From capitalism to talentism – Europe goes dual!

Dear readers,

In its 2017–2018 Global Competitiveness Report, the World Economic Forum points out that a country’s ability to compete is becoming increasingly dependent on its capacity to innovate and that the world is currently making the shift from “capitalism to talentism”. For this reason, more and more importance is being attached to well trained and creative workers. As a consequence, the World Economic Forum believes that the countries which will emerge victorious in the competitive markets of the future will be those which adjust to the demands of the Fourth Industrial Revolution whilst at the same time strengthening their political, economic and social systems.

Employability skills are the guiding principle

In light of this, a current proposal put forward by the European Commission or a “European Framework for Quality and Effective Apprenticeships to support the reform processes launched by individual countries on apprenticeships” comes at a very timely juncture. An associated objective is to improve access to the labour market. The proposal calls for training to be structured in such a way so as to impart comprehensive employability skills, and the training systems that exist in Germany, Austria and Denmark are presented as positive examples in this regard. In order to support the desired systemic further development, 14 “bench-learning” criteria have been set out to provide countries with guidance. These allow the countries sufficient leeway to adopt flexible structures and to take national circumstances into account, even if such characteristics do not fully coincide with a dual system such as that which is familiar to us in Germany.

Nevertheless, the underlying aim of aligning Europe’s predominantly school-based training systems more closely to the labour market and thus of according greater consideration to the requirements of trade and industry and of society is clearly discernible. The Commission’s proposal contains provisions such as the conclusion of a training contract between the employer and the trainee, payment in accordance with national collective wage agreements and social and insurance protection in line with national law.

These are backed up by further criteria containing recommendations for the structuring of general conditions – including involvement of the social partners in systemic management, approval procedures for companies providing training and the instigation of quality assurance concepts for initial and continuing vocational education and training which conform to the European Reference Framework. Apprenticeships should lead to a nationally recognised qualification which is aligned to the relevant reference level of the European Qualifications Framework and offers connectivity with further educational pathways in the VET or higher education system.

The Commission’s proposal is an encouraging sign

For some considerable time, BIBB has been continuously involved in these discussions via a wide range of activities such as research and development projects or presentations. The work carried out by the European Working Group on Vocational Education and Training has also made a major contribution to the further development of VET in Europe. BIBB has represented the BMBF in this group since 2012. The BIBB German Qualifications Framework/ECVET Working Group is currently looking at similar issues within the context of competence validation.

Even if the present educational trend in Germany may tend to lead to the conclusion that the attractiveness of VET is declining and in spite of the current difficulty of instigating measures which are truly suited to helping to halt this development, the Commission’s initiative is now providing the proponents and supporters of vocational education and training with a stronger tailwind. And, of all places, this momentum is coming from Europe, where dual VET has for many years more or less been viewed as a poor relation. This should be a source of encouragement to us!

Translation from the German original (published in BWP 6/2017): Martin Kelsey, GlobalSprachTeam, Berlin