a move on in no uncertain terms.
For this regular remedial training, the employment agencies cover the teaching staff fees. What remains is the question of how to introduce these supportive concepts into daily routine at the businesses themselves. Especially in small businesses, where the boss is fully occupied with getting the orders in and completing these, there does not remain much time for dealing with support programmes and difficult apprentices. In such cases it is most helpful, when the "troubleshooters from Carpo" provide assistance.
Increasingly, small businesses and craftspeople are prepared to fill their apprenticeship placements with weaker performing youths, migrants and young women with small children. For instance, 70 per cent of the businesses providing vocational education and training can imagine providing training for weaker performing youths. This is an experience shared also by Korten. In the Carpo programme, four of five businesses are classed as small enterprises, often from the field of crafts.
Mustafa Sahin likewise receives additional tuition; each week on a Thursday he studies two extra hours of theory. Since receiving this tuition, bad grades at the vocational college have become a rarer event. Daniel Bürzele believes in Mustafa: "He is motivated, he always attends and shows initiative. These are good premises for successfully completing the apprenticeship."
Motivation, the willingness to perform, discipline and the desire to learn – this is what the young people must have. "If somebody really wants to learn, then he can manage that, independent of the grades on the school certificate", company owner Meyer is convinced. "We give the young people a second chance, but they still have to continue on their path by themselves." They have to decide what they want: earning 9 Euro per hour for 30 long years or pocketing up to 19 Euro per hour as a well-trained skilled worker?
The vocational training commitment in Mustafa Sahin's case will pay out double. The young man is absolutely determined to achieve his vocational education and training goal. "It is a bit hard, but it is ok. After all, I am not here to have fun." His expectations are clear: he wants interesting work, secure employment and a good income. If possible, preferably in Schorndorf.