Youth unemployment in Spain is at 46 per cent, in Italy at roughly 30 per cent. Alarming numbers, prompting the labour ministers of the G20 countries in 2011 to present a catalogue for combatting youth unemployment.
The wording is as follows: The dual vocational training system is to be attributed particular importance, as it can help to counteract the high rate of unemployment. Yet the standards as regards dual vocational training differ immensely between the European countries. It is noteworthy that in those countries featuring high standards, youth unemployment is not a big issue at all.
Given this background, it is doubly significant that a group of international educational researchers recently compiled a memorandum including international "Standards for Structure, Organisation and Governance of Vocational Education and Training". This is the first strategy paper featuring joint standards and demands in the history of vocational education. It was compiled by a commission of the International Network on Innovative Apprenticeship (INAP). Professor Felix Rauner, education expert at the University of Bremen, was called to head the commission.
The educational researchers regard the introduction of broadbanded "core occupations", that is, open dynamic occupational profiles as an important prerequisite for increasing the desirability of vocational education and training. Following this concept, the number of occupational profiles requiring vocational training can be significantly reduced. The memorandum suggests a range of approximately 250 such profiles.
Increased stability of occupations
Core occupations increase the flexibility of the labour market and mobility of skilled labour. This can help to counteract the trend towards excessive specialisation in occupational development which can be observed in many countries. The result would be the increased stability of occupations and simplified occupational orientation for pupils. Moreover, core occupations are an essential prerequisite for the development of occupational identity and the sense of responsibility resulting from it.
The cooperation between in-company learning and learning at vocational schools is a particular challenge for a functioning dual vocational education and training system. This "cooperation between learning venues" is most effective, if the system is controlled by a vocational training act applying to all learning venues. Furthermore, the educational researchers advocate parallel educational tracks featuring a continuous dual educational track culminating in doctoral programmes and the PhD.
Under this system, master craftsmen, for instance, can continue their education by way of a dual master study course. The memorandum claims that this is the only way to effectively design the permeability between vocational and academic education postulated for decades.
In three chapters, "Criteria for modern dual vocational education", "Governance of Dual VET Systems" and "Structure and development of occupational curricula", a total of twenty standards is formulated and substantiated. In its work, the commission has been guided also by the examples of good vocational education and training practice in countries such as Germany and Switzerland. "I am sure", says Professor Rauner, "that these standards will be of seminal significance also in modernising the vocational education and training system in Germany."
The memorandum is available in German and in English and can be requested per email: innovative-apprenticeship@uni-bremen.de.