National Initiatives which Identify of the Roles of the Government and the Social Partners in Promoting the Expansion and Diversification of Training

National Initiatives which Identify of the Roles of the Government and the Social Partners in Promoting the Expansion and Diversification of Training - Federal Republic of Germany

In December 1998, the first tripartite talks held under the aegis of Germany's new "red-green" government led to the establishment of a new Alliance for Jobs, Training and Competitiveness, which will take the form of a permanent body made up of representatives of government, trade unions and employers' associations.

The eight working groups under the alliance are made up of experts from all sides and deal with the following topics:

Trends on the training place market and the question of ensuring adequate provision of training places, particularly in eastern Germany, were frequently the subject of discussions in the Alliance for Jobs, Training and Competitiveness and in the Working Group on Initial and Continuing Education and Training, which led to corresponding agreements and activities. The most prominent agreement is the national consensus on training agreed within the Alliance for Jobs, Training and Competitiveness on 6 July 1999, together with the campaign to reduce the shortage of IT specialists. In addition, the partners in the Alliance for Jobs, Training and Competitiveness supported the implementation of the immediate action programme for young people, for which annual funding amounting to over € 1 billion has been provided since 1999. Since 1999, when the programme was launched, up to the end of 2001, it has given over 400,000 young people an additional opportunity to find employment or a training place. During the same period, the elements of the programme which support training have helped to generate more than 44,000 additional company training places (Article 2) and, moreover, to place approximately 34,000 young people in non-company training (Article 4).

With a view to improving the supply of training places in eastern Germany, the Working Group on Initial and Continuing Education and Training adopted further measures on 26 August 1999 towards increasing the supply of training places as well as reorienting and expanding the publicly-funded training place programmee.

The aim of the Federal Government's vocational education and training policy is to fundamentally overhaul the dual system of vocational training, thus encouraging the willingness of companies to offer training, generating training opportunities in new and growing areas of employment and thus increasing the training opportunities for young people.

On 22 October 1999, the Working Group on Initial and Continuing Education and Training adopted a resolution whereby agreement was reached on a common basis and orientation for developing the dual system of vocational training. This resolution brought an intensive debate, in which numerous different reform proposals for the development of the dual system were discussed, to a harmonious conclusion.

The working group parties still believe that the best way to provide a solid, future-proof foundation is by organising vocational training on the basis of nationally-regulated occupations which match the demands of the employment market. Vocational training should, on the basis of a modern vocational concept, give people a foothold in a skilled occupation and at the same time lay the foundation for lifelong learning. A wide spectrum of diverse officially recognised occupations requiring formal training will cover the wide span of different interests and abilities among young people and also match the different qualification requirements of the employment market.

The alliance partners have agreed, in particular, to continue their modernisation of occupations, to develop new, flexible elements for in-company training and to integrate necessary key qualifications into all training courses. In connection with the restructuring of occupations requiring formal training to fit the requirements of the occupation in question, various models have been adopted for increasing the flexibility of vocational training. (eg. involving choices of basic modules or fields of use).

In the period from 1999 to 2001 altogether 43 occupations requiring formal training were updated and 10 new occupations were created. On 1 August 2001 training regulations entered into force for three new commercial service occupations; furthermore, the training regulations for 8 occupations were revised. From 1 August 2002, 8 new occupations as well as updated training regulations for 11 occupations are due to enter into force.

When reviewing the regulations, it must be ensured that jobs are still available for which training can be offered, but which involve less complex requirements. Here, the alliance partners see possibilities for also enlarging the training opportunities for disadvantaged young people. Work has now been commenced on the occupational fields "flooring fitter" and "bicycle mechanic", which have also been discussed as pilot projects in this context. As of 1 August 2002, there will be a new occupation requiring formal training, namely "flooring fitter"; the craft trade occupation "bicycle mechanic" will be modified before it takes effect in August 2003, and will be opened up for training in the industry and commerce sector. Furthermore, it is still important to make full use of the potential offered by occupational fields for which it would be viable to develop formal training, so that all young people, if possible, may enter a qualified occupation offering further opportunities for vocational development.

The success of these modernisation efforts is reflected, for example, in the considerable increase in company training places for IT and media occupations. In this sector, the number of new training contracts in 2001 grew at a disproportionately high rate of 11.7% compared to the previous year The commitment made by the business community as part of the campaign to reduce the shortage of IT specialists agreed on 6 July 1999 within the Alliance for Jobs, Training and Competitiveness, namely to create altogether 60,000 company training places by late 2003 in this job sector, has now been far surpassed. At the start of the 2001 training year, more than 70,000 young people were doing training in this field.

With regard to the changes which the alliance partners are aiming to make to the modalities of examinations during the course and at the end of dual-system training, it has been agreed to carry out a field trial stretching over the next five years to test the model of a final examination based on continual assessment in selected occupations requiring formal training - primarily in the technical and craft occupations. Further-reaching decisions have been shelved for the time being, including the question of whether this form of examination is suitable as a general model for all occupations and whether this procedure can make final examination results5 reflect performance more accurately.

According to the legal opinion commissioned by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, it is possible in principle to allow performance throughout the training period to count towards the final examination. However, for this type of continual assessment, the Länder must observe a minimum level of common criteria, among other things, with regard to examination standards, in order to be able to compare results nationally. Various regulations would be conceivable to guarantee this uniform minimum level - a type of national agreement being an obvious solution. At present the Länder are looking at how, in their view, a uniform minimum level can be established.

Vocational training is very important for creating equal opportunities for all young people. For this reason, the Federal Government particularly endorses the occupational integration of young people who are underachievers, socially disadvantaged or from migrant families.

