Framework of Actions for the Lifelong Development of Competencies and Qualifications

Framework of Actions for the Lifelong Development of Competencies and Qualifications - Federal Republic of Germany

In March 2002, the European social partners adopted a framework of actions for the lifelong development of competences and qualifications, as a contribution to the implementation of the Lisbon strategy.

In 2004 the focus was on the initiation of steps to further improve general academic education through activities of the German federal government and its states (including the expansion of pre-school advancement, full-time schools, and the further development of educational standards). The year was also marked by activities dedicated to the improvement of vocational education and the generation of an adequate number of educational opportunities for young people.

In May 2004 the Federal Government of Germany put forward a bill to amend the Vocational Training Act. Employers, employees and the government had a collective hand in formulating the language of the bill, through statements or – as the federation of German Trade Union (DGB) had – through a bill of its own. The present status of the legislation is that it will become law in the first half of 2005. Employers, employees and the government are collectively advocating for the further development of the quality assurance and interpenetration of different forms of education, as well as for better integration of German vocational education and training in an international context.

The year 2004 also involved continuation of the process of modernisation, involving the development of new and modernisation of existing occupations. Through this process, with effect from 1 August 2004, some five new vocational designations were created and twenty-five existing designations brought up to date.

The central theme in vocational education for 2004 was the keen competitive situation of the educational market itself. In the first half of 2004, debate around this issue was driven by the plans of the federal government for the introduction of apprenticeship places for school-leavers included within the Vocational Education Assurance Act.

On 16 June 2004 the federal government and central associations of the German economy completed the National Pact on Vocational Training and Young Apprentice Development ‘Nationaler Pakt für Ausbildung und Fachkräftenachwuchs in Deutschland’(see below). Continuing education stands next to general academic education and vocational education and training as the third pillar of our educational system. Along with these, the demands of continuing vocational education through federal work agencies play an important role, showing that inadequate successes in worker reintegration, efficiency and goal direction must indeed be further improved.

After the discussion on the results of PISA, in 2003 first steps in the right direction have been taken in reforming the school system (all-day schools, standards). Further efforts to raise the quality of education and to strengthen the basis for lifelong learning are needed. Continuous further development of qualifications is a shared task of the social partners in worker participation, and is laid down in the labour-management relations act. It places on the social partners a responsibility to promote this objective also in the process of lifelong learning through appropriate measures and agreements.

Especially the dual vocational training system (Duale Berufsausbildung) in Germany is the basis for a skilled workforce, securing innovation and competitiveness. The standard training provided for in work contracts is largely concentrated in a period of three to three-and-a-half years, in order to maintain and further develop the high level of qualification in the interest of employees and employer. To that end, the social partners created a total of seven new vocational training profiles and reworked twenty-one existing vocational training profiles during the reporting period 2003.

It continues to be an important shared goal that education and training are interlinked in such a way that the cross-over from vocational training to higher education is facilitated. Also in 2003 the basis was build for the introduction of new recognised occupations with less complex requirements in order to open perspectives to disadvantaged young people and those with learning deficits.

Alongside school, university and the dual vocational training system, vocational training is an integral component of our education and training system. In this regard, promotion of vocational training by the Federal Labour Agency plays an important role. The poor success rates for reintegration of the unemployed in the labour market have shown that the quality of measures needs to be upgraded, in order genuinely to improve the chances of the unemployed on the labour market. The measures must be carried through more efficiently and on a more targeted basis, as well as being oriented on individual qualification needs. Above all, the chances of hitherto disadvantaged target groups on the labour market are also in urgent need of improvement.

In order to prepare the ground for the sustainable success of the social partners’ initiatives and actions to improve vocational skills and qualifications, the public authorities must improve the framework conditions. This relates in particular to incentives to open up further learning opportunities, improving access and strengthening social cohesion.

Continuing training develops competences in line with changing needs. It is important to stress that there are different responsibilities. Training that is exclusively related to employers and the vocational training system is the full responsibility of employers. Training that is exclusively related to private interests other than working life is the full responsibility of the individual. Training that is related to private interests as well as to the workplace and to general employability has to be a shared responsibility between employees, employers and the state. This shared responsibility needs a better balance, which does not place the entire burden on the employer or employees. The social partners agree that different incentives (legislation, financial or tax support, time-accounts, etc.) should be promoted by the state to reinforce implementation of the lifelong learning process throughout working life.

