Education

From School to Labour Market: Dual Training made in Germany

Rainer Schulz

You may have heard of the so-called Dual System or Dual Training, and how effective it is to get young people from school to the labour market. In order to understand the system, let me give you some basic information on it. First of all, let us consider the basic three options schoolleavers have in Germany, no matter what type of general school they went to. For all of them, the Dual System means an alternative and most likely the key to success.

The choices

First of all, there are the full-time vocational schools which offer training programmes which lead to recognized occupations and qualifications. The training may include company placements, and covers a period of two or three years depending on the respective occupation. Admission to full-time vocational schools in most cases requires an intermediate school leaving certificate. Final qualifications are awarded on passing a school examination which is supervised by the education authority.

Universities and universities of applied sciences offer a lot of study programmes. Only some of them prepare students directly for a certain occupation. The aim is rather to provide students with a scientific background. In the course of European harmonization (according to the Bologna Process) Bachelor and Master Degrees can be achieved.

About 60 per cent of the school leavers in Germany embark on Dual Training. Basically, there are no formal schooling requirements for entrance to Dual Training. However, the schooling background of the candidates is an important criterion for most companies when selecting their trainees.

The principle: two learning areas

Two partners share the responsibility for vocational education and training: A company signs a training contract with a young trainee and accepts the responsibility for teaching the required training contents in its premises. In other words, practical training is mainly provided at the workplace. This is the central point in which the German Dual System differs from the schoolbased training model of other countries: In-company training familiarises the trainees with the technological and organisational aspects of the current work processes. In addition, trainees contribute to the company’s productivity during their training, which reduces the overall cost of vocational training for both the companies and society at large.

Trainees spend two thirds of their training period in the company and attend the remaining third at a vocational school in order to qualify for one of the recognised training occupations within a period of two, three or three and a half years – according to occupation and school leaving certificate achieved.

Training in the company is based on training regulations which the Federal Government has issued for each occupation. These regulations stipulate for example the minimum vocational skills as well as the examination requirements. This ensures a comparable level of training and examinations in a specific occupation throughout Germany. Transparency on the labour market can thus be increased for both employers and employees.

Trainees spend one third of their training period at the vocational school and two thirds in their company. Attendance at school can be organised according to the special needs of an occupation on one or two days per week, which we call the Day-Release-System, or for a longer period, for example six weeks, and then return to the company for two months. We call this the Block-Release-System.

At vocational schools, trainees are mainly taught theoretical and practical knowledge related to their occupation; in addition they attend classes on general subjects such as economics and social studies and also sometimes foreign languages – depending on the requirements of their occupation. By the way, English is a compulsory subject in all vocational schools in Hamburg.

Systematic teaching at a vocational school is a necessary supplement to process-oriented training in the company, which is rather more based on specific in-house requirements. Teaching is structured according to the learning segment concept, in which lessons concentrate on relevant situations and how to master them by using the skills immanent to the subjects. This concept is practised in vocational schools in Germany. It is also named teaching in learning areas.

The contract: responsibilities and duties negotiated

Trainees sign a training contract with a company. There are no minimum requirements for a training contract under the Dual System as long as the requirement of vocational education and training is met. The schooling background of trainees therefore varies. Most of them (43%) have acquired an intermediate school leaving certificate (equivalent to GCSE in Britain), about 4% of the trainees have no school leaving certificate at all, whereas 21% have even acquired higher education entrance qualifications. In Hamburg, they amount to 38%.

Training in the company is provided within the framework of a contract which is based on general labour law and includes some special regulations concerning e.g.:

Training periods

Training plans

Termination of employment, and

Money paid monthly.

The importance of vocational competence

The aim of all training regulations is to ensure vocational competence. It is therefore not sufficient to teach specialised skills only. Vocational competence also includes the ability to plan, carry out and supervise work independently, which is generally termed methodical skills. Furthermore, graduates of Dual Training must also be able to interact adequately with colleagues, supervisors and customers, that is, they must have social skills.

