The German Dual Apprenticeship System

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THE GERMAN DUAL-APPRENTICESHIP SYSTEM

Vocational training in Germany comes from an old tradition that dates from the Middles Ages, period in which the young ones were being trained in their early years in crafting and commercial or technical occupations. Until the 19th century, even though the industrialization has an increased pace, the majority of the Germans continued to work in agriculture, meanwhile apprenticeship training was marginalized.

The dual-apprenticeship system emerged after the Vocational Training Act was adopted in 1969. The Act was later on modified and enhanced by significant reforms in 2005. The dual-apprenticeship system used in Germany combines both apprenticeships at companies and vocational education at the vocational schools. Vocational training was organized even in the past, when the guilds sought to ensure that they had the talented workers needed in order to perpetuate their industries. The workers were selected from the apprentices.

The Vocational Training Act governs apprenticeship training programs, training occupations in the industry, commerce, administration, agriculture and even economics, excluding the public service. The Act covers a wide spectrum, a unique characteristic of the German dual-apprenticeship system. As a comparison, in other European states apprenticeships are institutionalized by law, but in Germany the apprenticeships are restricted to a few areas of training. In Germany the Vocational Training Act helped a lot in establishing a legal basis for vocational apprenticeships.

The Act standardized this training system across Germany, as the foundation upon which the state and the private sector could coordinate to deliver prepared workers. This high level of coordination and efficiency allowed the development of public education programs. In order to better understand the dual-apprenticeship German system we need to examine the structure of the education system in the country.

German children will start kindergarten at 3 years old, however kindergarten is optional until the children are 6 years old and start primary school. Primary school is called Grundschulen in Germany and is compulsory for all children. Primary school lasts for 4 years, in which children are learning basic knowledge necessary in order to prepare them for Secondary Level I education. After finishing primary school, children start the two-year orientation stages of the secondary school. At this point children have to choose between 3 different types of high schools that are available for them. At this point, all children must choose a path for their future, which is very difficult to change later. Making decisions for their future this early in life is one of the major criticisms brought to the German dual-apprenticeship system.

Secondary education in Germany is divided into 3 branches. These branches are classified like that considering the prospects they offer to children for higher education and for occupational career.

Some students choose to end their education at the end of the Secondary Level I, when they are 16 years old. If the student decides to continue his studies after finishing Secondary Level I, he has to choose between vocational schools or the dual-apprenticeship system.

Some students attend an intermediate secondary school (called Realschulen), as an alternative educational path which offers a large range of options regarding further education, but at a lower level than the universities. After studying for 6 years in a Realschule and a successful examination, the student will receive the intermediate education certificate, which in Germany is called Mittlere Reife. The certificate gives students access to administrative occupations.

The students who receive certificate can also continue to study in a higher technical school (called Fachoberschulen). Graduating a technical school gives students access to colleges with university status or integrated universities (called Fachochschulen). The institutions mentioned before offer less academic training, but oriented toward an occupation in domains like civil engineering or social working.

The students who continue their studies in a general-education school (called Gymnasien have the most direct path to university after receiving the university entrance certificate (called Abitur).

The possibilities of transferring from different schools to the general-education school are somewhat limited. It is possible for a student to make the transition from a Realschulen to the Gymnasium, but it is infrequent, and extremely rare regarding Hauptschulen, the least prestigious branch.

In present, students in Germany can take apprenticeship regardless of the secondary education branch they have chosen. În the past, students were mostly Hauptschule graduates, but today they all come from different branches. The more prestigious the branch is, the better are the chances of obtaining apprenticeships in occupations that offer a higher income, job security or social prestige. The German dual-apprenticeship system is often being criticized because the training sectors are still way too traditional.

In the last decades German`s dual-apprenticeship system was characterized by the major changes that have had a significant impact on the respective system. Multiple factors have helped maintain and improve the popularity of the vocational training system used in Germany.

At first, the increased educational level has somehow altered the image of the apprenticeships. In 1960 the majority of apprentices came from the Hauptschule, but nowadays they are only 40% graduating Hauptschule, meanwhile the majority come from higher level of education. More and more students are heading toward the dual-apprenticeship system after receiving their university entrance certificate. In the economic conditions and with the rise of unemployment, many students see apprenticeships as a guarantee and they try to receive an apprenticeship diploma even if they intend to also go to university.

Training in the dual-apprenticeship system is highly considered by the German people, and a growing number of the students who received the university entrance certificate are also enrolling in this system. For the past years, the overall educational level of German students has been improving, especially in the technical branche, as a great number of apprentices are also pursuing a university education beyond the apprenticeship.

Another factor that has contributed to the popularity of the German apprenticeship system is that vocational training schools have expanded, due to the small number of apprenticeships places.

The vocational schools have helped channel the surplus of students who want to attend vocational courses, while they are waiting for apprenticeship spots to become available. A big proportion of the students who are trained in vocational schools are heading toward the dual-apprenticeship system, contributing to its growth.

The objectives of the vocational programs are:

to prepare students to enter a higher level school or a higher technical education

to improve students chances of obtaining an apprenticeship spot in the dual-apprenticeship system

to offer a large base of training in technology and commerce, meanwhile facilitating the transition from student to employee.

