This chapter recalls the characteristics and specifics of the German apprenticeship model. It presents eight conditions and criteria that the work environment should fulfill to make this model work. We use examples from empirical studies carried out in the United States, Mexico and China to illustrate the actions that large German companies are taking in their foreign subsidiaries to transfer their model to other national environments.
The German dual vocational training system, which can be considered one of the pillars of the German human resources management model, has often been described in France as a successful model to be emulated. In terms of professional integration, the German vocational training system is a success that has few equivalents in Europe. However, this model seems difficult to export as it exists in a different national context and only seems to be able to function in a specific institutional and cultural environment. Recent studies focus on the conditions necessary for the successful transfer of the German apprenticeship model to other countries, particularly to subsidiaries of German multinationals. Empirical studies have been conducted in China, the United States and Mexico by collaborators of the ITB (Institut für Technik und Bildung) of the University of Bremen and other German researchers. First, we will present the contemporary characteristics and challenges of German apprenticeships from a French perspective. In a second part, we will then present the main conditions of the transfer by illustrating them with the results of studies.
The German dual learning model (in school and the workplace) is often presented as a factor of economic (for matching qualifications developed to business needs) and social (for its ability to integrate young people into the labor market) competitiveness.
Table 16.1 summarizes the main features of the German apprenticeship model.
Table 16.1. Characteristics of the German learning model (after Pilz and Li 2014)
Qualification strategies in the company | On the job training, job-rotation, project method, training seminars |
Learning site | Partly in the workplace and partly in vocational schools. |
Key competencies of the apprenticeship program | Skills of a specific profession developed in the workplace and at school. |
Participants/target audience | Trainees of Vocational Education and Training |
Cost allocation | Companies bear the training costs at the workplace and the State bears the training costs at the vocational school. |
Professionalization of trainers | Company tutors must follow a certification course; professional teachers follow a diploma course. |
Recruitment | Students coming from the compulsory school system. |
Certificates | Chambers of commerce and trade issue official certificates. Vocational schools issue a certificate of participation. Companies issue a testimonial detailing the tasks and behavior in the company. |
Relationship between initial and continuing training | Strict distinction between initial and further vocational education. |
Traditionally, there have been four major differences between apprenticeships in Germany and France (Davoine et al. 2000), and these differences have not changed much in recent decades (Zettelmeier 2016).
The company plays a greater role in Germany, since it has the role of trainer in the same way as the vocational school (Berufsschule). Part of the training is done in the workplace where the apprentice learns how to complete tasks and develops skills that are defined by a trade reference framework (Berufsbild). The role of the company is reflected in a share of business investment in training that is greater in Germany than in France, as well as in a greater power in the design and in the validation of training programs, such as the awarding of certificates by company representatives (chambers of commerce and industry or chambers of trade) and not by the State as in France. This greater role of companies in Germany makes it possible to ensure the professional orientation of the content of training, as well as a reactive adaptation to the needs of the labor market (a reactivity that can be problematic in periods of recession as a large number of companies then reduce their number of apprenticeship places).
In Germany, vocational training involves more than half of the population aged 17–24 and seems to promote their professional integration. The dual system allows for practical vocational training that quickly integrates technological changes.
The majority of apprentices in Germany learn the trades of employees or skilled workers in industrial or service companies, SMEs or large companies, and less often in very small craft enterprises.
Apprenticeship in Germany is traditionally independent of the school system. There is a fundamental separation between vocational training and general education. The consequence of this separation is a less hierarchical and often complementary juxtaposition of the different forms of qualification (professional and general). It is not uncommon in Germany for Abiturienten (baccalaureate or A-level holders) to seek to acquire a professional qualification during three additional years (i.e. to learn a trade in a company), before beginning their university studies. In some professional fields, such as Bankkaufmann or Versicherungskaufmann (qualified employee for banks and insurance companies), Abitur/baccalaureate holders are even in the majority in following a course that officially requires a lower school-level certificate.
The dual system has also recently faced new challenges, particularly Germany’s demographic decline, which is reducing the number of young people entering the labor market, and, above all, the growing interest of young people in higher education, which is perceived as more rewarding (Lasserre 2014). As in France, dual learning programs have also been implemented in higher education, mainly within the framework of specific institutions: the Berufsakademien, known as Duale Hochschulen or Universities of Cooperative Education. These institutions were launched in Baden-Württemberg in the 1970s and then spread, and were emulated in other regions. In 2012, they trained around 65,000 students per year under work–study contracts with companies. This growing success shows that German companies and institutions have been able to adapt their training offer to the changing needs of society and the economy, although at the same time traditional initial training continues to attract young people with more than 500,000 “traditional” apprenticeship contracts signed in the same year 2012 (Lasserre 2014).
Research on the transfer of the German learning model to foreign subsidiaries of large groups shows that transferring the model abroad is not so simple, and that the dual learning model requires several conditions to work. Gonon (2014) identifies seven conditions and success criteria. We present these by illustrating examples of what German companies have tried to develop in Mexico, the United States and China, to facilitate the implementation of the German model in different national institutional and cultural environments.
The criteria for the success of a dual vocational training model are as follows:
It is clear from these examples that the conditions for the success of the German VET model are not obvious in, often very different national environments. This does not mean that the transfer of the model is impossible, but it often requires actions to be taken to adapt practices or even transform local institutional environments. The examples presented here illustrate the innovative practices of German companies in China, the United States and Mexico. The use of the criteria is a first step in identifying potential difficulties in dual learning in a specific institutional environment. In the case of France, for example, we still observe the traditional difficulties (Zettelmeier 2016) concerning the criteria of the regulatory framework, the cooperative culture and, above all, the meritocratic principle of a career. But as far as apprenticeship is concerned, France has also evolved in recent decades and has probably not finished evolving.
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Chapter written by Éric DAVOINE and Ludger DEITMER.