INVITE is embedded within the National Continuing Training Strategy and pursues the goal of advancing the digitalisation of continuing vocational education and training. The focus is on the development and piloting of technology-based innovations in order to deliver greater transparency on the continuing training market. This article provides an overview of the innovations developed and states some examples of findings obtained with regard to the deployment of “recommender systems” for matching continuing training provision and in respect of the design of personalised sequences of learning units (adaptive learning pathways) in continuing VET.
Germany is reliant on immigration in order to cover its qualified skilled worker requirements. Statutory amendments and provisions have been introduced over the past few years with a view to facilitating the influx of qualified skilled workers. The most recent of these measures was the Skilled Immigration Act, which entered into force in 2020. But are they achieving the desired effect?The question of how immigration to Germany can be managed extends beyond a purely quantitative matching of skilled worker supply and demand. Further issues are at play. How can we structure global economic migration in a fair and equitable way? How can the competencies and qualifications of migrants be adequately evaluated, and how can the potential they offer be exploited? And how can they be effectively integrated into a country of immigration such as Germany?
Ermioni Athanasiadi; Teresa Schare; Joachim Gerd Ulrich
A further vocational orientation tool is being established in Germany: trainees visit schools and talk to pupils about their occupations. This article presents the concept and uses the theory of impression management and self-to-prototype matching to explain the particular areas of potential it offers. The verdict is that training ambassador visits do not merely embrace the function of transmitting authentic information about an occupation. They also do a great deal to provide pupils with important indications from an identity psychology perspective. A clear and visual demonstration is offered as to what kinds of young people aspire to become plumbers, bakers, or management assistants in e-commerce. The article concludes by referring to a study which aims to investigate this approach in greater detail.
Ermioni Athanasiadi; Teresa Schare; Joachim Gerd Ulrich
Mit dem Besuch von Auszubildenden in Schulen, die über ihre Berufe berichten, etabliert sich in Deutschland ein weiteres Instrument der Berufsorientierung. Der Beitrag stellt das Konzept vor und erläutert mit Hilfe der Impression-Management- und Self-to-Prototype-Matching-Theorie seine besonderen Potenziale. Ausbildungsbotschafterbesuche haben demnach nicht nur die Funktion, authentische Informationen zu einem Beruf zu transportieren. Sie liefern den Schülerinnen und Schülern vielmehr auch in identitätspsychologischer Hinsicht wichtige Anhaltspunkte. Anschaulich wird ihnen vor Augen geführt, was das für junge Menschen sind, die Klempner/-innen, Bäcker/-innen oder Kaufleute für E-Commerce werden wollen. Der Beitrag weist abschließend auf eine Studie hin, in der dieser Ansatz näher untersucht werden soll.
Are young people not mobile enough? This is the question often posed in light of the increasing matching problems in the training market. But will greater mobility solve the problem? According to BIBB analyses, the mobility of young people is already contributing to more balanced regional training markets today. However, the limits of this positive effect are also apparent.
The vocational education and training landscape is undergoing change in the wake of demographic and technological developments. Discernible signs of this shift include fewer trainees whose prior learning is, however, increasingly heterogeneous in nature, more demanding training contents, and matching problems on the training market that are beginning to perpetuate themselves. What are the impacts of all this on collaboration between the cooperation partners involved in vocational education and training? Where are new ways of working together coming into being, and how are existing cooperation arrangements being developed further in order to ensure high-quality training? The articles included in the present issue highlight the reasons behind various types of cooperation and reveal areas of potential for learners and learning venues.
In looking at issues for the future of VET, we are conscious of the fact that many topics relating to the further development of the dual system have a long tradition. The four topics that I will examine in greater detail below – digitalisation, matching problems on the training market, integration of refugees and internationalisation – do not, therefore, pose any questions that are entirely new. Nevertheless, it is necessary to localise these issues in the present and the future. This means clarifying their current relevance for the profiling of vocational education and training and the associated process of illustrating prospective action options.
What are the challenges faced by vocational education and training and what are the resultant educational policy requirements? The BWP Editorial Office asked members of the “Federal Parliament Select Committee for Education, Research and Technology Impact Assessment”, which includes representatives from the various parties in the Bundestag, to provide statements on five topics – attractiveness of dual training, matching problems on the training market, integration of refugees, training in the digital economy, and vocational schools as a dual partner. The statements offer a summary of different main areas of focus in the positions and programmes of the political parties.
Behind the increasing matching problems on the training market are recruitment or supply problems which are very different in nature depending on occupation, branch and region. What are the consequences of this for companies and for young people interested in entering training, and what needs to be done at educational and employment policy level in order to bring supply and demand together in a better way in the future? Elke Hannack, Deputy Chair of the DGB, and Peter Clever, a Managing Director at the BDA, present statements on the basis of five thematic areas.
The training market situation has been characterised by two seemingly contradictory developments for a number of years. On the one hand, companies are experiencing increasing difficulties in filling the training places they offer. On the other hand, there are still too many young people who are unsuccessful in their search for a training place. It is clear that the fit between company supply and demand from young people is becoming ever worse. The present article describes developments in 2015 on the basis of central training market data.
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