DOCUMENT RESUME ED 358 295 CE 063 822 TITLE Technical and Vocational Training. INSTITUTION European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training, Berlin (Germany). REPORT NO ISSN-0378-5068 PUB DATE 93 NOTE 81p. AVAILABLE FROM UNIPUB, 4661-F Assembly Drive, Lanham, MD 20706-4391 (Catalogue No. HX-AA-92-002-EN-C: $7.25; annual subscription: $12.10). PUB TYPE Collected Works Serials (022) JOURNAL CIT Vocational Training; n2 1992 EDRS PRICE MF01/PC04 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS Comparative Education; Developed Nations; *Educational Change; *Educational Development; Educational History; Education Work Relationship; Foreign Countries; Job Skills; Job Training; Secondary Education; Skilled Workers; Teacher Education; Technical Education; *Vocational Education IDENTIFIERS Denmark; *European Community; France; Germany; Great Britain; Japan; Netherlands; Portugal; Spain ABSTRACT This issue focuses on the various forms that secondary technical and vocational education takes in different European Community Member States. "The Future for Skilled Workers" is an interview with Burkart Lutz, a German researcher. Other articles are as follows: "Contradictions in Technical and Vocational Education: The Outlook" (Paolo Garonna); "Current Challenges to Basic Vocational Education" (Carl Jorgensen); "Education, Training, and Employment in Germany, Japan, and the USA--A Comparative Outline of Problems" (Joachim Munch); "Initial Vocational Training in France: Competition, Hierarchy, and History" (Jean-Louis Kirsch); "Secondary Training in Portugal" (Luis Imaginario); "Initial Vocational Education in the Netherlands: Current Developments" (J. Frietman); "Initial Technical and Vocational Education and Skill Formation in Britain" (David Ashton); "Brief Analysis of the Types of Vocational Training Available in Portugal" (E. Marcal Grilo); "The Reform of Vocational Training in Denmark" (Soren Pedersen); "A School in Touch with Its Environment" (Lluis Sacrest i Villegas); "Management Training for Head Teachers Based on Business Models" (Renato Di Nubila); and "Recognition and Validation of Vocational Skills in France" (Bernard Lietard). These articles are followed by descriptions of reports, papers, projects, research, and legislation and useful addresses. (YLB) *********************************************************************** * * Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made * * from the original document. *********************************************************************** ISSN 0378-5068 No 2/1992 Technical and vocational training U.S. DEPARTMENT or Ewe...Aram or Educational ROW/won and Improvement E ucATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER /ERIC! This 00Cuninl nits been reproduced as rCm110 from try DrillOn or °roam/Amon Ongona /MO rt C Monor changes nave teen mad* to more.* r00,0OUChOn Guilty Poenf of vmirr oe opinion' Stale0 In 1nm OCCu anent 00 not neesserrn, represent whoa. OEM poitOon or o06Cy * * * PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS YT MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY * TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC)" BEST COPY MAILABLE Vocational Training This publication appears Regular publication CEDEFOP twice a year in of the European Centre European Centre for the Development Spanish. Danish. German. for the Development of Vocational Training Greek, English. French. Italian. of Vocational Training Jean Monnet House Dutch and Portuguese Bundesallee 22. D-1000 Berlin 15 Tel.: (030) 88 41 20 Telex: 184 163 eucen d Fax: (030) 88 41 22 22 No. 2/1992: Technical and Vocational Training Published under the responsibility nf Ernst Piehl. Director Contents Corrado Pad. Deputy Director Page Enrique Retuerto de la Torre. Deputy Director Dear Readers The future for skilled workers Editorial staff: Burkart Lutz Contradictions in technical and vocational education: the outlook Content and structure: Paolo Garonna Fernanda Reis Current challenges to basic vocational training Georges Dupont Carl Jorgensen I I Technical production, coordination: Education. Training and Employment in Germans. Japan and the USA Bernd Mohlmann - a comparative outline of problems Barbara de Souza 15 Joachim Munch Translation service: Initial vocational training in France: competition. hierarchy and history 20 Jean-Louis Kirsch Alison Clark Secondary training in Portugal Layout: 27 Luis Imaginario Werbeagentur Initial vocational education in the Netherlands: current developments Ziihlke Scholz & Partner GmbH. 30 J. Enetman Berlin initial technical and vocational education and skill formation in Britain DTP: Technical Production with 1c David N. Ashton Axel Hunstock. Berlin Brief analssis of the types of vocational training available in Portugal 39 E. Marcel Grilo The contributions were received on The reform of vocational training in Denmark or before 22.07.1992 43 Soren Pedersen A School in Touch with its Environment The Centre was established by Regulation 45 Lluis Sacrest i Villegas No 337/75 of the Council of the European Management training for head teachers based on business models Communities 49 Renato Di Nubila Recognition and validation of vocational skills in France The views expressed by contributors 54 Bernard Lierard do not necessarily reflect those of the European Centre for the Development Information sources of Vocational Training 58 CEDEFOP: 59 B: FOREM/VDAB/CIDOC/ICODOC Reproduction is authorized. 60 DK: SEL (Statens Erhvervsmedagogiske Liereruddannelso except for commercial purposes. 