Training and Development in Germany

Graham Attwell and Felix Rauner

Institut Technik und Bildung, University of Bremen, Germany

The background to Training and Development in Germany

Germany is the largest country in Europe with a population of some 82 million. Of these
some 40 million are economically active. Over the past three years unemployment has risen
dramatically and at present is 10.3%. This figure, however, conceals large regional
differences with very high levels of unemployment in the Eastern Länder (formerly East
Germany), in September 1998 totalling 16.3%.
Gross Domestic Production in 1997 was 22,585 ECU per person compared with the European
average of 18,963 ECU and 19,234 ECU in the UK (EUROSTAT, 1998). Despite the recent
rise of the service sector the German economy is still dominated by industrial production.
Although it is difficult to obtain precise comparative statistics in 1995 the production sector
contributed 34.5% of Gross Domestic Production compared with 26% in the UK in 1994. In
1995 37% of the total work-force were engaged in production, compared with 23% in the UK
in 1996 and 24% in the USA in the same year (Der Fischer Weltalmanach, 1998). Average
wage rates are high leading some commentators to characterise Germany as having a high
skills-high wage paradigm.
The predominant feature of training and development in Germany is the internationally
admired Dual System of apprenticeship training. Vocational education and training has a long
tradition in Germany and the origins of the dual system can be traced back to the Middle
Ages. Young people seeking vocational training apply to employers and are selected on the
basis of their past achievements. Trainees who have been accepted by an employer sign a
contract as an apprentice. The training contracts are registered and supervised by the
chambers of trade and commerce. Apprenticeships last for between three and three and a half
years, although in some sectors this may be shorter for Gymnasium (grammar school)
graduates. Nationally recognised apprenticeships can only be provided in one of the 376
recognised training occupations. The training follows a curriculum and testing to standards
established in the training regulations (Ausbildungsordnungen) issued by the Federal
Ministry for Economic Affairs.
Trainees spend an average of two days a week at an occupation-specific vocational school
(Berufsschule) although this may be delivered in block form. The Berufsschule provides both
vocational theory and underpinning knowledge and covers basic academic subjects including
German and English. Berufsschulen are divided by trade sector, and students are grouped by
year of apprenticeship and receive instruction for either a single occupation or for related
occupations. In occupations with a high proportion of small enterprises, such as construction,
basic training may be provided in full time vocational schools or in training centres.
The chambers of trade and commerce are responsible for both the content and
implementation of vocational training. All chambers have vocational training committees,
consisting of employee and employer representatives. These committees deal with all issues
related to vocational training. The vocational schools are the responsibility of the regional
Lander governments.
Some 70% of the youth age cohort undertake vocational education and training through the
Dual System. This includes a substantial percentage who have already obtained the university
entrance qualification, the ‘Abitur’, and who subsequently progress to university of
polytechnic. It also includes a growing proportion of university graduates. Two thirds of
polytechnic-trained engineers first qualified through an apprenticeship and one third of
university graduates in engineering have also graduated through the Dual System. At the
present time about 4% of the total workforce are apprentices. Of the total 1.62 million
apprentices 631,000 are in handwork trades, 736,000 in industry and trades and 157,000 in
the professions.

