Communication at work is becoming increasingly significant in a service society. At the same time, companies are complaining ever more frequently about the lack of language and communication competences displayed by apprentice and job applicants. What is the nature of the role played by language in vocational training and at the workplace? The papers contained within the present issue address this question as well as dealing with the importance of language for the development of employability skills, with provision and concepts for language learning and with the significance of foreign language competence in a world of work which is becoming increasingly globalised. Following the introduction of the German Qualifications Framework in January 2012, BIBB President Professor Friedrich Hubert Esser uses his Editorial to urge its vitalisation and for plenty of energy to continue to be devoted to implementation.
Further papers address didactic issues relating to competence orientation and forms of continuing training funding based on collective wage agreement regulation. The Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) initiative "Vocational education and training – practically unbeatable" is also presented.