Each country differs in how vocational education and training is organised. A key aspect is the combination of the world of work with school-based learning. Learning within a business and at vocational colleges is combined in very different ways, ranging from apprenticeship training as it is found almost exclusively in the German-speaking countries to full-time learning at vocational colleges.
For example, the path to qualifying as a mechanic is regulated in very different ways across the European Union.
"Vocational education and training constitutes an essential factor for a country's wealth and economic performance", says Professor Annette Ostendorf. She heads the Institute of Organisation and Learning at the University of Innsbruck; her research interest as a business education specialist focuses on issues pertaining to vocational education and training.
With a small team from Innsbruck, she has collaborated in the European Union (EU) project ConVET(Connectivity in Vocational Education and Training, 2012–2014). The project objective was to identify and compare various approaches to vocational education and training in several EU countries. The combination of the world of work with school-based learning is the topic of numerous research papers and international comparison studies.
For example, the dual system of vocational education and training for apprentices is a phenomenon that is based on this combination, yet is hardly established anywhere outside the German-speaking countries.
"The key word in this context is 'connectivity': how to successfully combine practice-oriented and school-based learning? Here we find very different approaches and ideas across Europe", the business education specialist explains.
This co-operation between 'the world of school' and the 'world of work' can be organised at very different levels: for instance, directly with regards to the lessons and teaching provision or as part of the curricula or regarding the vocational education and training system as a whole.
ConVET mainly targets the meso-level of curricula. "In one step, we have compared the curricula in the partnering countries by way of a document analysis; here, we mainly searched for characteristics and structures that are designed to support connectivity. The systems in the participating countries featured significant differences in this respect."
In Austria, the research focused on the curricula for the tourism college, the commercial school and the apprenticeship occupations in the occupational fields of the retail industry, manufacturing industry and food service industry.
"Austria and Germany have similar systems regarding the provision of dual system vocational education and training. However, Germany does not feature a vocational training system along the lines of the BMHS System. [BMHS: Berufsbildende mittlere und höhere Schulen – Vocational Middle and Upper Secondary Schools] Also the curricula are fundamentally different, even regarding the rather similar organisational structures of apprenticeship training", says Annette Ostendorf.
Austrian framework curricula follow a different structure than, for example, the German dual system curricula and their fields of learning. "These curricula derive learning fields from fields of activity in occupational practice, which in turn are made tangible as learning situations within the lessons. So connectivity is kept in mind also at a curricular level. In Austria, corresponding framework curricula are structured rather on the basis of theoretical content."
Certain elements of connectivity may be laid down also at the level of the education system itself, for example, in Austria, Germany and Switzerland by way of the codification of the dual system in the apprenticeship training provision including vocational colleges and vocational training directly in the workplace.
"Regarding the apprenticeship training provision, Switzerland adds another step: a third learning venue is explicitly established in addition to the vocational college and the workplace. These central vocational training institutions complement the practical training provision in the workplace and promote the transfer of learning between the vocational college and the business", Annette Ostendorf explains.
The difference to Austria and Germany is the fact that in Switzerland, these central training facilities are part of the system, which means that they have to contribute to fulfilling the curriculum. Although the other two countries feature chamber-based programmes, these are not systematically included in the educational mandate.
Austria features a second model of vocational education and training in addition to the dual system: that of the BMHS (Vocational Middle and Upper Secondary Schools).
"Those schools, too, are characterised by varying degrees of connectivity; frequently, they simulate professional practice situations: for example, by way of practice companies at commercial schools, workshops at the HTL – yet there are also mandatory work placements."
[HTL: Höhere Technische Lehranstalt – Higher Technical Institute]
The BHS (Vocational Upper Secondary Schools), however, provide another advantage: In addition to a qualified vocational education and training programme, they provide also a full university entrance qualification upon graduation.
The ConVET project also revealed that the manner in which the teaching and training staff are qualified constitutes a critical success factor in promoting connectivity. "For example, business economy specialists in Austria have to work in a company for two years after graduating from university before they are allowed to teach at the BMHS; this is an example of the establishment of connectivity in the training provision for teachers. The advantage this provides is illustrated also by empirical research results for Austria."
Again and again, debate in these matters discusses the transfer of the dual system to countries that currently do not employ it. However, this is far more difficult to implement that it might seem at first glance:
"The apprenticeship training system in the German-speaking countries has been following similar structures already since the Middle Ages, has continued largely unbroken in its traditions and therefore continues to be firmly established in the public awareness and that of businesses – for example, this implicitness does not exist in many South European countries.
On the other hand, industry in Austria, Germany and Switzerland consists of many small and medium-sized enterprises, which at the same time constitute the backbone of the apprenticeship training provision. The transfer of elements of the vocational education and training system is a very complex issue due to the deep cultural and economic roots and is often underestimated", says Annette Ostendorf.
The ConVET project focused on researching the combination of occupational theory and practice in vocational education and training programmes in several EU countries. The question regarding the establishment of connectivity between the world of work and school-based learning is a key issue of vocational education and training and is implemented in very different ways in the various European vocational education and training systems.
The partnering countries Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Finland and Italy feature interesting approaches to combining theory and practice at the meso-level of the education system (organisational structures, curricula and so on), the micro-level of vocational education and training (lessons and instruction) and at the macro-level (of the education system), which have been subject to detailed analysis and debate within this project.
Here, ConVET provided the opportunity for learning from each other by way of exchange and for advancing the development of theories in the field of business education.
The project supervision was carried out by the Swiss Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (SFIVET) in Lugano. Other partners included four universities, one school as well as chambers and associations. The project received funding in the context of the European Union's Leonardo Partnership Programme; the Austrian share was covered by Professor Annette Ostendorf and her team of business education specialists in Innsbruck.