The Infrastructure for Training and Development in Germany

Vocational education and training has a long tradition in Germany and the origins of the dual
system can be traced back to the Middle Ages. Presently the dual system is regulated by four
pieces of legislation: the Vocational Training Act of 1969 (Berufsbildungsgesetz), the
Vocational Training Development Act (Berufsbildungsförderungsgsetz) of 1981, the Craft
Regulations (Handswerksordnungen) and the Youth Employment Protection Act
(Jugendarbeitsschutzgesetz) of 1960 (Cockrill and Peter Scott, 1997). The Vocational
Training Act of 1969 established the Bundesinstitut für Berufsbildung (BIBB), a federal body
which brings together representatives of the central and Länder governments together with
the social partners to advise on vocational training issues. The BIBB are responsible for the
development of occupational profiles and training curricula. The BIBB is answerable to the
Federal Minister of Education, Science and Research, whilst the approval of the occupational
profiles rests with the Federal Minster of Economy, advised by research undertaken by the
Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB) who are responsible for labour market
research in Germany.
The vocational schools are governed by the regional Länder governments, who have
established a standing conference of education ministers – the Kultusministerkonferenz.
A potential apprentice and his or her future employer sign a training contract. The training
contracts are registered and supervised by the chambers. Nationally recognised
apprenticeships can only be provided on one of the 376 recognised training occupations. The
training follows a curriculum and testing to standards established in the training regulations
(Ausbildungsordnungen) issued by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs. Apprentices
who successfully pass their examinations receive certificates indicating they are a skilled
worker (Facharbeiter) or, in the craft trades, a Gesellenbrief.
All enterprises have to register with their appropriate chamber (Kammer) and pay fees. This
can be either the local Chamber of Industry and Commerce or the appropriate Chamber of
Crafts (Handswerkskammer) (although some enterprises are members of both). The
Chambers of Industry and Commerce are organised in the Deutscher Industrie- und
Handelstag (DIHT), which collects and collates employer’s suggestions and advises the
central government on policy issues. The chambers are responsible for both the content and
implementation of vocational training. All chambers have vocational training committees,
consisting of employee and employer representatives. These committees deal with all issues
related to vocational training. The chambers also employ training councillors
(Ausbildungsberater) who have control and advisory responsibilities for workplace training.
Training is provided at the employer’s expense, although research suggests that, where
training is organised in the workplace, the gains to employers match or even exceed the costs.
There are no subsidies or government incentives to provide training, although the Länder
carry the cost of the school based elements of the dual system. Apprentices are paid an
allowance which is considerably less than the wages of an adult worker. There is no levy
system except in the construction sector, which is dominated by small and medium sized
enterprises that rely heavily on inter-company training centres supervised by the chambers in
order to provide broad based training. Inter-company training centres have also been
established in a number of other trades with a preponderance of small and medium sized
enterprises, given the concern to provide the necessary range of experience for qualification
in a trade.

Public Policy and Strategy for Training and Development

Over the past three years there has been a growing debate over the perceived crisis in the
Dual System. This debate is given increased impetus by the recent election of a Social
Democratic Green government coalition. Such reform has already been the subject of an
intensive debate between the Länder Education ministers and the social partners.

In an extensive report ‘Vocational education in need of reforms’, produced by the Institut

Technik und Bildung for the Ministries of Economy, Labour and Culture of the North Rhine-
Westphalia Land, Heidegger and Rauner (1996) outline the major challenges facing the dual
system. In their introduction they recognise the role of the German State in weighing general
economic and social objectives against the particular interest of individual enterprises. Whilst
the increasing demands of flexible production are leading to a tendency towards
individualisation of life perspectives and occupational identities they also advocate the
strengthening of occupational identity as a key factor in social solidarity and in combating
social exclusion.

The present crisis, they state, is characterised by three factors:

