A new analysis conducted by the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB) based on a survey covering 5, 500 young people aged 18 to 24 shows that young people with migrant backgrounds are nearly as successful in dual vocational education and training (VET) as their counterparts not from migrant backgrounds.
Conditions at the outset of dual VET are less favourable for young migrants. Their school leaving qualifications tend to be too low for the training demands they would like to attain. Therefore, the occupation they train in is less likely to correspond to their preferred occupation. They are also more likely to drop out of training without having achieved a qualification.
After completion of training, four per cent of young migrants obtain a permanent employment contract from the company providing training. Some 27 per cent receive a fixed-term employment contract. For young people not from migrant backgrounds, the proportions are 35 per cent and 26 per cent respectively. The study indicates that companies are particularly satisfied with performances of trainees from migrant backgrounds.
However, the greatest hurdle remains transition from school to dual VET. Only 75 per cent of young migrants progress to dual training within three years. The corresponding figure for young people not from migrant backgrounds is 84 per cent.
For young migrants, prospects of finding a training place are lower than those of young people not from migrant backgrounds. This applies even when the starting conditions are equal, such as same social origin, same prior school learning, same method in searching for a training place and same training market situation in the region of residence.
BIBB president Friedrich Hubert Esser believes it is important to improve access to dual VET for young migrants. 'The vital thing is to provide young people from migrant backgrounds with more individual and more extensive advice and to give them the support they need to find a training place and complete their training successfully despite their more difficult starting position. Initial resolutions which promise to deliver success were formulated at the seventh integration summit and through the newly-formed alliance for initial and continuing training. The focus now needs to be on putting these into practice.'