The final examinations

At the end of the training, the final examination is administered under public law. As companies see Dual Training as an investment, they are interested in ensuring that their trainees are successful. Candidates who have passed the final examination are awarded a certificate, which testifies the successful completion of training in a state-recognised training occupation.

Dual training aims to enable people to work independently in a specific profession. Completion of a relevant training course is the criterion usually applied when staff is recruited for a job and the salary fixed. Vocational qualifications are considered proof of the skills needed for the respective job.

There are state-recognised training occupations in all sectors of the economy and administration – from agriculture to manufacturing to the public sector. Currently, there are 333 recognised training occupations in Germany – approximately 250 in Hamburg. They are continuously updated, as necessary.

Win-win situation

Graduates of dual training are familiar with company processes and have worked together with company staff for a relatively long time. They are qualified for their specific job and usually show an above-average loyalty to their company. Furthermore, they contribute considerably to corporate value while training in the company. However, the young people also benefit from Dual Training. The certificate attests vocational qualifications. These are recognised throughout Germany and give them a competitive advantage over graduates of non-company training programmes. This is because of the practical orientation of Dual Training. Graduates therefore have good prospects on the German labour market if they want to transfer to another employer. Last but not least, the allowance which trainees are paid during Dual Training provides a certain degree of independence to them. Many trainees are offered an unlimited work contract by their own training company after having passed their final examinations.

About the author

Rainer Schulz

Studies of business management, sports science and educational science in Hamburg with the diploma certified teacher of commercial subjects (Dipl.-Handelslehrer); second State Examination; postgraduate studies in special needs education. 1987-2004 teacher at vocational schools – including 13 years as head teacher of a vocational school in Hamburg; 2004-2008 school inspector and head of the Department of Education at Professional Schools of the State Institute for Teacher Training and School Development in Hamburg. Postgraduate course Coaching at the Institute for Advanced Studies at the University of Kiel with a certification in 2006. Since July 2008 CEO of the Hamburg Institute for Vocational Education and Training (44 vocational schools with a total of about 3,300 employees as well as 52,000 students).

From School to Labour Market: The Hamburg Model

Beate Gröblinghoff

Choices: Full-time Vocational Schools, Universities or Dual Training

For school leavers in Germany, there are basically three options to enter the labour market: First of all they may attend full-time vocational schools which offer training programmes leading to recognised occupations and qualifications. The training may include company placements. It covers a period of two or three years, depending on the respective occupation. Admission to full-time vocational schools in most cases requires an intermediate school leaving certificate. Final qualifications are awarded on passing an examination which is supervised by the education authority.

Alternatively, secondary school leavers with university entrance qualification or the option to access universities of applied sciences may take advantage of a lot of study programmes. Only some of them prepare students directly for a certain occupation. Generally, the aim of Higher Education is to provide students with a scientific background rather than practical skills.

However, the most common way from school to the labour market for the majority of school leavers in Germany is the Dual Training System. This is open to everyone, no matter what kind of school leaving certificate they achieved or none at all. In order to become a trainee in the Dual System, a training contract with a company must be signed. It specifies rights and duties during training time, which may take two or even three and a half years, depending on the occupation chosen and other factors. All in all, the trainees spend two thirds of the time in their companies, and the remaining third at vocational schools.

Organisation

There are different forms of organisation. The day release system is very common. This means the trainees spend three and a half days in a company and the rest of the week at vocational schools (this is common e.g. for hairdressers or cooks). Alternatively, there is the block release system which means the trainees spend several weeks in the company and some at school, without interruptions (for example bankers or industrial clerks). But what happens with school leavers with training maturity but without a training contract? For these, the Hamburg Model may be an alternative.

The Hamburg Model

There are many reasons why young people did not manage to sign a training contract with a company, such as the non-existence of training facilities of a certain profession in their area, or a lack of training maturity. (Reasons may include lack of language skills or social competence.) If the latter is the case, they attend the Preparatory Vocational School in order to acquire it, and then may attend The Hamburg Model or enter the Dual System directly.