• A shortage of apprenticeship places;
• A drift away from the dual system to the Gymnasium and academic higher education;
• A need for modernisation in occupational profiles and the content and processes of
vocational training.
Whilst conjunctural economic and demographic factors have been blamed for the shortage of
apprenticeships it is important to recognise long term structural factors:
Firstly there has been a dramatic decrease in the number of apprenticeship places in large
enterprises due to the establishment of individual cost centres, tendencies towards out-
sourcing and pressures for the maximisation of short-term profits. Secondly, in the craft trade,
which is the numerically most important sector in terms of apprenticeship provision,
enterprises are increasing unable to provide training and experience for the breadth of tasks
and knowledge demanded of new occupational profiles. Thirdly the growth of the tertiary
sector of the economy has not been accompanied by a corresponding increase in
apprenticeship places in service and infrastructure occupations.
Heidegger and Rauner (1996) put forward a wide-ranging programme for the modernisation
and reform of the dual system. They base their proposals on the following principles:
• The wish to adhere to and strengthen the work based structure of occupations in Germany.
The principal of occupational structures and the dual system are seen as an important
bedrock of social stability, which itself is a critical factor in encouraging enterprises to
locate in Germany, and in maintaining cultural traditions. However in order to answer
increasing demands for flexibility and modernisation occupational profiles need to be
shaped in a more open and dynamic way than has been so previously. Occupational
identity, as opposed to extrinsic work morals based on wage incentive and social
uncertainty, is seen as providing individuals with the opportunity to construct occupational
biographies, even in a time of increased uncertainty in employment and heightened
geographical mobility.
• The desire to maintain the ‘dual nature’ of vocational education. Company based training
within the dual system provides authentic practice of complex work tasks. However there
is the need for a dramatic improvement in the quality of enterprise training. The
contractual nature of the dual system has also been a major factor in the low youth
unemployment in Germany.
• These considerations do not preclude the expansion of school based – or alternating –
vocational education and training. In any case there is a need to strengthen the status of the
vocational schools and to modernise the curriculum and pedagogic approaches. This
should include the development of integrated curricula between enterprises and schools,
allowing a reduction in time spent on assessment.
• The need to develop a series of dynamic core occupations. The present structure of
occupational profiles no longer matches the economy and structure of industry and
commerce in Germany; neither does it provide the flexibility the modern economy
demands. It is proposed that a limited number of core occupations could be developed by
merging comparatively narrow occupational profiles which have until now been allocated
to separate fields. The development of ‘open dynamic occupations’ will increase
flexibility and mobility both within and between occupations. The occupational profiles
for the core occupations should be “prospectively” planned and the processes for planning
and revision should be speeded up. However training based on forecasts of future tasks
alone is not sufficient to deal with the speed of change in technology and work
organisation. Apprentices need to learn how to manage their own learning and to be able
to “shape” technology and work.
Just because of the very strength of the initial system of vocational education and training
relatively little attention has been paid until recently to the need for continuing education and
training. Under pressure from changing economic and social needs, including amongst others
the high rate of unemployment, the problems of the Eastern Lander, and the rapid
implementation of new technologies, there has been a debate on policy development of
continuing training. This debate has centred on whether continuing training should be
regulated, as in the Dual System, or whether it should be market driven through the
enterprises.
Whilst the final outcome is not determined it appears that the new government has decided
against regulation of continuing training.
Corporate Policies and Strategies

In understanding corporate policy and strategies to training in development it is necessary to

consider the different sectors of the German economy separately as there are quite varied
dynamics of development.

In the important handwork sector, comprised of small and medium enterprises, training and
development is stable following a reform of the law at the beginning of 1998. The general
strategy is to utilise the introduction of new occupations, as a result of technological
developments, like for instance building management, to reduce the number of occupational
profiles, in order to develop flexibility.

Similarly training and development strategies are firmly embedded in the services and
professional sectors. Here, though, there is an increasing focus on the importance of
continuing education and training, with the growing implementation of open and distance
learning programmes, in for example the banks.

The major crisis at a strategic level is in industry. Changes in the structure of industry and the
cost of German reunification led to a debate at the beginning of the 1990s over the expense of
maintaining the dual system. At the same time in the Eastern Länder, faced with a gross
shortage of company based training places due to economic collapse, the government
financed the establishment of training centres outside the companies. By December 1997
there were 16,000 ‘central training places’ at 78 different locations, established at the cost of
some DM 556 million. There was a clear economic attraction for industry in transferring
training from the companies to the public sector. Such pressure was exacerbated by the
managerial trend towards outsourcing and the establishment of departmental cost centres.
Many enterprises set up their own independent training companies. Whilst VET provision has
traditionally played a stable and independent function within German industry, under the
influence of American Human Resource Development theory VET lost that independence
and was given a new role in personal and organisational development.

The outcomes of this debate are still not clear, and to some extent depend on the resolution of
the present crisis of the Dual system. However there are indications that there is a backlash
against the outsourcing undertaken at the start of the decade with the emergence of a new
paradigm based on learning and work. A number of projects, notably a Modellversuch based
at Volkswagen, have begun the process of social modernisation of qualifications, through
developing flexibility based on the application of work process knowledge and the
development of expertise. At the same time other company-based projects have been looking
at the development of more flexible pathways for continuing learning combining academic
and vocational qualifications.