62 D: BIBB (Bundesinstitut fiir Berufsbildung 62 provided that the source is indicated GR: Pedagogical Institute 64 E: INEM (Institute Nacional dc Emplem 65 F: Centre INFFO Catalogue number: 67 IRL: FAS (An Fortis Aiseanna Saothair - The Training and Employment Authority t HX-AA-92-002-EN-C 69 1: 1SFOL (Istituto per lo Sviluppo della Fonnazione Protessionale dci Lavoratori 70 NL: CIBB (Centrum innovatic berocpsonderwijs bedrijfsleven n Printed in 72 P: SICT (Servico do Inf3rinac5o Cientifica e Tecnicai 74 UK: BACIE (British Association for Commercial and Industrial Education) the Federal Republic of Germans. 1993 CEDEFOP How are these complementary links The question of the interface between tech- nical and vocational education (or even between strands built up in the various training systems in the \ arious Member initial education as a whole) and the labour market is becoming crucial at a time when States? What are the contradictions which the construction of Europe is making it can he pinpointed today and what regula- necessary to reorganize labour markets tion mechanisms are used to manage these and their European dimension. As the contradictions? Commission's Memorandum on training for the 1990s points out: while the How can existing structures he devel- The broad spectrum covered by this title makes it necessary to specify the field establishment of a single European labour oped so that they are better able to meet the market may not he possible immediately. covered by the various authors' contribu- short, medium and long term needs of the qualifications will have to he assessed economy, of individuals and of society as tions to this issue of CEDEFO.?'s Voca- from a European point of view in many a whole? tional Training Bulletin. Starting from the professional fields idea that the issues in technical and oca- Technical and vocational education tional education differ greatly depending 2. on vhether they relate to secondary or It is thus becoming very important to pro- streams have a crucial role to play in pro- \ ide decision-makers with information higher education, our focus will be the viding young people with training and various forms which this t\ pe of second- which takes account of a number of points qualifications at all levels, but are seen in of view and places systems in their social ary education takes in the different EEC some countries as "paths towards failure-. context. highlighting the contradictions Member States. If this is the case, the status which society hich they may contain. ALL those in- gives them must he upgraded so that they \ ol \ ed also need to he informed of innova- Draw ing up a relatively complete descrip- become "paths towards success" and pro- tions in the organization and operation of tive table of the architecture of the initial vide genuine help with integration. sy stems and in training practices in the vocational education "systems- contain- various Member States so that they can ing these various streams is not enough to How can this upgrading operation he car- show the interconnections between the analyse whether transfers are feasible and ried out, bearing in mind that these percep- various components of this architecture. what conditions arc needed for these trans- tions ha \ e their roots in cultural. social and fers. Support must also he given for the economic history at the level of both soci- their respective status, their use. the opera- development of transnational networks the system and its relationships tion ety and individuals? pa \ ing the way for a culture facilitating with the labour market. These components arc essential if we are to find out more exchanges of information and experience 3. The relationship between central. re- among Member States. gional and local levels is a particularly about national systems, the economic, so- cial and cultural factors \' IliCh have shaped important factor in understanding the op- In o \ erall terms. the architecture of I. them and their impact on the construction eration of training systems and the ways in of qualifications at the various levels. initial training systems is designed to meet which this operation is changing. This economic and social needs in the short. development raises important questions in The main types of technical and voca- the area of margins of autonomy in the medium and long term. The \ arious strands are therefore supposed to produce. in a tional education are similar in all the EEC management of establishments and in the complementary way, the various types and formulation of training programmes. job Member States: technical education which levels of training corresponding to these tends to mirror the way in w hich the edu- and skill description and the recognition of needs. bearing in mind. however. that ad- cational system operates and is therefore diplomas. The local level provides a good of a "school" ty pe. vocational training justments of the match hem een training forum for the State. local authorities. en- and employment are no longer possible schools which offer practical training in terprises and training establishments to because of the changes which have taken workshops and/or enterprise and learning come together at a time when partnerships place in the organization of labour and the by alternance. Their role and status differ between these \ arious protagonists are vi- within each country and from country to development of the qualifications needed tal. for work. country. How are links nowaday s