The Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs of the Federal State of Baden-Württemberg funds the continuation of the vocational training ambassador initiative from 1 April 2015 to 31 December 2017 with about EUR 1.8 million. Vocational training ambassadors are apprentices who present their occupations to pupils and motivate them towards choosing an apprenticeship.
"We have identified new focus areas in the vocational training ambassador initiative up until the end of 2017 with senior vocational training ambassadors for parents as well as more visits to general and vocational upper secondary schools", explained Finance and Economic Affairs Minister Nils Schmid. "That way, we intend to win over also more parents and grammar school pupils to appreciate the opportunities offered by vocational education and training."
About EUR 277,000 have been allocated to the head office in Stuttgart, which is run by the Baden-Württemberg Association of Chambers of Industry and Commerce in co-operation with the Baden-Württemberg Association of Chambers of Crafts, the Landesvereinigung Baden-Württembergischer Arbeitgeberverbände e.V. (Federal State Federation of Employers' Associations in Baden-Württemberg) and the German Confederation of Trade Unions in Baden-Württemberg.
The office is responsible for the initiative's project management, quality assurance and public relations as well as for co-operation with regional co-ordinators. About EUR 1.5 million go towards supporting 21 co-ordinators who recruit and train vocational training ambassadors and co-ordinate their deployment.
"We are delighted that with the Chambers of Crafts in Mannheim and Konstanz two new chambers of crafts have joined our ranks, who employ co-ordinators and recruit vocational training ambassadors in particular in the skilled trades", Schmid continued.
Senior vocational training ambassadors are either industry employees or business owners who launched their career with an in-house apprenticeship. Their task will be to present vocational education and training occupations and to point out the opportunities afforded by an apprenticeship during parents' evenings at schools and similar events.
Since the launch of the initiative in August 2011, some 6,400 vocational training ambassadors from 180 occupations across the federal state have been trained for their role.
So far, they have reached out to more than 110,000 pupils. Currently, about 3,200 vocational training ambassadors are in action. An evaluation by the University of Stuttgart has revealed that the vocational training ambassadors have awakened an interest in vocational education and training in more than 50 per cent of the roughly 7,000 pupils included in the federal state-wide poll. This has been confirmed also by 70 per cent of teachers.
Since June 2013, the vocational training ambassador initiative has been a nationwide award winner in the competition 'Ideen für die Bundesrepublik' (Ideas for the Federal Republic) organised by the initiative 'Germany – Land of Ideas'.
The competition is tendered by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research in co-operation with the Vodafone Foundation Germany.