Nationaler Pakt für Ausbildung und Fachkräftenachwuchs in Deutschland (National Compact on Vocational Training and young skilled personnel in Germany)

The National Pact on Vocational Training and Young Apprentice Development, signed by the Federal Government and the main organisations representing German business (BDA, BDI, DIHK and ZDH) on 16 June 2004 for three years, reflects how business takes responsibility for training young people. Such voluntary commitment and cooperation of relevant actors works much better than mandatory instruments such as training levies and improves the vocational training situation. The federal compact is accompanied by regional pacts, which breathe life into the federal pact.

The common goal of the federal government and business organisations is, within the compact’s framework and in close cooperation with the “Länder” (German federal states), to offer every capable and willing young person a training opportunity. Young people with limited opportunities enter into special pre-training measures in order to be integrated into regular vocational training (signing an apprenticeship contract with a company).

As in 2003, employers’ organisations announced in 2004 that they will make every effort to offer as many apprenticeships places as possible. Employer organisations, especially at regional level, call upon companies to invest in vocational training, to support and organise training cooperation). They also organise advertising campaigns to recruit young people for their apprenticeship places and support schools for a better vocational guidance. Employer organisations invest a total of € 100 million in all these initiatives every year – in addition to the € 28 billion that companies invest in the initial vocation training of their apprentices.

Under the title “Educational Coaching,” the LeA project of the Federation of German Trade Unions (DGB) is aimed at offering a course in which ‘coaches’ will be certified to assist employees in various ways.

2005 will be dedicated to the realisation of this continuing education certification for the activity of educational coaching. This year’s work will serve as a model experiment for the agenda of the project in future years. The instruction being offered is constructed in a modular and proactive way. It will be offered in the form of in-service training consisting of seven modules.

In addition, during the first half of 2005, a consulting and monitoring programme for workers and staff councils will be developed. This supplemental programme is meant to provide these workers and staff councils the necessary competences and methods for the participants to raise their levels of preparation for continuing education. It is also meant to strengthen the themes of lifelong learning, the early determination of qualifications, and the work-life balance in their daily activities.

Through the initiative and support of qualification and organisational development processes, employer representatives are able to provide an important contribution to generating and developing the employability of their co-workers and at the same time to strengthen the competitiveness of their business.

LeA is being promoted and supported within the framework of the Early Recognition of Qualification Needs Initiative started by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research. The project is being conducted in cooperation with the Berufsfortbildungswerk (bfw) and the Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Organisation. www.dgb-lea.de

BDA has taken the opportunity to launch a trans-national project, together with four partners, the French business confederation MEDEF, the Austrian industrial association IV, the Danish employers’ association DA and the German trade union DGB with the aim of stimulating a trans-national exchange of experiences and promoting follow-up of the framework of action for lifelong learning. All employer project partners were expected to cooperate with their national trade unions.

The overall intention of this common project, which is titled “Industrial relations and social dialogue in change – Bringing European framework agreements into life” was to bring forward implementation of the framework agreements. The aim was to “translate” the contents of the framework agreements for companies, and actively to include them in this process.

Implementation of the framework agreements was brought forward, encouraged and publicised by means of two trans-national conferences held in Berlin. The first conference was on lifelong learning and took place on 24 February 2003 while the second conference on telework was held on 16 June 2003.

Besides the German and European social partners, branches and companies of all four participating countries attended the two conferences. It is companies themselves which considerably contribute to “translating” the abstract European agreements into coherent, applicable “guidelines”, fostering lifelong learning and telework.

As a follow up to the conferences, BDA together with the project partners has elaborated a report for each conference showing examples of good practice and demonstrating actions to be taken in Austria, Denmark, France and Germany.

In the view of the social partners involved, this was a particularly important project. Complementing the measures that the national and European social partners are deploying in any event in order to promote implementation of the two agreements on lifelong learning and telework, this project offered the opportunity to give further stimulus to existing positive practice and to integrate the new framework agreements through information, exchange of experience and specific recommendations for action. The experience gained with this project can also be used for future voluntary framework agreements reached in the framework of the social dialogue, for instance if the current negotiations on stress are concluded successfully.