being forged Continual shifts in demand place constant Looking at the use of these different ty pes between these levels in the areas of plan- stress on training systems and make it of training. it is e ident that training routes ning. management and super\ ision oftrain- necessary for them to occupy new posi- of the "school" type are the most \\ ide- ing in the various Member States? What tions \\ ithout it always being possible for spread in some Member States. while oth- role do the social partners play in forging all of these strands to keep to a comple- ers place more emphasis on routes in \ ()k- these links'? mentary approach. There is also some ing alternance training. These differences, "competition" hem een strands. dictated shaped by the cultural. economic and so- What inno \ at i\ e melt-it/Cis Of organiza- by changes in demand, v hich prevents cial history of Member States, determine tion based on the initiatie and autonomy some of these strands from playing their the characteristics of no\ jobseekers which of establishments already exist at local have to he related to labour markets - specific role and leads to contradictions le \ el making it possible to set up projects within the system itself. themsel \ es anchored in a social context. mirroring society ? Vocation:II naming 2/1992 C E DE FO P the strengthening of a culture of networks based for the most part on the initiative and 4. Most Member States !atve made con- for the exchange of information and expe- thus the degree of autonomy of those in siderable efforts to improve the quality rience among EEC Member States which charge of establishments. They also de- and competitiveness of these streams with also introduces a European dimension. pend on a whole range of partners in- respect to general education streams. This volved at policy-making and general ad- has already led to some innovations M Disseminating the results of these pro- ministrative levels: planners at all levels. terms of organization and teaching prac- specialists in the formulation of pro- grammes and making use of the capital of tices which need to he compared and con- innovation which they contain are of cru- grammes and options. educational science trasted. cial importance. researchers. The key partners in the devel- opment of practices are. however, teachers What are these innovations'? What im- The editorial staff and trainers. including those trainers who pact do they have on the operation of dispense training in a working situation as systems and on the ability of these systems part of alternance system,. to meet the expectations of enterprise and individuals? On the one hand, full-time teachers of techniques and job skills are faced with the What contribution does research into problem of maintaining their professional educational science actually make to prob- skills because of their remoteness from the lems of training innovation and how are its production world: on the other hand, the results disseminated? fact that teachers' salaries are not very attractive in comparison with salaries in Professional experience has a crucial 5. enterprise means that people are moving role to play in the social integration to out of teaching and/or numbers coming which vocational training also contrib- into the profession are decreasing. utes. Work is becoming less and less manual and qualifications which increasingly re- In the case of production staff who take on quire a broader range of initial vocational training duties, economic imperatives gen- skills and method abilities are developing erally make it difficult for them to attend and making it necessary to include compo- continuing training and upgrade their teach- nents of general education in vocational Mg skills. training with the result that vocational training is having to work on cognitive Finally, coordination hem een practical aspects and abstract reasoning abilities. training in enterprise and theoretical train- The boundaries between general educa- ing in school is a key factor if alternance is tion. vocational training and professional to he made to work. experience are becoming more flexible. with each taking ideas from one another and looking for new ways of relating to What methods and resources are being used to provide continuing training which one another. However. the construction of new routes raises the problems of meets the particular needs of-different types compartmentalization which have neset of trainers? In this respect. what methods can be used to provide for reciprocal ex- education, training and employment and requires new ways of thinking about the changes between schools and enterprise? ways in which they operate. 7. The action programmes of the Commis- sion of the European Communities, espe- What methods are being used to inte- grate the theoretical and practical ap- cially PETRA. while recognizing this sub- sidiary principle, aim to develop training proaches? What methods can he used for and what are the limits on closer links systems and more equal opportunities for all people as part of the creation of a hem een training and production, hearing European skill hank. in mind that a simple mechanism matching supply and demand is no longer appropri- The development of resources to monitor ate? changes in qualifications, support for ex- In what way can the specific role of perimental approaches which forge closer links between training and industry and technical and vocational education and its the establishment of partnerships between content now