The way the dual-apprenticeship system has maintained its popularity is very interesting, as we consider the many criticisms on its efficiency. The dual-apprenticeship systems popularity can be explained because facing a rapidly growing young population, the training system is gradually improving the students training branches, more than creating new branches. This way, young people who don`t ewant to engage in higher education will have to attend industrial or tertiary courses and training in the dual-apprenticeship system.

The students who graduate from the secondary schools are mostly found in the handicraft, agricultural or the domestic services sector. The student who graduate from intermediate schools are mostly found in the service sector or the liberal professions.

Within the dual-apprenticeship system, students have access to apprenticeship spots based on the levels of schooling and the type of diploma they have. The dual-apprenticeship system fulfills a dual function in Germany, as the distribution of graduates helps regulate the labor market. On the one hand, the dual-apprenticeship system offers people without a diploma the opportunity to access the labor market in jobs that require low occupational qualifications. On the other hand, the dual-apprenticeship system allows young apprentices with a diploma access to jobs on the highly specialized sectors.

The dual-apprenticeship training system in Germany is based on the cooperation between the private and the public sector. In Germany the vocational training system is based on institutional procedures and complex negotiations that include the public authorities, the employers` organizations and the trade unions.

The cost of the theoretical training is assumed by the German state and the cost of the practical training is assumed by private firms that take in trainees and provide apprenticeship spots. The dual-apprenticeship system of vocational training is based on three important principles: the principle of duality, the principle of the primacy of crafts, and the principle of consensus.

The principle of duality

Alternating between theoretical training that takes place in vocational schools and practical training that takes place in private companies provides the students with fundamental structure regarding the vocational training system established in Germany. Practical training in private companies is regulated on a national level, but the theoretical training in vocational schools is the responsibility of the German states.

As a matter of fact, the Vocational Training Act only contains regulations regarding in-firm training, and does not focus on vocational training in schools. This being the case, it was absolutely necessary for the theoretical and vocational training to come to an agreement regarding regulations.

Workplace training takes place in private companies and is based on a labor contract signed both by the apprentice and by the employer. Each of the contracting parties commits to provide or to acquire the necessary knowledge and skills required for the concerned qualification.

Most of the apprentices in the dual-apprenticeship German system spend two days training in the vocational schools. There they are being taught general theoretical subjects and receive theoretical grounding regarding their chosen occupation. The remaining three days is being spent training in the private companies.

Lately, more companies prefer that the students spend several weeks or even months training in schools, only after that being trained by long periods of time in the companies, in order to minimize as much as possible the disruptions in the training process.

Young apprentices are spending their training period in small or medium-sized businesses, where they can learn their trade and diploma by participating directly in the firm’s activities. On the other hand, students who are spending their training period in big companies are being trained mostly in the company’s vocational training center. Lately, joint training centers for small or medium-sized companies have been created in order to ensure that students are trained efficiently.

The principle of primacy of occupation

Students who are training under the dual-apprenticeship system are not focusing on the specific needs of the companies they train in, but are focusing on gaining the skills they need to perform a certain craft or occupation. According to the Vocational Training Act, the vocational training has to focus mostly on vocational knowledge and the technical skills that are required in order to perform an occupational activity.

Vocational training is being developed on the Vocational Training Act`s basis by the German state with the participation of partners like private companies and union federations. The Federal Institute for Vocational Training includes a big number of researchers and experts on vocational training. The Institute contributes in the development of the referential training through its researches and with the help of the negotiating process that takes place between the private and public actors involved.

Apprenticeships in private companies are the base of the vocational training in Germany, because they have the ability to combine the most favorable conditions for developing the necessary skills. The necessary skills can be combined with the theoretical knowledge obtained in schools and with other occupation related skills. It is important for the skill development that the training be sufficiently long, so training under the dual-apprenticeship system lasts for three years.

The required skills include:

the capacity to take on work-related responsibilities

the ability to communicate with others and the ability to work in a team

the capacity to think in terms of systems

the ability of learning to learn.

The principle of consensus

As we have previously seen, the dual-apprenticeship system is based on the cooperation between the private companies and the school system. Considering that the equilibrium of the dual-apprenticeship system depends mainly on the available training places offered by the private companies, we can easily see that they play a major role in the systems functioning. Other than some social and moral reasons, the private companies don`t have obligations in participating in the dual-apprenticeship system and certainly they don`t have an obligation to ensure apprenticeship spots for the students.

However, when a private company agrees to provide apprenticeship places for students training, they have to respect various laws and regulations which are governing the vocational training procedures. These laws and regulations are very important for the overall development of the vocational training standards, but also for the standards implementation and for controlling the students training.

The establishment of some new referential and standards regarding the dual-apprenticeship system or the review of the existing referential and standards can only be initiated by the union federations, by the employers’ associations or by the Federal Institute for Vocational Training.

At first, the partners will have to negotiate the basic standards and referential, as designation, training duration, job description and the overall training program. After the partners have reached an agreement, the Federal Institute for Vocational Training will have to propose a project which takes into account both the linkage between the responsibility of the German federal government and the responsibility of the states, also respecting the point of view of all of the other partners.

