1. ®
The Vocational Training System of Germany:
Structures, Success Factors and Innovations
Roger Hessel
Federal Institute for
Vocational Education
and Training (BIBB)
hessel@bibb.de
caceres-reebs@bibb.de
T. +49 228 107-2936
SENA Conference
17 July 2015, Bogotá

2. ®
The BIBB: role & tasks
The Dual Vocational
Education and Training
(VET) system in Germany
Innovative good
practices in Colombia
Policy recommendations

3. ®
The Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB)
• Centre of competence for initial & continuing vocational
education and training Germany (located in Bonn)
• 630 employess
• Contributes to the improvement of VET via R&D and
advisory services
Research Policy advice Shaping the future

4. ®
Prof. Friedrich
Hubert Esser,
President
of the BIBB, who
started his career
as a baker

5. ®
Decision makers in the Dual System
The Board at the BIBB:
“Parliament of Vocational Training”
Reconciliation of interests
and consensus
Federal government State governments
EmployeesEmployers

6. ®
BIBB’s Cooperation Network

7. ®
History of the German dual VET system
Guilds:
Association of
members of a trade
in cities since the
12th century

8. ®
The productive sector: driver of the German VET system

9. ®
Two learning venues
9
70%
Company
30%
Vocational School

10. ®
Two learning venues
70%
of VET in
companies
30%
in vocational schools
In-company training
• Company pays training
allowance
• Training under real-life
working conditions
Vocational
education
provided free of
charge
Approx. duration of Dual VET: 2 – 3.5 years

11. ®
Dual VET: Two worlds under one roof
Vocational school2 learning venues
delegates authority to
chambers & social partners
Chambers, employers &
trade unions
State
Employer Trainee
Company

12. ®
VET stakeholders
Chambers
• Train in-company
trainers
• Assess & certify training
companies
• Monitor & supervise
training companies Employers &
Employees
• Negotiate training
allowances
• Works Councils
monitor in-company
trainings
Government
• Finances & supervises
public VET schools
• Supports
institutionalised VET
research (BIBB)

13. ®
The Engine of VET cooperation in Germany
Employers Government
Workers
Employer/
business
associations
want to shape the
framework of Dual
VET
Government
develops policy
framework
pursuing
regulative
interests
Main Board
at BIBB
Labour unions
want to shape
the framework
of Dual VET
„Interlocked“
through

14. ®
The role of the trainer

15. ®
Source: BIBB CBS 2012/2013
€0 €5.000 €10.000 €15.000 €20.000
Net costs
Benefit
Gross costs
Net costs of apprenticeship training in 2012
per apprentice and year of training

16. ®
Benefits of Cooperatively Structured VET
For enterprises
 Next generation of skilled workers assured
 Low recruitment costs
For apprentices
 Labour market relevance: improved employability; uniform
qualification standards
 “Earning & learning”  highly motivated students
 Acquisition of social skills  personality development
For the state
 VET offers for all school leavers
 Private sector contribution eases the burden on public budgets
 Finding partners for developing internationally competitive standards

17. ®
• Individual support and guidance for young people
• Early preparation for a successful school-to-work
transition
• Career guidance should be integrated in the curricula of
the school (“career orientation culture")
• Labor market orientation: involve all VET stakeholders;
action-oriented focus
• The tools:
- 2 days analysis of the potential of pupils
- 2 weeks “shop floor exercise“
• Funding: Federal Ministry of Education & Research and
Federal Ministry of Labor
Career Guidance in the Life Course

18. ®
Pilot Projekt “Arena4You”

19. ®
• Strong trend in Germany for career-oriented
students
• Different from dual VET
• Appropriate for the integration of young academics
into the labor market
• Often not appropriate to resolve the challenge of a
lack of skilled workers
• A one-to-one transition of the German dual study
programs into other socio-economic contexts is
hardly possible
Dual Study Programs

20. ®
En la práctica – desarrollo de calidad en la formación
profesional en la empresa en 8 áreas:
1. Definir los objetivos de calidad: Hacia dónde
queremos ir?
2. Desarrollar una conciencia de calidad
3. Aprovechar el marco legal
4. Mejorar la cooperación entre los lugares de
aprendizaje: escuela y empresa
5. Calificar el personal de formacón (émpresa-escuela)
6. Acompanar la transición a la formación profesional
7. Aumentar la calidad de aprendizaje
8. Asegurar los resultados del aprendizaje

21. ®
International Marketing of
Vocational Education and Training
• Acronym: International Marketing of Vocational Education
• Initiative of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research
(BMBF)
• Division of the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and
Training (BIBB)
Cooperation platform for German training providers and
their international partners

22. ®
iMOVE Publications

23. ®
1. Cooperation between public and
private sector
2. Learning within the work process
3. Acceptance of national VET standards
4. Qualified VET staff
5. Institutionalized research & advice
Five VET Quality Features

24. ®
Developing an action plan
while taking into account
our principles of bilateral
cooperation
 Tailor-made, demand-oriented, country-specific
approach
 Ownership principle: the partner defines the
contents and speed of cooperation as well as the
area for the first pilot project/s
BIBB – How to implement a bilateral cooperation?

25. ®
Con-Ciencia Ecológica:
VET in the renewable
energies sector
„Socialisación del
conocimiento“
• Where? In remote
areas
• How? Practical
exercises in workshops
directly offered to
municipalities
• Target group: those
who apply the
technology

26. ®
„SUNSENA–Project“:
SUNSET Company, Germany (2012–2014)
• First photovoltaics technology test & training site
in Colombia
• Where? In remote areas
• How? 50% of training via practical exercises:
„No conocimientos generales”
• Sustainability: Long-term cooperation with SENA, Puerto
Carreño; aiming at collaboration with a local partner
• Innovation: launching the training course „Solateur“

27. ®
Katrin Gutschow, AB 3.1
New alliance in German-Mexican VET cooperation:
• “Joint Declaration of Intent” signed in Berlin in June 2015
• German-Mexican Binational Commission inaugurated
• Aim: 3000 Mexican trainees in work-based training by
end of 2015

28. ®
1. Dual VET is a “win-win”: companies invest in their future;
students benefit from training allowances; lesser burden on
state budgets
2. VET quality feature “Learning within the work process”
3. VET quality feature “Cooperation Government – Business –
Social partners” via a sustained process of mutual, institutional
trust-building
4. Transfer of elements of the German VET system can be a
success, provided that an extensive and sustained cooperation
is undertaken
5. Dual study programs: a sound “school-workplace-
connectivity“ is crucial
Policy Recommendations

29. ®
For further information:
Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB)
German Office for International Cooperation in
Vocational Education and Training (GOVET)
Roger Hessel, Diana Caceres-Reebs, Tobias Wolfgarten
Robert Schuman-Platz 3
53175 Bonn – Germany
T. +49 228 107-1904
E-Mail: govet@govet.international
http://www.bibb.de/en/index.php
http://www.bibb.de/zentralstelle