This article looks at the correlation between region and training. It highlights that not all characteristics of a region are equally important when it comes to explaining what influences the training preferences and opportunities of young people. On the other hand, it also points out that regional characteristics are not equally important for all young people and that the impact of such characteristics varies depending on sociodemographic circumstances or personal attributes. The aim of the article is to raise awareness amongst researchers and practitioners of this selective significance of regional characteristics for training preferences and opportunities with a view to using target group-specific (advisory) services to meet the challenges on the training market.
Nachwuchsgruppe Regionale (Infra-)Struktur und Segmentierungsprozesse in der Ausbildung (RISA)
Der Beitrag befasst sich mit dem Zusammenhang zwischen Regionen und Ausbildung. Es wird einerseits aufgezeigt, dass nicht alle Merkmale einer Region gleichermaßen wichtig sind, wenn es darum geht zu erklären, was Ausbildungswünsche und -chancen von jungen Menschen beeinflusst. Andererseits wird dargelegt, dass regionale Merkmale nicht für alle jungen Menschen gleichermaßen wichtig sind und ihre Wirkung mit soziodemografischen oder persönlichen Eigenschaften variieren. Der Beitrag zielt darauf ab, Forschung und Praxis für diese selektive Bedeutung von regionalen Merkmalen für Ausbildungswünsche und -chancen zu sensibilisieren, um mit zielgruppenspezifischen (Beratungs-)Angeboten den Herausforderungen am Ausbildungsmarkt gerecht zu werden.
President FRIEDRICH HUBERT ESSER officially retired on 16 June 2026 after over 15 years at the head of the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training. Around 150 guests from the fields of policy making, trade and industry, academic research, VET practice and society came together at BIBB in order to look back at his long-standing service and at shared experiences during his presidency.
Adolescents and young adults are a key target group within vocational education and training. But are their perspectives and concerns recognised appropriately? What topics are important to young people? What are their perceived stresses? How do they see their future, and what are their expectations and requirements with regard to our education and employment system? We conducted interviews on these and other topics with four young people who lend their generation a public voice in youth associations or organisations.
Young people are growing up in a society which is characterised by technological, political and cultural change. They also need to face up to the challenges that are posed by an open and democratic society and by the increasing global interconnectedness of politics and the economy. Growing up is also shaped by both long-term and sudden crises. There is much to indicate that this has also led to an increase in requirements with regard to coping with age-specific development tasks – training, bonding, regeneration and participation. This article presents three key societal developments and discusses how these correlate with overcoming the age-specific development tasks.
Kerstin Duemmler; Alexandra Felder; Isabelle Caprani
The transition from school to vocational education and training is a focus of policy making and of academic research. However, for a long time little was known as to how young people in Switzerland experience training. Balancing the requirements of the world of work, the training conditions they encounter, and their own ideas and needs, they must develop strategies to assert themselves in everyday working life. This article thus shows how young people shape their occupational identity via resistance and distancing and by striving for autonomy rather than merely through adaptation. It also looks at the limits they encounter and at the roles played by the companies in this process.
Youth as a phase of life is marked by numerous challenges and development tasks which require increased adaptation on the part of young people. One of these is the circumstance that young people need to select an educational (and training) pathway at an early stage, something which may influence their occupational aspirations. This article uses data from the project Pathways to the Future to investigate how the occupational aspirations of school leavers in Vienna develop after lower secondary education. An associated question is thus how these aspirations alter within the context of different educational (and training) pathways.
In the wake of the COVID 19 pandemic and other current societal crises, there is growing evidence that the well-being of many young people is being negatively affected to a greater extent. This affects physical constitution, psycho-social experiences and social aspects alike. Studies show that young people are suffering from increased stress levels and from a rise in loneliness. Such concomitant effects are leaving a mark on education and training histories, in particular including transitions to vocational education and training. Against this background, it is incumbent upon stakeholders involved with schools, training and occupations to investigate these impacts. The aim of the results from the JuCo-V Study presented in the article is to raise awareness of this.
Vocational orientation also takes place during a phase of life in which young people need to deal with numerous development tasks anyway. At the same time, psychological strain amongst young people is on the rise. This gives rise to the question as to whether and how such stresses may have an impact on vocational orientation processes and as to which consequences will follow for the structuring of vocational orientation provision. This article pools available findings and presents a resources-related and prevention-oriented practical example from Saxony.
Virtually all young people possess a smart phone which they use daily. This often presents challenges for company-based training staff. When is use of a smart phone acceptable? When is it disruptive, and what is the appropriate response? This article addresses the issue and states possible approaches towards using smart phones in a healthy and productive way without resorting to ineffective bans or authoritarian control.
Young people enjoy competition and like to be part of something extraordinary. In times when desperate attempts are being made elsewhere to fire the enthusiasm of young people for STEM subjects and to promote future competencies, this can be the only explanation why there are high registration figures for the “Jugend forscht” (“Young researchers”) contest. The present article takes a look at the history and principles of this nationwide competition and highlights the areas of potential it offers for vocational education and training in particular. The aim is to encourage teachers and company-based training staff to support young people in VET through this stimulating world. Synergies with current future-aligned training concepts can also be revealed along the way.
The transition from school to work presents major challenges for both young people and education and training stakeholders. How can young people be supported in vocational orientation and in identifying their own interests? The STEM Communication Bridges project opens up new points of access to vocational orientation via cross-institutional collaboration between universities, companies providing training and schools. The impacts of the intervention on the career choice competency of pupils are being investigated within the scope of a quantitative pre-post-study involving control groups. Differentiated effects are being shown, and these are presented in the article.
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