Moreover, the Working Group on Initial and Continuing Education and Training has discussed intensively how the existing support mechanisms can be optimised or possibly even have to be restructured in order to be able to further improve the training opportunities of this heterogeneous group of young people. It is crucial that the social-pedagogical provision of support for the disadvantaged is considered an integral part of vocational training.

With regard to the optimisation of support for the disadvantaged, the emphasis is on improving models for training preparation, especially on linking training preparation with training and on making better use of vocationally relevant qualifications earned in training preparation, in unfinished vocational training or in second-chance programmes. On the basis of a recommendation issued by the Central Committee of the Federal Institute for Vocational Training of 23 November 2000, a "certificate of vocational qualifications" was developed, that provides a suitable basis for decisions on shortening training periods and on admission of external candidates to the final examination.

The programme "Promoting Skills - Vocational Qualification for Target Groups Requiring Special Support", which was launched by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research in 2001, plays a central role and focuses on two things: one is new initiatives in support for the disadvantaged, developing and testing a coherent support structure for the occupational integration of disadvantaged adolescents. This support structure has been tested since September 2001 in 24 local employment office districts. The programme is also pursuing the goal of improving the training opportunities for migrants and considerably increasing their participation in training. This can make an important contribution to the integration of these adolescents. The programme will run for five years (2001 to 2005) and will provide a total of € 53.7 million. The Federal Ministry of Education and Research and the European Social Fund (ESF) will each provide half of the programme funding.

Qualified vocational training gives people a foothold in working life, which is increasingly characterised by rapidly changing qualification requirements in jobs and by a higher job fluctuation rate on the employment market. In today's information and knowledge-based society everyone must expect to engage in continuing education and training throughout his or her working life. In its resolution "Innovation and learning - developing occupational opportunities during working life"of 21 February 2000, the Working Group on Initial and Continuing Education and Training in the Alliance for Jobs, Training and Competitiveness identified areas in urgent need of action, which can be approached via different initiatives and programmes.

The "Lifelong Learning for All" action programme of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, launched in late 2000, has brought together the diverse research, development and test activities of the Federal Government in the area of lifelong learning and concentrated them in one programme. Innovation and concepts for achieving a "learning society" are to be implemented more broadly and effectively than before. Key sub-programmes or projects include the programme "Learning Regions - Providing Support for Networks" and the research and development programme "Learning Culture for Skill Development".

The heart of the action programme is the development of learning regions through the establishment and expansion of networks that span different education sectors and education providers and carry out innovative measures in the area of lifelong learning. In two invitations to tender, 54 support projects were initially selected for support, followed by another 27. In total, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research and the ESF are providing some € 117.4 million up to the year 2006 for the programme. This programme is to bring together education providers and "customers" along with other regional players (eg. youth welfare offices and local employment offices). This is expected to promote motivation and skill in self-guided learning, and to bring about qualitative and quantitative improvements in education programmes, also in the sense of greater orientation towards users.

Within the framework of the research and development programme "Learning culture for Skill Development", which was launched in 2001, a model for establishing efficient, continuous learning structures in companies and for strengthening individual vocational skills will be developed and tested. The programme is intended to increase peoples' awareness of the need for a new learning culture in their country - a culture characterised by self-determination, self-organisation, reflection, a culture in which people are largely autonomous, in control of and responsible for their learning, but in which social organisations are also responsible for learning processes. The main areas are: basic research, learning during the work process, learning in continuing vocational training institutions, learning using networks and multimedia and learning in the social environment. For this programme the Federal Ministry of Education and Research together with the ESF are providing an annual sum of some € 18 million up to the year 2007.

As part of the initiative launched by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research for guaranteeing transparency and quality in continuing education, support for the measures in this area will be increased in the coming years. The initiative comprises the following groups of measures: reinforcing demand (individuals, companies), backing up initiatives aimed at assuring the quality of continuing education providers, ensuring independent continuing education tests and developing new, supplementary quality assurance instruments. In the first step, STIFTUNG WARENTEST was commissioned to conduct a survey of "education in the Internet", with the aim of providing consumers with the transparency and guidance they wish for. Further tests followed on e-learning and facility management. The checklist for "quality of continuing education" drawn up by the Federal Institution of Vocational Education was updated in the year 2000.

In the medium term there will be developments which will pose new challenges for businesses and continuing education, namely the effects of the demographic change, with birth rates steadily falling and life expectancy steadily rising - a structural phenomenon in almost all (highly) industrialised nations, particularly in European countries and Japan. The consequence of this is that the rapid technological and organisational changes in the workplace will have to be successfully managed with an increasingly ageing workforce.

The Federal Ministry of Education and Research has started to tackle this problem through research and development projects within the framework concept "Innovative Work Design - the Future of Work", which centres not only on the increasing value of continuing education for older employees, but to an even greater extent on the timely prevention of the potential exclusion of older employees. The transfer project funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research entitled "Public relations and marketing strategy for demographic change" is intended to help raise awareness and to translate the broad approach applied so far to the research results into practical strategies for solutions in cooperation with the science and business communities and business-to-business institutions. The project is running from 2000 to 2002 and involves funding of about € 6.4 million.

The framework concept "Innovative Work Design - the Future of Work" is not only concerned with specific questions relating to effects of demographic change on employment, but also pursues, through all its fields of activity, the overriding goal of designing the workplace in such a way that it promotes learning and fulfils human needs. The focus is on designing the workplace preventively to suit the requirements of different age groups and to take into account entire working biographies, so that the emergence of age-typical deficits and employment problems are avoided. Annual funding of approximately € 15.3 million is being made available for this programme up to 2005.

EMP/SKILLS - Skills and Employability Department