Academic Work in Training and Development

Academic work in Training and development is relatively well established in Germany,

compared to many other European countries. It is based on the national research institutions,
including the BIBB and the IAB, and a network of university departments. One unusual
feature of the German system is that vocational teachers (in the schools) are educated through
a Masters degree programme at university. There are some 50 university departments who
combine the education of teachers in one or more of thirteen different vocational subject
areas, with research into training and development.

Although obviously the focus of the research varies between different university departments
it tends to have more a subject and work based focus, as opposed to education or sociology,
as is often the case in other European universities. Major research themes include:

• The inter-relationship between occupational structures and vocational education and

training and qualification needs at a macro and sectoral level;

• The development of occupational profiles and new curricula – curriculum modernisation

and reform;

• Learning styles and self-directed learning

• Historical and comparative studies of the development of vocation education and training;

• Work process knowledge, the development of expertise and anthropocentric work

organisation.

A further major focus for academic work is through the Modellversuch or ‘Model Projects’.
Two parallel programmes of project development, one for enterprises and the other for
schools, were launched in 1971 and is organised by the BIBB in conjunction with both the
Federal and Länder authorities. The majority of vocational schools have, at one time or
another been involved in a Modellversuch and a considerable number are more or less
permanently involved. Thus these projects have grown to take on a role as a milieu for social
dialogue between teachers and schools and policy makers and researchers. The aim of the
projects is to develop a process of permanent innovation. In terms of research design the
projects originally were ‘quasi-experimental’ in origin, but late in the 1970s adopted an
action research approach. In the 1980s this once more evolved to an ‘innovation model’,
whilst in 1998 the establishment of a central Programmträgerschaft (Programme Manager)
for the school based programme recognised the need to develop networks.

Sources of Information on Training and Development

The most comprehensive source of information on training and development in Germany is

the annual Berufsbildungsbericht. This is an official report on initial and continuing
vocational education and training prepared by the BIBB and debated and approved by the
social partners and by the Federal Government. Similar reports are produced by the Länder
although the content of these reports varies.

The BIBB and the IAB both have their own data systems and both undertake extensive
publication programmes. Many of the documents are now available in electronic form and
can be downloaded over the Internet. Increasingly universities are making key publications
available through the World Wide Web. There are two useful ‘cataloguing sites’: the
Deutsches Institut für Internationale Pädagogische Forschung (DIPF) is developing an on-
line index of publications related to training and development and the Wissenschaftsforum für
Bildung und Gesellschaft e.V.(WIFO) in Berlin has developed a site indexing resources and
organisations (see appendix, below).
Networks for Training and Development
There are a number of important networks in training and development in Germany.
is The Berufspädagogic commission for vocational education and training is a section of the
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Erziehungswissenschaft (DGfE) representing the scientific
community. All academic Berufspädagogen (scientists) are members of the DGfE.
The Arbeitsgemeinschafts der Hochschulinstitute für gewerblich-technische Berufsbildung
(HGTB) is the association of the university institutes for technical vocational education and
training.
There are three major VET teachers associations: The Gewerkschaft für Erziehung und
Wissenschaft, a section of the Deutscher Gewerkschafts Bund, is a trade union movement
representing vocational teachers. A more conservative tradition is represented by two
professional associations for vocational technical teachers.
Every Länd has a Länderausschüsse für BeruflicheBildung bringing together representatives
of employers, trade unions and government in order to organise a dialogue at regional level
and provide advice for the government.
Useful Contacts
Bundes Institut fur Berufs Bildung (BIBB) - www.bibb.de/
Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung - www.iab.de/
Deutches Institut für Internationale Pädagogische Forschung - www.educat.hu-berlin.de/dgfe/
Wissenschaftsforum für Bildung und Gesellschaft e.V. - www.b.shuttle.de/wifo/profile.htm
Institut Technik und Bildung - www.itb.uni-bremen.de/
References
Berufsbildungbericht der Bundesminister für Bildung, Wissenshaft, Forschung, 1997,
Bonn
Cockrill and Peter Scott, 1997, Vocational education and Training in germany: Trends
and Issues, in Journal of Vocational Education and Training, Vol. 49, Number 3,
pp337-350
Heidegger and Rauner (1997), Vocational educcation in need of reforms, Ministry of
Economics, Technology and Transport, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany, Dusseldorf