In 2000, DGB jointly with BDA created the initiative “Business - necessary for general education at school”. Together, the social partners endeavour to ensure that socio- economic education becomes more firmly established in school lessons. A joint working group bringing together the Conference of Economics Ministers (WMK), Conference of Education Ministers (KMK), BDA, BDI, DIHK, ZDH and DGB has prepared “Recommendations for a core business curriculum including quality criteria for teacher education and training as well as practical training of pupils and teachers in companies”. At the heart of the recommendations, which have now been approved by WMK and KMK, are development of country-wide curricular standards, introduction of a binding time budget of 200 hours for economic education in secondary stage I, continuation and intensification of economic education in secondary stage II and development of quality criteria for teacher education and training as well as practical training of pupils and teachers in companies. The Länder are now urged to implement the recommendations as rapidly as possible.

The DGB - world of learning for professional orientation Our work environment and the world we live in are subject to drastic changes. How can pupils be best prepared for the difficult cross-over school and working life? With the project “Workshop Zukunft”, DGB, the German trade union umbrella organisation, wants to open up new ways for maturely selecting a profession and developing vocational skills. It addresses pupils from 8th to 10th grade and their teachers. At www.workshop-zukunft.de an eLearning environment has been established. A self-determined learning process in a web-based work environment makes the pupils act for themselves. At the same time it identifies ability, with the aid of the new media, for self-orientation within the working world and for the development of individual perspectives. In addition, web-based training promotes the acquisition of key qualifications for working life such as team spirit and communication skills. The project “Workshop Zukunft” is being sponsored by the federal ministry for education and research within the framework of the “school – economy/work life”- programme and through funds of the European Social Fund programme until July 2004. It is educationally flanked by the institute for research into scholastic development of the University of Dortmund.

New education and training structure in the area “Restaurator im Handwerk” (craft restorer)

An example of good practice is the new education and training structure in the area of restoration for historic monuments, which was modernised with the involvement of ZDH and the social partners during the period under review. The basis for the training regulations is constituted by the examination regulations for the individual craft specialities. These were reworked and coordinated by the relevant specialist associations and trade unions during the period under review.

Modernisation of the legal provisions for training examination regulations in this area relate to the following crafts, among others: paint and lacquer work, the specialities “structure and protection of buildings” and “church painting, historic monuments”, joiner, stonemason, carpenter, plasterer and metalworker, parquetry worker, goldsmith and silversmith, bookbinder, interior decorator and sculptor. After the journeyman examination in the above-mentioned crafts, training as a journeyman in restoration can be followed. After the master examination, training as a “craft restorer” is on offer. In this way, a particular stimulus is given to promotion of lifelong learning through an attractive training offer. This education and training concept was recommended to craft chambers across Germany for implementation.

The construction of union networks for workers and staff councils on the subject of vocational education/continuing education – The KomNetz Project

The United Service Trades Union (ver.di), the Industrial Trades Union of Metal Workers (IG Metall) and the Industrial Trades Union of Miners, Chemical, and Energy Workers (IG BCE) are the respective partners in the KomNetz Project. In this project, the unions advise and support workers councils through the structuring of lifelong learning in business, a task that in Germany, according to the Workers Council Constitution Act, is meant to be a cooperative effort of worker management. With this, the project and the networks initiated thereby should make it possible for workers and staff councils to awaken and demand the interest of employers with regard to their qualifications, as well as their paths toward professional development and promotion. In addition, the knowledge management of workers and staff councils on the subject of vocational education is meant to be supported, focusing on vocational education in the sense of deepening, expansion, conversion, exchange and generation.

KomNetz will be implemented under the auspices of the research programme „Cultures of Learning in the Development of Competency“ of the Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF). The project will be aided by the Federal Ministry for Education and Research as well as the Federal Ministry for Labour and Social Affairs by means of the European Social Fund. The programme agency is the „Work Community of Business Continuing Education Research, e.V. (ABWF). KomNetz was started up in January 2001.

In an overall initiative with the government and trade unions, employers have announced that they will make every effort to mobilise as many apprenticeship places as possible. Employers` associations, especially at regional level, have called upon companies to invest in training, offered support and organised cooperation. Examples include:

Tarifvertrag zur Beschäftigungssicherung – Ausbildungsinitiative Niedersachsen, 2 June 2003 (Collective Agreement on Employment Protection – Training Initiative Metal and Electrical Industry Lower Saxony)

The collective agreement accompanies the Training Initiative in Lower Saxony. The Association has sponsored the creation of more than 100 additional apprenticeship place in a member company with € 10,000. Furthermore, the collective agreement states that the number of places is supposed to remain constant in 2003 and 2004 and “future-oriented” occupations are to be supported.

