At the opening of the European vocational training conference in Munich on Monday, Federal Minister of Education Annette Schavan proposed the introduction of international benchmarks for vocational training systems: “The results of the PISA assessment of general education levels triggered a considerable surge of reforms. A similar step is worth considering for vocational education and training, as well.” According to the minister’s plans, the ‘vocational training PISA’ would be designed to “determine people’s actual skills and abilities, rather than what qualification they acquired at what institution and how long it took”. This would enable a comparison of German non-academic vocational training qualifications with similar, academic degrees in other countries.
By way of illustration, Schavan mentioned training programmes for nurses and opticians. If the tests were to show that the acquired skills are comparable, this would have a significant impact on the reclassification of German vocational training qualifications in the international ranking. If successful, the ‘vocational training PISA’ could serve as a blueprint for EU vocational training policy as a whole, Schavan pointed out. Together with several other EU member states and German partners, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research is currently investigating possible ways of realising such a model.
In this context, the Federal Minister of Education and Research highlighted the fact that the German dual system of education and training is an attractive model that is increasingly being adopted in other countries: “Dual training is on the rise in Europe, and it can only benefit from international comparative studies”, said Schavan. The test is to assess learning success after vocational training, at the time of entry into the labour market.
A key subject at the Munich conference is mobility. “Europe needs to create more mobility for its apprentices – this is the only way we can assert ourselves against international competition”, said Schavan. Together with Ján Figel’, the EU Commissioner responsible for education, Schavan made it clear that further specific steps in vocational training policy are needed in order to strengthen the European Education Area. The conference, which was attended by over 400 participants from 33 European countries, is focussing on the conclusion of consultations on ECVET, the European Credit System for Vocational Education and Training. This system aims to enable learning results to be measured, assessed across borders, and manifested in the form of credits, thus facilitating their transfer from one country to another. “The credit system will help us open up professional opportunities for young people in Europe even further”, Schavan said.
Participants of the conference, which is taking place as part of the German EU Council presidency, are taking stock of the advances that have been made in European cooperation in the area of vocational training. In addition, they are discussing other education and training initiatives aimed at meeting current technological, economic and demographic challenges in Europe. In this context, the considerable increase of qualifications acquired in other European countries, the opening towards Europe of national laws governing the professions, and the ability to transfer between vocational training and higher education are key subjects. Another central topic of the conference is the implementation of the new EU initiatives in the individual member states. These programmes include the European Qualifications Framework, which makes the multitude of vocational training qualifications more transparent, and ECVET, the European Credit System for Vocational Education and Training.
“We have laid the foundation for a new era in European vocational training”, Schavan said in view of the advances made in the field of vocational training during the German EU presidency. Some of the examples she gave were the Lifelong Learning Programme, which is the largest EU education programme to date, with a volume of seven billion euros, the European Credit Transfer System, and the European Qualifications Framework, which is to be adopted towards the end of 2007. Schavan gave specific targets: “We want to double the number of apprentices in Germany who acquire qualifications abroad.” She also emphasised the need to promote the strategic marketing of German and European training offerings on the international education market.
Further information on the conference is available online under http://www.bmbf.de/de/7267.php
Further information on European education policy and the German EU presidency is available online under www.bmbf.de and http://www.eu2007.de