he defined? training institutions, enterprise, associa- tions and teachers are essential to the de- 6. The organization and implementation ) 3971 n,tl. firtiNek. inbet 1991 . IN:Lc CON1 t) I I velopment of systems in the same Wly as of technical and vocational education are p. I I Vocational training 2/1,192 CEDEFOP The future for skilled workers CEDEFOP: An analysis of the number of volatile product'', since there can he no schools still have plenty of space and the Young people who have passed through public realize that it is less profitable to statutory guarantee that a former appren- the initial vocational training systems in tice can continue to work for the same embark on vocational training than to go to Germany reVeals the vast capacity ofthose company. Employers, then, invest very upper secondary school and thence to uni- systems to produce skilled workers. Given heavily in a "volatile product" which is not versity. The net financial and non-finan- the growing aspirations ofyoung people in economically profitable. i.e. sustainable in cial benefits of the pay structure achie ed almost (Toy country in Europe. do you the long term. unless the market is fairly via the secondary education-university- think that this capacity can he maintained! well balanced, unless future employers employment route are still greater than supply a sufficient number of y oun_ peo- those achieved via the alternative path: ple whom they have trained, and unless leaving school early, taking up an appren- there is a structural balance between B. Lutz: The dual system in Germany is ticeship and becoming a skilled industrial training and the demand for trained work- worker. We are therefore facing what I effective because of the very specific struc- ture of the job markets it supplies. These believe will be an irreversible, long-term ers. are sectoral labour markets. on which shortage of high - profile applicants for train- jobseekers Since the jobs done by industrial workers ing as skilled shopfloor workers. future employees - are at the same time the skill providers. In market traditionally carry the highest status among theory it is a very unusual situation, a those accessible to the "sons of the peo- Here we see just how fragile the labour ple". up to now this equilibrium has been factor that becomes increasingly clear and markets are as regards this type of skill: if marked as the training becomes more de- fairly easy to achieve. Industry and this is leading industrial firms find that training manding. one of the strong points of German indus- is suffering from a quantitative and quali- try has established a fairly unusual selec- tative decline applicants. they will prob- tion procedure to screen the "best off- The particular workings and equilibrium ably relax their training efforts and meet of a sectoral labour market pose no prob- spring of the people- and attract them into their needs by taking on young people who skilled tradc:. lems w here training is relatively cheap. as are ready-trained. If such a practice were in the craft trades. where net training costs to take hold, the job markets would close are nil or negative in that expenditure on Today. alter 4(1 years of economic expan- down immediately -just as in the financial training is more or less offset. or in en sion. prosperity and democracy. the markets when a point of imbalance is more than paid for. b\ the work that ap- "brightest- children go to the more aca- reached the entire market structure col- prentices do. demic schools and then on to university lapses. And if I speak of the imminent almost in the same percentage as middle demise of the dual sy stem it is because On the other hand. with training for today I see all the early signs of' a rift class children. This has at one and the same industrial workers - which, after all. is the time brought about a structured quantita- between the labour markets and the train- heart of the German dual system ti ing market for skilled industrial workers. e and qualitative decline in those com- net training costs are very high: they have ing forward to train as skilled workers for been put at DM 80.000 per future skilled industry. Another reason for the decline in But this will not fundamentally affect the worker. Moreover, this expenditure. this numbers has also been the falling birth other strands of vocational training in the investment, is made in an "extremely rate. dual system. I am thinking in particular of the craft trades. where there is far greater In Germany, for some time this trend has elasticity (craft firms can choose to train or not to train because there is no special been masked by the arrival of the last peak Burkart intakes. corresponding to the generations structure to he set up), and of the training programmes for commerce, which gill horn in the late 1950s or early 1960s when Lutz there was a remarkable baby boom. in all probably he even more closely linked to eras Managing probability, though. this will he the last university studies. Director of the population booni in German history:. In the Institut Al. 1970.. due to an astute policy.. many of The sequence of practical and university f sozialwissen- these young people were channelled to- education will continue to be very attrac- schttltlb.he w ards vocational training. tive for young people and employers. What forschung in Munich .lrom 196..5 to is at risk is the "hard core-. i.e. the indus- Research 1 990. S'inc'e /990 has been Today. the number of young people is trial trades. This is all