In order to ensure that employee training is related to needs, it is essential to develop and maintain a widely accessible, high-quality and up-to-date guidance service offer. Accordingly, the purpose of the DGB project LeA is to develop and test on the ground practice-relevant and forward-looking concepts for training guidance oriented on holistic education coaching for employees. The fundamentals for the education coach concept were developed in 2003 in dialogue with employees, worker representatives, personnel officers and company directors. The needs, wishes and possibilities of the individual were given just as much consideration as the needs of companies and the basic skills and knowledge ascertained in the early recognition of qualification needs initiative. In particular, LeA meets the growing need for specialist and general guidance for employees with a low to medium level of qualification. In this way, LeA makes an active contribution to shaping the process of modernising the vocational training system and to further development of lifelong learning. DGB started the LeA project at the end of 2002, and it runs until October 2005. LeA is being promoted and supported within the framework of the early recognition of qualification needs initiative started by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research. The project is being conducted in cooperation with the Berufsfortbildungswerk (bfw) and the Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Organisation (FhIAO). www.dgb-lea.de

The subject of the initiative is “Betriebliche Strategien für eine altersgerechte und generationenübergreifende Arbeits- und Personalpolitik” (company strategies for an age-appropriate working and personnel policy including all generations). The aim is to raise the awareness of those responsible in companies, to consult them about the consequences of demographic change and to develop or test possible solutions. Partners are small and medium-sized companies, associations mainly in the metal and electrical industry (Verband deutscher Maschinen- und Anlagebau (VDMA), Zentralverband Elektrotechnik- und Elektroindustrie (ZVEI) and Zentralverband Sanitär Heizung Klima (ZVSHK)) as well as scientific advisers (Fachhochschule Niederrhein, ISO-Institut Saarbrücken, GfAH mbH Dortmund). The scope of the project includes “lifelong learning concepts”.

The first IT personnel qualification point of the IT social partners (ver.di Vereinte Dienstleistungsgewerkschaft, IG Metall, Fraunhofer Gesellschaft, Gesellschaft für Informatik, BitKom, und Zentralverband Elektrotechnik- und Elektronikindustrie e.V.) was put in place on 6 December 2002. It enables the social partners to shape the quality management of this training and to award certificates to IT specialists. Cert-IT will take care of IT personnel certification country-wide for the 29 specialist profiles in the framework of the new IT training system. Certification is based on global standards under the umbrella the accreditation body TGA and therefore offers internationally recognised diplomas, thereby ensuring cross-border acceptance and offering far-reaching perspectives. These activites are flanked by an Internet portal operated jointly by IG Metall and BITKOM, the IT sector’s trade union organisation and business association respectively. This platform supports implementation of the new education and training offers through information, guidance and services for teachers, trainers and education managers (www.kib-net.de). With a view to lifelong learning, the new IT training system promotes individual responsibility and self-managed acquisition of knowledge and skills in a targeted manner. Given that the IT training can be implemented within the company, access is greatly facilitated. Acquisition of practical skills in real work processes as provided for in the IT training system is a forward-looking model for lifelong learning. Acquisition of university degrees (Bachelor/Master) and the possibility to cross-over from the vocational to the university education system characterise potential for the future in the interest of employees, businesses and society.

Establishment of trade union networks for works councils and staff councils on the theme of vocational training/continuing training – Project KomNetz

The trade union organisations Vereinte Dienstleistungsgewerkschaft (Ver.di), Industriegewerkschaft Metall (IG Metall) and Industriegewerkschaft Bergbau, Chemie, Energie (IG BCE) are all partners in the project KomNetz. In this project the trade unions advise and support works councils in the shaping of lifelong learning in the company, which in Germany is one of the tasks of worker participation in accordance with the Federal Constitutional Law. The project and the networks that have been put in place are intended in particular to help works councils and staff councils to awaken and stimulate the interest of employees with regard to their qualification as well as development and promotion routes. In addition, they are intended to support the knowledge management of works and staff councils on the theme of vocational training in terms of deepening, supplementing, implementation, exchange and generation. KomNetz is being implemented in the framework of the research programme "Lernkultur Kompetenzentwicklung" (learning culture - skills development) put in place by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). The programme is supported by BMBF and the labour ministry with resources from the European Social Fund. The programme is operated by "Arbeitsgemeinschaft Betriebliche Weiterbildungsforschung e.V." (business training research association). KomNetz started in January 2001 and runs until December 2004. http://www.unibw-hamburg.de/PWEB/paebap/forsch/komnetz/komnetz.htm