Target Group and Aims

For school leavers with training maturity but without a training contract, The Hamburg Model was created. For a year, they attend vocational schools and get to know companies of branches similar to their interests by work placements, which the schools arrange. But there are other advantages, such as the potential saving of time, if these young people manage to conclude training contracts with companies during this time and enter the Dual System, as they are taught the same contents as trainees during their first year of training. The schools cooperate with suitable companies as partners. Students are coached individually.

If after successful completion of the first year no training contract came into existence, a responsible body may act as a substitute for a company, and the students may attend courses of the Hamburg Model for a longer period. This is guaranteed by the City of Hamburg. The general aim of The Hamburg Model is to strengthen training ability so that students find it easier to obtain a training contract and not to lose valuable time. This is an effective measure to decrease youth unemployment.

Admission

In order to be admitted to the Hamburg Model, these young people have to provide a couple of documents, such as a letter of application, expressing their interest in a special branch, a CV, school certificates, and references. Furthermore, they have to provide evidence of their unsuccessful applications with companies by presenting applications and letters of refusal.

The general objective of all measures

The aim of all training regulations is to gain vocational competence. It is therefore not sufficient to teach only specialised skills. Vocational Competence also includes the ability to plan, carry out and supervise work independently, which is generally termed methodical skills. Furthermore, graduates of Dual Training must also be able to interact adequately with colleagues, supervisors and customers, that is, they must have social skills.

Export of The Hamburg Model

The Hamburg Model is currently being applied in Budapest, where 16 participants are being qualified as bricklayers, tilers, painters and upholsterers. Furthermore, in Vilnius, 16 participants are being trained as building construction workers and insulation fitters. Poland, Latvia and Norway expressed their interest in the implementation of the Hamburg Model and currently are examining possible ways of adapting the system in their countries. Originally, it was the EU’s goal to implement the Hamburg Model at least in one country. However, the interest in it seems to be significantly larger than expected.

About the author

Beate Gröblinghoff

1988-1992: Head of the Urban and Regional Research Section in the Department for Statistics in the City of Münster. 1992-2002: Consultant for basic data and district affairs of the planning staff of the Senate Chancellery of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (FHH) - Section for Fundamental Issues. 2002-2011: Head of the Foreign Section of Protocol, Senate Chancellery and Deputy Chief of Protocol of the FHH. 2012: Head of Project Baltic Sea Conference on Education in the Ministry for Education and Vocational Training of the FHH - Hamburg Institute for Vocational Education and Training (HIBB). Since 2013: Coordination of international counselling activities of the HIBB in the field of vocational education for representatives of foreign ministries and institutions.

The Concept to Implement Dual Education in Poland

Michał Igielski, Monika Zajkowska

If you think about vocational education above all you have to think about the labour market – vocational education has got the task to prepare for pursuing a definite profession. Therefore it is worthwhile thinking, whether graduates in Poland are able to find their place on the labour market and gaining recognition by employers rapidly.

On account of:

dynamic changes in the demand for work which require great flexibility along with occupational mobility;

substantial reduction of the significance of traditional economic branches to the benefit of the ones new and innovative, where often (completely exaggeratedly) a higher education is expected;

vocational education, should more actively and dynamically participate in the processes occurring in the socio-economic sphere.

Vocational education in the Pomeranian province, in particular outside areas of major cities, has a long-standing tradition and very often has at his disposal an enormous potential which must be used to the purpose of the efficiency improvement of the regional labour market, what will certainly be transferred into the growth in the economy. Unfortunately long-term negligence connected with popularizing secondary school education caused that the reactivation of this process required immediate and system corrective actions in order to raise the vocational training from the crisis it was in.

In this situation the model of dual vocational education, very much valued in other European countries and more and more often being a subject of nationwide discussion, is understood as¹: combining knowledge acquisition at school and practical learning of the specific profession in the enterprise.