the more serious in Director at the same Institute. falling sharply: academic secondary that training for industrial trades has al- Vocalional training 2/19,42 CEDEFOP tools or work pieces. The big question as to as skilled workers in the immallurgical way s been simultaneously the training workers' skills in the future is precisely industry. I do not know what adjustments ground for most technical employees. All how to retain this factor now that is it will he necessary. whether things will have master craftsmen and technicians in the threatened by the introduction of informa- to be changed in terms of job categories, Federal Republic. and even a significant tion technology as an interface. That is remuneration or working hours in this in- percentage of engineers. began by training what we are trying to define, albeit provi- dustry to make careers there more attrac- for a shopfloor trade. sionally, by bringing together knowledge tive for young people (even those holding that has been taught and knowledge ac- a university entrance certificate). Herein lies the key question. but these are just quired through experience. The essence of CEDEFOP: What then are the prevailing the worker's skill is experience-acquired trends: there will he a break and a need for the trends. and host. do you see the lia tire of knowledge. and it has not been achieved of work' fundamental restructuring. That is all l can dual system and the structure by applying the kind of scientific knowl- say. edge that might he taught at school. If you talk to workers today about a very modern B. Lutz: First of all. I refuse to talk about piece of equipment (NC machines, for it- CEDEFOP: But in any case we are trends. What I foresee is a break in the example). they would explain that to do a nessing a restructuring of working pat- present pattern. but I have no idea how good job with this machine you need a terns. The shopfloor work r has lost his German industry and its education and clear idea of what is going on inside, for traditional status, and one often has the training system will react. There are a example to sense the head of the milling impression that when sve talk about a skilled number of possibilities or scenarios, in- machine and feel how it moves through the worker today, what we are thinking about cluding a certain tendency towards longer workpiece. They touch the machine, they is the skilled worker (4'50 years ago. And education (although I do not think this is listen to it, they have a whole range of very likely). A second scenario is one in Yet their lm?lile has changed. sensors which bring this vision to life. One which there is wider recourse to immi- of the big questions facing us today is to grants. giving them training and securing know how to re-create this same vision in B. Lutz: I don't think so. I have always their loyalty by offering them contracts a highly automated and interfaced situation. been struck by the cultural continuity' of that hind them more closely to the em- skilled shopfloor trades. There have ployer. The important thing is that this central sometimes been changes in practice, with component - now more central than ever of mate- a shift from the physical handl i There will no doubt also he an attempt to before - of' a skilled worker's expertise rials to the supervision and control of ma- rethink the relationship between workforce cannot he learned at school. It cannot he chines. but the unity and consistency of the training and general education. and to dif- taught: it has to he created and re-created ferentiate within the various strands of trade and skill remain. And the fact is that through practice in doing the job. ALL that today. far more than in the past. a worker's skill training. Up to now. for example. we training or education can do is to support expel tise has a rational character. although have always lumped the metallurgical and and encourage this process. but they can- that rationality is different from the ana- electrical trades together. Today. a clear- not be a substitute. I would go so far as lytical logic of engineers and scientists. cut difference is beginning toemerge: train- saying that even the engineering trades This far more intuitive and situation-re- ing courses forthe electrical and electronic lated rationalism is always part of the would he at risk if their vocational basis - trades are being preceded by a"Realschule- traditional in Germany were to disappear worker's skill. and the knowledge it en- typo of education. and most young appren- and if there were to he a mme towards tails is based on experience rather than tices for skilled trades in the electrical putting industrial practice on a more scien- learning. industry hale already completed their in- tific basis. termediate-level schooling. This is not the The skilled shopfloor ssorker has always case with the metallurgical trades. Young seen himself as different from the crafts- people who have gone through intermedi- of knowl- man who produces things with his hands: CIEDEPWP: Even so, the >/1M ate-level schooling. i.e. I(1 years' school. edge needed to become a .skilled worker he has always had a very technical vision no longer want to go into metallurgical today is probably far closer to sr /tat. 50 of the processes in which he is involved. trades. w hich are seen as "low stat us-. "not of years ago, used to be the domain the which he manages, dominates and con- intellectually demanding-, "not scientific te'chnic'ian. if this is so, has this develop- enough... If they