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.
In cooperation with Handwerk Hochtaunus and the Chamber of Industry and Commerce Frankfurt, the teachers from the Hochtaunusschule, a vocational school in Oberursel, provide information regarding secondary schools and 17 occupations requiring vocational training. Individual companies, such as Continental or Procter & Gamble, are likewise represented.
This information campaign is due to the large number of apprentices discontinuing their vocational training: A minimum of 20 per cent of all entrants give up already during their first year of apprenticeship. "Often expectations are not met by the professional workaday life", says Ulrike Valentin, who heads the division of agricultural economics.
In total, 1,461 pupils attend the Hochtaunusschule. The most popular occupations include industrial mechanic, information electronics technician and mechatronics engineer. Marc Schmidt, who is a member of the examination board of the metal construction guild, considers the qualifying examination necessary, "Many applicants can hardly study in a structured manner anymore and they have difficulties with arithmetic and writing." Moreover, they lacked staying power.
Headmaster Dieter Häußer says that the number of apprentices declined because of the demographic development and an "increased inclination to study". Demand was to rise. Yet who is to teach the skilled labour required in the future? "There is a lack of young vocational school teachers." For years now, the school was understaffed. "We help ourselves by way of employing master craftsmen and part-time workers, but in the long run this does not hold a future."