Bringing firms on board. Inclusiveness of the dual apprenticeship systems in Germany, Switzerland and Denmark

Abstract

In dual vocational education and training (VET) systems, the state and employers collaborate in order to meet a country’s needs in terms of education for youth and professional skills for the labour market. These systems are considered as effective tools to lower youth unemployment. However, since firms in dual VET systems select the apprentices, not every candidate gets access to in‐firm training. Consequently, governments develop measures that try to make their dual VET systems more inclusive. We present a categorisation of the different measures used to enhance inclusiveness in three dual collective skill formation countries (Switzerland, Germany and Denmark). We show that inclusiveness measures exist in each of the three countries but are limited in the extent to which firms are expected to play an active role in them. We conclude that the types of measures adopted are related to political economy traditions and the country’s level of macro‐corporatism.

Literature Review of Apprenticeship

“…实验类等文章，共查阅 116 篇文献。本文在剩余的文献中进行总结，梳理、评价了不同学徒 制的类型，并提出了有科学依据的企业管理学徒制的建议。 2. 学徒制的类型 2.1.同龄人教师 在同一教育项目中，教授有较少经验学生的学生被称为同龄人教师(near-peer teachers)。 研究表明，同伴教导(near-peer teaching)的好处在于创造了一个安全的支持性环境，学习者 视同龄人教师为有效的模范榜样，学习者和同龄人教师的信心得到了提高。然而同龄人教师 缺乏必要的课程的培训。 [1] 2.2.双元职业教育训练 职业教育训练(Vocational education and training，VET)是基于学校教育与公司培训的双 元系统，学徒可以在真实环境下学到专业技术，雇主的参与确保了传授的技能是公司所需。 国家对职业培训高度承诺与企业的高度参与促成了这种集体性技能形成的系统(collective skill formation system)。 然而，这个系统具有选择性。学徒候选者需要在公司中找到学徒的职位，这些岗位职位 是在竞争的基础上分配的，并非每个人能够在公司中得到培训的职位。站在社会政策和社会 凝聚力的角度出发，这种选择性存在一定问题。无法获得职业培训的人有可能终生会落后于 社会上的其他人，并依靠国家福利生存。因此，推行双元职业教育培训的国家采取了其他措 施旨在增加该系统的包容性，而非仅遵循劳动力市场的逻辑规律，让候选者与学徒职位相匹 配。为促进双元职业教育训练的系统(Dual VET system)而采取的国家干预手段被称为包容 性措施(inclusiveness measures)，其扶持主体是在竞争总处于劣势的人们。 [2] 该模式也存在一定缺陷，首先，学生作为企业的学徒，接受导师的详细的指导，但由于 缺乏系统的基础学习，学生对基础理论理解较差，其仍然面临着很大的自学挑战。一些学徒 在理解导师传授的相关理论和技能方面面临困难，如工程工作的复杂性和快节奏会增加学徒 自学的难度，且低水平的学徒认知能力会造成他们在身份、权利和职业前景方面的困惑。其 次，由于学徒在各企业的一线接受培训，学校无法获得其学徒期间的第一手信息，由于缺乏 培训力量，他们通常需要进行一定的区域访问，这也有其局限性。企业由于一些特殊的原因， 仍然缺乏考核制度，即使有考核制度，也没有实施，这给学徒培训的成功实施带来了不确定 性。 2.…”

Supra-company apprenticeship training in Austria: a synopsis of empirical findings on a possibly early phase of a new pillar within VET

“…Against this background, the qualification model SCAT emerged as a structural element of the Austrian VET system in the second half of the 1990s (Schlögl et al 2019). International research has shown that countries with a similar apprenticeship system have been tackling the crisis in the apprenticeship market with different measures (Lassnigg 2017; Bonoli and Wilson 2019). For example, the German transition system targeted young people in welfare schemes and social care.…”

“…Switzerland has undertaken a systemic reform of the VET system, which resulted in the introduction of fast-track apprenticeships (Di Maio et al 2020). These examples show the international relevance of quick reactions to crises on the part of VET systems by balancing economic efficiency and inclusiveness (Bonoli and Wilson 2019;Di Maio et al 2019).…”

“…Nevertheless, there is the question of the symbolic recognition of SCAT certificates on the labour market. Furthermore, the active involvement of companies in making the VET system more inclusive is considered an important requirement (Bonoli and Wilson 2019). Therefore, we ask for the rationale and motivation (Schönfeld et al 2010) as to why training companies cooperate with SCAT institutions (e.g.…”

“…The training lasts between three and four years (although in some exceptional cases it lasts only two years). SCAT is an inclusive programme which, although largely based on non-company training, offers interfaces for integration with training companies through in-company placements (Bonoli and Wilson 2019). Since the introduction of SCAT, the share of young people on this programme has risen from 5.…”