do go into these trades, trols. ment been taken into account in training once their training, has been completed paths:' they begin studying to become an engi- This kind of overall vision has given him neer. In other words, they are using ap- a great ability to arrk e at highly reliable conclusions sery quickly in the light of prenticeship as an intermediate stage in a B. Lutz: There has certainly been a proc- disparate. inadequate or incomplete data. longer programme of training. ess of change in Germany, a slow evolu- This rationality. this special approach. has tion which has been speeded up recently been an integral part of the worker's cul- Thequest ion is whether industry will man- ith the reform of the metallurgical and is growing in importance as ture. but it age to attract young people with a higher electrical trades. It is clear that the knowl- level of school education not only into mechanization and automation do aw ay edge and expertise content of workers' with the need for the direct handling of training programmes but also into careers Vocational training 2/1092 4 CEDEFOP training has increased, but that there has it was more successful in attracting the today, but ex ery year they are one year been no basic change in the very structure "brightest sons of the people". In France. it older and in 25 years they will probably of this skill. Otherwise. workers would he was the army, the civil service and teach- have left active employment. You need to "semi-engineers". The essential compo- ing that exercised the greater attraction. As concern yourselves today about a new nent of workers' training in Germany is in a result. the recruitment of primary teach- intake, because the way things happened fact training in how to accumulate knowl- ers in France - which W. as both very elitist in the past will not happen again, the edge through experience, and this calls for and very democratic - was directed at the 'pipelines' are empty. Just look at your teaching methods that differ fundamen- same "target group" as was the recruit- apprenticeship centres." To which they tally from those used at school. ment of skilled workers in Germany. with reply. "Yes. you're right.the pipeline is a view to producing master craftsmen. empty. but in 25 years' time. the Japanese At school, the main aim is to make pupils foremen, head foremen, technicians and etc. etc..., and in any case, I'll no longer he even engineers. assimilate knowledge and. ultimately, it is working.- the teacher who carries the responsibility for success. And yet one of the strengths of Today we have created far better stuc- Therein lies the real problem: as far as the apprenticeship system in Germany. tures of social equality and equality of industrial skills are concerned, we are in an one of the reasons why it has such a low opportunity superior than those of the I 9th impasse. failure rate (compared with the very high century, but the key question for the future failure rate in similar school-based train- of European industry is whether we will he ing programmes in other countries). is that able to recreate the training schemes and CEDEFOP: How do you currently see the right from the start apprenticeship has a vocational careers equivalent to what we question of the .qoyernahilily ofeducation kind of in-built conditioning, the responsi- had in the past. It may he that a university and (raining syslems! bility for success being placed firmly on education will he needed. but I would not the trainee. From the word go. trainees rule out a new dual system which com- learn that they must learn. No one tells bines part ora worker's training and part of B. Lutz: Therein lies a major problem. if them in so many words, but the whole an engineer's training to =hie% e some- one accepts that the education and training thing new, a kind of "industrial elite ", climate of the apprenticeship centre brings system is not merely a sub-contracting it home to them that their success depends perhaps less numerous than in the past but supplier to the economy. The highly reas- on them. whose role in the economy would he cru- suring vision of the economy held by edu- cial to economic wellbeing, and with com- cators. which led them to say "we are sub- Today the key problem is that the social pletely different promotion and career path- contractors. where the demand leads we conditions allowing for this conditioning ways. must follow. and our responsibility- is to and transfer of responsibility to the ap- keep abreast of current requirements" is no prentice. and also the social conditions The social division of labour between the longer tenable, not only because it is diffi- providing the impetus to acquire experi- engineer and the skilled worker can no cult to grasp what these "current require- ence. are disappearing and, as they disap- longer he justified. It was justified in a ments- are. but also because this is a nar- pear. may well take with them the compo- class-based society. but happily this di- row vision oldie true role ofeducation and nent par s of the workers' apprenticeship vide has largely disappeared. There will training. and expertise. Faced with competition and have to he a new approach to the structur- the lure ofthe traditional secondary school/ ing of industrial trades and the division of Nowadays, we know (and CEDEFOP has university training route. apprenticeship is labour. w here structuring w ill undoubt- done much to publiciA- the disco% cries) no longer so attractive. edly he both horizontal and