Unfortunately in spite of such great interest in this system the knowledge of his subject along with the possible implementation plan and determining barriers and potential advantages for entities employed in it is still too small and very much dispersed. The lack is also in this discussion, differently comprehend the shared voice system bodies running schools, their employees (not to say pupils), entrepreneurs, labour market institutions, not to say representatives of individual political groups.

1. Principles of dual educating in Poland – the German model

From the beginning of the reform changing the vocational training in Poland two years have passed. For this period a new job classification of the vocational education and a new basis of educating in the competition were implemented. Additionally the education system was liberalised what acquiring qualifications enables with different paths and examinations confirming qualifications in the profession are based on the homogeneous outline. All these steps are connected with adapting the vocational training to the needs of the labour market. Perfectly a dual education system is becoming part of this action.

In Europe the system of the dual vocational training plays a dominant role in these countries:²

Switzerland: 87% of pupils of vocational and technical schools are participating in the dual system of vocational training, but only a 13% in the school professional system;

Germany: 69% of pupils of vocational and technical schools are learning the profession in the dual education system, 31% are studying in the school professional system;

Czech Republic: 58% of the whole of pupils of vocational and technical schools are studying in the dual system of vocational training, 42% in the school professional system;

Hungary: Over 1/3 of the pupils are participating in the dual system of vocational training (37%), however in the school system of the apprenticeship 63% of pupils are studying;

Netherlands: 33% of participants in the vocational training is being taught the profession in the dual education system; a 67% of pupils is participating in the school education system.

In the German education system a few kinds of schools participate:

primary school: for pupils aged 6-10;

secondary school of the first degree - equivalent of the Polish junior secondary school: for pupils 10-15/16 years;

vocational schools in the dual system: half of dimension of the time of the learning (51%), in the full dimension of the time (12%) and secondary schools of the second degree equivalent of the Polish secondary school (37%) - for pupils aged 15-19.

Persons of the age 19 may choose from carrying on learning higher education institutions (university) or using the system of the continuing vocational training. Traineeship of enterprises is a crucial element of the dual education system. Apart from different types of schools, the German system of the post-secondary vocational education is based on a cooperation of many partners. All entities involved in this process are accepting different functions and areas of responsibility. Moreover both a procedure of seeking practice by trainee graduates of the profession, and then undergoing practice are playing the particular role.³

The German model of vocational education, the so-called dual system, is combining theoretical learning with practical vocational training which constitutes a preliminary vocational training course. Persons getting the vocational secondary education by the dual education most often undergo the three-year-old apprenticeship at school and in the workplace according to the chosen profession or at specialist vocational schools being subject to an exclusive control of the State. In the dual education system in Germany are involved both partners from the federal level, as well as from the Land level: social partners (representatives of employers and employees) and industrial and commerce chambers or craft chambers. On the federal level the state agencies involved in the system of dual vocational training are above all the Ministry of Research and of Education and the Labour and Economy Department. On the federal level establishing general rules concerning the organization of the educational process is a responsibility of the state. These principles assumed the form of the Act on a vocational training course (Berufsbildungsgesetz). According to records of this act, regulations of the learning set by all representatives of groups involved in the process, are being put into practice by the competent minister of the federation - most often the minister of economy. A job classification being in force is an essential attachment of the act which in 2001 counted 360 professions. The dual system does not include the civil service, partly also of practiced professions in the department of health. It is worthwhile noticing, that when the act on a vocational training course came into effect over 30 years ago, the service sector had a lower significance than in present times and therefore the professions typical of the service sector in it were not considered. According to the discussed act as part of the dual system leaving a ten-year-old secondary modern school is a condition of the learning. Being characteristic of federal regulations in the field of the lifelong education one should mention The Vocational Training Act which educating young persons leaving the system of the compulsory learning is regulated. This document determines that the vocational training is combining the preliminary education, retraining, and lifelong education. According to the German constitution regulations arising from this act do not influence the functioning of vocational schools which are left in the management of the individual Lands.⁴

The German system obliges all enterprises to form a union at the industrial chamber, but