The states have developed a preliminary curriculum for the vocational schools and the Federal Institute for Vocational Training has developed the regulations for the workplace training with actual experts from the employer associations and the union federations. After all of the partners have reached an agreement the government can ratify the new training program.

According to the Vocational Training Act, people under 18 years old can only undertake apprenticeship in one of the recognized and regulated occupations. As we can easily see, the development of the occupation regulation of practical training in private companies and its correlation with the vocational school curriculum is the result of a very long and complicated process.

The originality of the dual-apprenticeship system lies in its organizational structure. Vocational training in public schools is organized along the line of a corporatist type of regulation based on the cooperation of employers, union federations and the Chambers of Commerce and Industry. This type of corporatism regulation represents a compromise between a system managed by the state or one managed by the labor market.

Within this approach, partners from each sector are attempting to define the workplace training and the qualifications obtained, while acting within the legal framework of the federal legislation and the market-regulated supply of apprenticeship spots.

The Chambers of Commerce and Industry represent a group of companies activating in the same industry sector. The Chambers of Commerce and Industry is responsible for supervising the whole vocational training process and for validating the final examinations. The Chambers of Commerce and Industry is responsible for assessing a company`s ability to provide practical training and the capabilities of its trainers.

If a private company does not perform the practical training according to the curriculum prescribed in the standards and referential, the Chambers of Commerce and Industry`s advisor will request that the company correct that aspect. If the problem persists after that, the Chambers of Commerce and Industry will be obligated to cancel the existing training contracts and the firm will be stopped from signing new training contracts.

As in some other European countries, the German dual-apprenticeship scholar system has been faced with the important problem of economic instability, which undermines the institutional mechanisms. The dual-apprenticeship system in Germany has not only had problems when taking emerging occupations into account, but has also incurred problems when getting involved in the tertiary sectors, which have become more and more important.

Some new concepts and action-focused skills have been applied when reforming the training referential and the creation of new referential and standards. Vocational training like all occupations is oriented to action and teaches the trainees the ability to plan, to execute and to assess their work in an independent manner.

The creation of some new occupations and jobs in the context of a structural change is complex and has to adhere to certain requirements. First, the potential trainees and apprenticeship spots must be a considered, because the states cannot develop new specializations simply to respond to the growing needs of some of the private companies. Second, the new specializations that are created have to correspond to a lasting need from the private companies. In addition, if the required skills change too quickly, the vocational training programs should be made more flexible and adaptable.

Continuing vocational training has expanded in the last years if we consider the large number of people who engage in vocational training and the big amount of money that is spent on it yearly. Continuing vocational training is a permanent source of innovation and productivity for the private companies, as the demand for training has increased. Initial vocational training can no longer guarantee for job security and new qualifications and skills are required in a continuously changing labor market. Initial training is a prerequisite for success, but it has to be completed by continuing vocational training, as these two school systems are linked in Germany. Over the years, continuing vocational training has developed in three important areas.

First, continuing vocational training is being provided in large private companies for their own employees, but small or medium-sized private companies may also request outside training for their staff.

Second, continuing vocational training is provided in Germany under the Decree on Work Promotion, Decree that allows the German government to develop more subsidized training courses for people.

Third, the greatest demand for continuing vocational training comes from individual workers, which pay a lot of money for the training courses themselves or even receive some type of financial assistance from the German state.

An important characteristic of continuing vocational training is that its regulation and standards is very fragmented. Another important characteristic of the continuing vocational training market is that it is very vague in terms of the validity of the training and in terms of competency of the trainers. Another essential characteristic of continuing vocational training is the diversity of the funding sources (private firms, government funds, public funds and individual funds).

In the past thirty years, Germany has experienced an expansion in education, an extension of the length of studies and conflicts between the public education systems and the employment systems. As a result, many controversies and concerns regarding the future of the dual-apprenticeship system have emerged.

Despite the growth of higher education, the dual-apprenticeship system continues to be the dominant mode of pacing into the world of work for German young people. The rise in the general education level and the age of people who take up vocational training and the decrease in job offers have increased the labor market competition. However, it is hard for young people to obtain training places in companies, except some small ones. Because the complexity and rigidity of the dual-apprenticeship system makes it even more difficult to use new methods of management, the adjustment of vocational training to the new technologies is being slowed down.

This situation has a big effect on the competitiveness of the German state. The concepts of a job and its specialized orientation make team work difficult because the latter tends to clear the boundaries between individual occupations. Some other authors consider that the dual-apprenticeship system still performs very well for the manufacturing industries but less well for the service sector, therefore the system is requiring more and more flexibility.

BIBLIOGRAFIE

Bosch, G. (2000), The Dual System of Vocational Training in Germany.

Steedman, H. (1993), The Economic of Youth training in Germany, Economic Journal, nr. 193.

Tessaring M. (1993), Das Duale System der Berufsbildung in Deutschland. Attraktivität und Beschäftigungsperpperltiven, IAb, nr. 2.

The German Vocational Training System, disponibil online la: https://www.bmbf.de/en/the-german-vocational-training-system-2129.html