Implementation and (motivation for) participation in national and international job competitions is also a particular achievement of the social partners, motivating not only the next generation within the profession but also the public in the area of lifelong learning. As a rule, former winners not only set up their own businesses but also work to pass on their knowledge and encourage others to learn. They therefore act as “multipliers” for lifelong learning.

Internationale Berufsweltmeisterschaft (international professional world championship) in St. Gallen (IBW) (cross-sectoral)

The organisers of IBW want to motivate young people, companies and educators from professions in industry, services and crafts to measure their performance at global level. At the same time, the image of vocational training should be promoted. In the year under review 44 professions from 37 nations with around 700 participants competed over four days for the title of world champion. The winners are therefore among world leaders in their respective professions. 180,000 spectators, including many school children, followed the event and gained an impression on the spot of the diversity and possibilities of professions. In addition to medals, “diplomas for outstanding performance” were awarded • National professional championship in craft industries (PLW - practical performance competition) At the Germany-wide finals of PLW 2003 - German championships for young journeymen - the professional capabilities of 873 regional winners were measured. The eliminations took place in 122 professional competitions. A total of 259 craftsmen, including 86 young women, won one of the much sought-after places in the three winner categories. Altogether, several thousand craftsmen up to the age of 23 took part in PLW 2003 at the level of chamber, region and country. The impetus for the competition came from ZDH and Stiftung für Begabtenförderung im Handwerk (foundation for the promotion of talent in crafts).

Competition “Die gute Form im Handwerk – Handwerker gestalten” 2003 (good form in craft - shaping craftsmen)

With this competition, which was held for the 15th time this year, creative imagination and aesthetics are intended to be promoted continuously starting at school. A further objective is to draw the attention of a wider public to the importance of design and structure in craft trades. In the year under review, a total of forty participants in the competition from nineteen trades qualified as prize-winners.

Introduction of the concept “Europeanisation and differentiation of craft education and training”

With this concept, in the year under review a modernisation process in craft vocational training was initiated, in order to ensure flexible, effective and quality- enhancing vocational training structures. This includes greater differentiation and interoperability of craft education and training, which opens up a whole range of possibilities which support target-group-oriented individualisation and flexibility in training and employment in the craft sector. This should make it possible to respond better to the different qualification requirements of employees. The individual should be able to adapt his or her career options in the craft training and employment system to changing framework conditions, and identify different training and employment career possibilities in the craft sector. In addition, craft career paths should also be better coordinated with other qualifications outside the crafts sphere. In this way, ZDH is making a contribution to the equivalence of vocational and general education and training. Furthermore, the concept makes provision for stronger orientation of craft vocational training on Europe: using “euro-compatible vocational modules”, ZDH takes account of demands for transparency, comparability, transferability and recognition of qualifications in Europe.

For implementation of the 2001 collective agreement on qualification - which covers 880,000 employees in the metal, electrical and IT industry - the social partners (Verband der Metall- und Elektroindustrie Baden-Württemberg e.V., IG Metall Baden- Württemberg) created Agentur Q in July 2002. The task of Agentur Q is to advise primarily small and medium-sized enterprises and works councils on the organisation of their vocational training. Agentur Q is intended to help support qualification in companies, so that they can continue to be competitivie into the future and can preserve jobs. The following major projects have been started:

Trade union IG Metall has developed a new guidance service for workers who are interested in continuing training but who first of all require a reliable capability analysis of their abilities and inclinations. To that end, since 2003 the Job Navigator can be used as an information and guidance service provided by IG Metall for individual vocational development. The Job Navigator is suitable for those who wish to keep professionally fit, reorient themselves, change jobs or ascertain what they are capable of. The Job Navigator comes with a personal skills handbook with which the user can catalogue and evaluate his or her own vocational skills. Also on offer is an individual capability analysis which is drawn up by external experts, a guidance service and a continuing training checklist. In addition, it comprises a wide range of information about work and professions. http://www.igmetall.de/weiterbildung/job_navigator.html

