Transfer is a common journey, not a blueprint
Transferability of dual VET from Germany to other European countries
By
Aleksandra Poltermann;
Forschungsinstitut Betriebliche Bildung (f-bb) gGmbH (EU-DualS Partner)
The transfer of the dual VET system from Germany to other countries worldwide has been discussed and sporadically intended since the 80s. Due to a long lasting tradition of the German dual VET system, low rate of youth unemployment and robust economic conditions, other countries are interested in reforming their VET systems along the German one, encompassing the two learning venues of theory and practice.
In the past, several projects have been realised with the objective of implementing such a system. At the end, these projects had one thing in common: at some point sustainability appears to be rather inadequate. But this entails no pre-judgement for following projects.
Considering the lessons learned, it is important, in a first step, to develop implementation models to establish the success core elements in the target countries and then support the specific implementation, taken national conditions as legal basis, VET systems and stakeholders into account.
EU-DualS focuses on identifying these core elements and therefore forms a research-based starting point for discussions on transfer processes. The main focus here is on the German apprenticeship training system as a model for good practice.
The EU-DualS study does not give any recommendation for the actual design of the VET systems of the involved partners in Italy and Spain. Instead it detects relevant starting points for designing a dual VET system, country-independent.