5
consolidate Government skills programs and better target training to meet industry and employer
needs.” Long-term skills strategies must be centrally driven,
clearly articulated and capture the ‘buy-in’ of industry. Within the above statement, government’s
responsibility is to create the industry and employer need. To leave VET provision to the whim of
markets controlled by individuals and employers risks short-term thinking, and a potential crisis in
the national skills profile.
Support strategies to encourage individual participation in VET should rely on strategic rather
than reactive measures. Training is a longer term commitment by all stakeholders: individuals,
governments, employers and industry, to create a skilled future workforce. Longer term commitment
must be secured within a longer term, strategic framework.
7. Conclusion Australia’s vocational education and training
system has faced significant criticism and reform in recent years, as labour and skills shortages threaten
the potential and viability of Australian industry to compete in a global economy. Stakeholders
government, industry,
VET organisations,
employers and individuals have competing interests in the shape and outcomes of VET, yet the
shift to a market-led, demand-driven system risks short-term thinking to override the long-term
strategic thinking required to
equip a nation’s workforce for the future.
R
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6
PARTNERSHIP MODELS OF VET AND INDUSTRY: GERMANY EXPERIENCES IN FIRST AND CONTINUOUS EDUCATION.
Prof. Dr. Thomas Köhler Abstract
The German educational system has a serious strength concerning the organization of the vocational and technical education. A core component of the TVET is the strong inter-organizational, even inter-sectorial
linkage between vocational institutions and industry. The principle of the German model is to interlink training components coming from both sides, VET and Industry. Whereas in some other European states more than 50
of the workforce received a mainly academic training, taking place at a colleges and universities, in Germany the majority of the workforce is trained within the VET programmes. Due to the core role of the two key players,
VET and Industry, it is labelled the “Dual System”. However over the last 25 years the Dual System did not always receive high appreciation. Indeed also in
Germany the vocational education training has lost some attention not only among the young. Even policy was more concerned about the Europe-wide harmonization of the academic education sector, labelled as the Bologna
process. Also young people tend to prefer office oriented professions, for example in an administration or in the media industry, what has led to further difficulties. Now, with the demographic change due to a decreased birth
rate, for the first time since decades there are more apprenticeships in VET offered than young people exist These influences are among others currently leading to a renewed attention given to the VET in Germany. The
paper will discuss two examples for new development lines in a case study like manner, concerning both challenges and related approaches for structural developments of the VET in Germany.
Measure 1 deals with the European Framework for Education, an 8-step-scale that defines how to interlink the different levels of any education provided in Europe. Indeed the national VET schemes lead sometimes to dead
ends of education, when the highest vocational level is reached but the transfer to other educational routes would not be allowed. It will be discussed what consequences such a unified qualification scheme does have for the
Dual System in VET and how the German educational sector tries to keep up, perhaps even advances by adopting it.
Measure 2 deals with need of an improved collaboration of VET and Industry in the training process. Here the duality leads to some weakness because education is not delivered by one institution only. Indeed even different
regulations need to be applied to determine the targets and contents of the VET. Introduced is a research project of Dresden University of Technology, one of Germanys leading academic institutions, which aims to promote
social interaction between learners and teachers to encourage the building of vocational online- communities of learners and teachers in vocational education but also of practitioners who are located at different places but need
to exchange knowledge and information
1. Measure 1: The European Framework for Education and its meaning for the TVET in
Germany The European Qualifications Framework for
Lifelong Learning EQF is a relatively new eight- step scale that defines how to interlink the different
levels of any education provided in Europe. The EQF, Which is intended to act as a vehicle for
linking the various national qualifications system via so-called National Qualifications Framework in
order to create greater understanding of national qualifications at a European level profiles cf.
EUROPEAN COMMISSION, 2008. Following the recommendation of the European Parliament and
European Council of 23 April 2008 on its
establishment the
European Qualifications
Framework for lifelong learning should be linked to the national system of qualifications until 2010.
However, the new scheme does not directly fit the German legal situation as defined by the Vocational
Training Act cp. Federal Ministry for Education and Research, 2005.
To implement this new European specification in Germany it has been agreed to develop a national
qualifications framework, the DQR. Following the adoption of the DQR see DQR Working Group,
2011 in the group DQR also been afforded an opportunity to begin the mapping of national
qualifications levels to the DQR. As described by Esser 2012 already during the phase of drafting
the DQR drew a dissent in the positions between the TVET affiliated institutions and the Standing
Conference of the Education of the German states
KMK occurred. In particular the allocation of professional qualifications and general university
entrance qualification could not be resolved, even until now.