Project VAH - Virtual Automobile House – a qualification offensive in the automotive sector

IG Metall is a partner in the VAH project. This abbreviation stands for virtual automobile house. It refers to a learning system for education and training in the automotive sector. In future it is intended that all 28,000 businesses offering training in this sector in Germany should be linked up to a tele-learning centre which makes educational material available to employees online which can be used in a realistic learning environment. VAH allows qualification through practical simulative learning tasks, in other words through the trainee’s own actions. These training courses are incorporated in an educationally simplified workshop, commercial and accounting system with interfaces to all relevant automotive information systems on the basis of Internet technology. The project is being run under the responsibility of trade association Zentralverbandes des Deutschen Kraftfahrzeuggewerbes and trade union IG Metall from June 2002 until the end of May 2005, it is operated by the Fraunhofer Institut for Computer Graphics (FhIGD) in Darmstadt and has financial support from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research. http://www.vah-projekt.org/

During the 2003 negotiating round the social partners in the chemicals industry reached agreements on education and training. This year’s package comprises an agreement on “Future through education”, an “Agreement on qualification” and an addition to the sectoral framework agreement with arrangements for work-time accounts. In December 2003 the social partners carried out an assessment of training during the year. On that basis, the number of training places for 2004 was increased by 1.7%. In the case of positive developments, trade union IG BCE is prepared to negotiate on a freeze of the training budget in the framework of future negotiating rounds. If the number of offered training places agreed for 2004 is not reached, the social partners want to start negotiations “immediately” with the objective of improving the offer. The increase for subsequent years will be determined in each annual negotiating round. For the new Länder, a separate but similar collective agreement has been agreed. In the collective agreement on qualification a framework is created for vocational training which can be supplemented through agreements at company level. Central elements are company qualification planning and an individual qualification agreement. The individual qualification agreement is intended to determine the employee’s own contribution in the form of time. Training time can also be recorded in the form of credits or work-time accounts. In that case, the social partners should make arrangements for "a fair division of costs taking account of the benefit to the individual and to the business ". In this way, the social partners are entering into a new form of “co-investment” in training. In the addition to the sectoral framework agreement, the possibility of work-time accounts for training is opened. On the basis of company agreements, work-time accounts can be put in place in the form of long-term accounts. These accounts can record not only overtime, work-time reductions for older workers and rights over and above statutory holiday rights, but also overtime rates and other bonuses - in other words, the accounts can also be denominated in “monetary” terms. However, they can be used not only for training but also for time release prior to retirement.

With this project companies in the chemicals industry, employees in the sector and training service providers are intended to gain support in successful and competitive shaping of the training system in the chemicals industry and thereby also of Germany’s attractiveness as a location for the chemicals industry. Not least, implementation of the new collective agreement is intended to be supported and promoted to that end. Major features of the Ciwes project are an analysis of what currently happens in terms of training, identification of current and future training needs in the sector, analysis of the current training offer and preparation of recommendations for a specific training system for the sector. Ciwes was started in 2003 under the responsibility of BiBB and will be implemented in cooperation with the trade union Industriegewerkschaft Bergbau, Chemie, Energie and trade association Bundesarbeitgeberverband Chemie e.V. until the end of 2005. Project partners are technology centre VDI/VDE-Technologiezentrum Informationstechnik GmbH and the service company Unique - Gesellschaft für Arbeitsgestaltung, Personal- und Organisationsentwicklung mbH. http://www.vdivde-it.de/ciwes/default.htm

Project “Betriebsräte als Weiterbildungsberater” (Works Councils as Training Advisers)

Since 1 July 2001 trade union IG BCE Landesbezirk Rheinland-Pfalz/Saarland has been implementing a project with the title „Betriebsräte als Weiterbildungsberater“. The objective of the project is to promote training in companies through works councils, given that training practice is seriously underdeveloped in most businesses (especially SMEs) despite the considerable need for action. In this situation, works councils can give important signals by advocating training initiatives vis-à-vis management. In addition to numerous workshops, major training projects have already been implemented in seven companies, with a duration of five to twelve months. Works council, directors and managers work together at the earliest stage possible on design of the project. Employees are also involved in planning via the works council on the basis of discussions and questionnaires. It is precisely this joint approach to training involving the four groups that has generated great dynamism in the project companies. The works council flanks the project via the board of directors. Through discussions with employees, it creates the necessary motivation for training and prevents the company from taking poor decisions. Among managers, it establishes a positive climate by providing them with support as the persons with central responsibility for planning and implementation of training, and involves them in shaping the project. www.wbb-net.de