vertical, voca- that the education and training system has tional and hierarchical, and very different a very constructi\ e input to the structure of The main question is whether Germany from what has existed until now. employment. and that the needs of the and the other industrialized countries will. economy reflect not only internal proc- in a completely different social context. My main concern is that. in order to nio e esses of growth. mechanization, automa- succeed in recreating the conditions for ahead in this direction, a timescale vision tion. etc.. but also the existing labour sup- learning a trade and for the gradual acqui- spanning at least one generation will be ply and former manpower skill structures. sition of job skills, on a par with w hat used required. In other words. we must look to he the industrial training of workers for much farther than the perspectives and At the same time, there is an interaction in the "brightest children of the people-. When horizons to which industrialists and the another direction. because the behaviour the son of an agricultural worker, a la- body politic have been accustomed. When of pupils and their families, the training bourer or a semi-skilled worker in a large ou talk to German industrialists today. paths they choose and those they reject. firm had ambition, his hest chance was to they explain that they ha% e "plenty of reflect a perception of the structure of jobs join the apprenticeship centre in his fa- skilled \ orker.,-. When you reply "yes. and the opportunities created by the pos- ther's place of employment in order to that is true. because in the mid-70s a politi- session of a diploma. Parents and pupils. become a skilled worker. And one of the cal decision was taken which gave you albeit belatedly and w ith some uncertainty reasons for the relative success of German almost a surplus. But take a closer look and due to the lack of information, react ration- industry compared with Fix_ industry, y Ott w ill see that this is the last generation ally to the opportunities for making use of which started off in a better position. is that of skilled workers. They may be young their training in the job hierarchy, If there vocailonat training 2/1()92 CEDEFOP You have to remember that. at the end of a real need for forecasting from political are marked differences in pay scales based the w ar. Fr.:nce had a very good system of leaders, the political apparatus or the cap- on the duration of school education. it is vocational training. and was setting up a tains of industry, the research would have dear that everyone will try to has e as system which, in many ways. was much the resources it needs. much schooling as possible. That is only more modern and effective than the Ger- logical. man system at the time (even though its But the resources are not there, because the intake capacity was limited ). So what hap- decision-makers are fobbed off with reas- You can. then. legitimately speak of a two- the sudden pened in France in the 1950s suring but dubious "gimmicks-. way reaction. The education and training decline of an entire system of highly inno- system, through the structure of the skills vative vocational training, with people Political leaders think in terms of four and aspirations of the young people whom olontarily opting for vocational training years. and the industrial world is proud of it places on the job market, is forcing in the post-war years - largely foreshad- the fact that it works on the basis of capital employers to change. In other words, edu- owed what is now happening in Germany. investment payback periods of eight to cational policy is. with some delay. shap- And it would be wrong to criticize the twelve years. Anything beyond twelve ing the structure of jobs. But the job struc- attempts now being made in France to years is way into the future, like the fa- ture creates a social demand for education regraft the teaching of vocational skills which is not something abstract (it is a mous "factory of the future ". And yet half onto its education system. dominated as it the people who will man that factory of the reflection of the structures of employment ). is by the teaching of general academic future are already in place today and the Yet this interaction takes place via lengthy subjects. I think it would he in Germany's other S0"k will he recruited. trained. in- mechanisms: reactions are not instantane- interests to look very closely at what is stalled and socialized by those already ous but delayed. though by how much is now happening in France with the Brevet not very clear, since time is a difficult there. It' one thinks in terms of manpower technique siqu'rieur (technical diploma). numbers. job structures and social man- factor to pin down in economic and social That really should be a lesson for Ger- power structures, then 20 years is just sciences. many. around the corner, not some distant future which should not unduly concern us. The timescales involved will probably be In practice. things are very complicated: longer than a generation. i.e. over 25 or 30 how do you reconcile an open-ended teach - years. But the mechanisms are already So it is this inability to take the longer-term iew that is the key factor in the non- ing system. designed to appeal to the entire operating today and long-term forces have social spectrum. with the acquisition of gos ernabi ity of the systems, and I foresee begun: at present there is nobody. either in vocational expertise? This is a question to