With the collective agreement in the chemicals industry, trade union IG BCE has seized on the theme of training and created a framework for the theme of employability. And this is precisely the emphasis placed by the German partners in the European "Lifelong learning animateurs project", which has been running since October 2002, supported by the EU. The objective of the project is to develop a training concept which qualifies colleagues to animate their environment to discuss the theme of training with each other. The fact that this gives support particularly to those who have not so far taken part automatically in training is a particular aspect of this training offer. Alongside the German partners HVHS Springe IG BCE, the project includes Finnish, Swedish, Bulgarian and Spanish training and trade union organisations.

The construction industry trade associations and trade union Bauen-Agrar-Umwelt (IG BAU) agreed an action programme in their joint declaration on training dated 3 November 2003. Among other things, a permanent working group on training and a joint training offensive are to be started in the framework of the sectoral social dialogue. Within this framework, model projects will be implemented and a “construction passport” will be created, in which formal qualifications and skills acquired informally can be recorded - similar to the model of the European curriculum vitae.

In the project “make it – employee-oriented skills development in teams –“ concepts for skills development of all employees at the Melsungen establishment of B. Braun Melsungen AG are drawn up, which take account of individual development interests as well as the needs of the business. The objective is to ensure the employability of employees. One of the aims is to implement these concepts in day-to-day business practice. The project is being implemented in cooperation with training institutes Weiterbildungs-Stiftung and Institut für Arbeitswissenschaft der Universität Kassel, and trade union Industriegewerkschaft Bergbau, Chemie, Energie. “Make It” is supported in the framework of the education ministry’s support programme "Lernkultur Kompetenzentwicklung" (learning culture - skills development) and by the European Social Fund. http://www.makeit.wbs-wiesbaden.de

The following agreements between the social partners ensure ongoing modernisation and prompt implementation of the requisite qualifications and statutory requirements for qualification:

Trade union IG Metall jointly with DaimlerChrysler AG is running a project with the title ”Arbeiten und Lernen im Fachbereich”(ALF) (working and learning in specialist situations) in which tools and systems for lifelong learning on the shop floor are developed and put in place in important manufacturing areas. An e-learning infrastructure will be built up as well as a system for flanking the learning of production workers. Via an Internet-based learning and information system available to all workers, all the necessary qualification material for all the activities and tasks involved in the production process will be presented in educational form and available for downloading at any time. By means of this system, and accompanied by a coach, workers can go through the qualification programmes individually on the job, which will be documented in a training passport and can be used for the work career. Implementation will be progressive starting in 2003, in the plants in Mannheim, Untertürkheim and Sindelfingen involving around 20,000 employees. http://www.projekt-alf.de/

TELBA AG runs its own in-house training workshop, with employees responsible exclusively for education and training, in which not only training contents and training regulations but also additional qualifications are taught. These in-house courses are also used by trainees from other businesses. Another interesting point is that the firm trains both disadvantaged and talented young people (“learning from each other”). In addition, on completion of their courses, the former trainees take part in product courses organised by manufacturers used by TELBA. There is also the possibility of training to become a technician or master, with some of the training costs being paid by the firm. The firm also cooperates with other partners, e.g. a technical college and a grammar school, which enables school pupils to experience day-to-day life in a business in the framework of project work, and hence to motivate them to learn about business.

In 2003 BASF AG initiated cooperation in training with other companies. With this initiative, it contributes to securing and enlarging the supply of apprenticeship places in the region. Partners are especially smaller or specialised companies that are not able to offer the full training spectrum. BASF supports these companies by offering service, e.g. marketing, recruiting, teaching special training elements, coordination with schools. Information: www.basf.de.

The Bavarian metal and electrical industry sponsors/supports 1,100 additional apprenticeship places in member companies in 2003 and 2004 by paying for part of the training expenses and by organising part of the training for companies. Information: www.ausbildungsoffensive-bayern.de.

EMP/SKILLS - Skills and Employability Department