dramatic upheavals w hich may cost its the private economy (not even industrial- which nobody can give a definitive an- very dear. ists with vision) or in public policy respon- swer. sible for the education or training sy stem, able to think and act within such We are now mos ing very much into a CEDEFOP: A.s a result of the work von timeframes. There is. therefore. a very period of trial and error, where even the have done in rariems countries, particu- serious problem of governability. setbacks of others may he extremely salu- larly France. you can obviously make com- tary for everyone. In what I perceis e to he a break with the pa risons ofspecilic questions. Are the prob- lems vou are now encountering in Ger- past. where processes that has e functioned many completely dijkrent from those fac- for a century no longer do so. a number of CEDEFOP: that can Europe do' ing France? mechanisms for the distribution and allo- cation of manpower will no longer reflect real life. At that point. the problem of non- governability. the failure to control dy- B. Lutz: Ahoy e all. Europe can expand its B. Lutz: Ever since the first comparative studies of France and Germany I have capability forcomparativc analysis ofthese namic changes in both job structures and experiences. their success and failure. Eu- the education and training system. will always taken the view that the best and the rope must be able to manage diversity and most productive working assumption was become acute. to say that France was one generation resist any attempts. no matter how appeal- ing, to find a miracle cure that can he ahead of Germany. that the two were basi- imposed on everybody. cally following the same path albeit with CEDEFOP: We are all aware al the diffi- some differences. culties facing those responsible fin- plan- It w ill he far harder than we think to ning education and !mining, given the lack of reliable data. flow can !Ns prob- All things considered, the fundamental emerge from the present crisis. and es ery- problems are the same in France as in thing that adds to the capacity to observe lem be solved! processes and assess cun-ent experiments Germany. will he extremely helpful. To some extent. what is happening today B. Lutz: I belies e that w hat we lack are the in Germany is sen similar to what hap- basic data to make sound forecasts. and pened in France after the Second World what is even more amazing is that nobody asks us for them. If there were a demand. War. Vocational training 2/1q92 ti CEDEFOP Contradictions in technical and vocational education: the outlook ing place and expected in the future. There tion lies in the fact that it is a borderline Technicaland vocationaledueitian is is a deep-rooted. widespread belief that the subject. It overlaps both the educational -beingtaffected its every Waybyrnarent management and development of human system and the vocational training system, thangesla industrial SySteMs: and so- resources are among the most important initial training and lifelong or continuing cial ltraitares disiithes . fields for action in attempts to remove the training. basic training and specialist train- certain basic:OeStiOnipaSedby these structural obstacles to development and ing. Much of the contradiction. superim- `Changes; particitholit the relationship employment. and that technical and voca- position and inconsistency inherent in the With therschaolsystimi, tIteinteractiori tional education has a fundamental role to present system of regulating technical and between oiriiiiii0s* and the train - play in this context. vocational training and its method of op- ing of, adults; aisumed: conflkt eration in fact arise because it serves as a between technicaltukaiWandbianan It is. then, invaluable to embark on system- crucial and delicate "linchpin". At the same siiii01s4cilOriatliigldigisti the atic in-depth monitoring and evaluation of time, this interface position offers a rich ways in which innOwnion in technical existing processes, both national and in- vein of opportunities for debate and ex- and:yacattional:ttain ing.May contrib- ternational. We need to have reliable, com- perimentation. ate towards- theSalatian of major the, parable. statistical data, to prepare rigor- 'ism* of *4144 the nth Century: ous analytical frameworks and to develop Technical and vocational the campaign *dint eicclasion and methods of evaluatic n. In this task. the the restoration of socialcohesion on a education and the educa- stimulus and contribution of international new basis. tional system organizations such as CEDEFOP. OECD and UNESCO are of special importance in The fascination and ambi- identifying innovations and supporting the In most countries, technical and voca- restructuring that is already taking place. tional education, particularly at the sec- guity of a borderline area and in securing the participation of all ondary level of education, often overlaps parties involved in and committed to these both the educational system and voca- On the eve of the Single European Market processes: the political and administrative tional training. and with the prospect of major interna- authorities, vocational training practition- tional economic policy changes at the end ers, the labour market. employers, the so- The reason for this is twofold: 11 in plan- of the century. today technical and voca- cial partners and the world of research. ning for skill-generating itineraries, the tional education is going through a period "initial" levels of training need to start of substantial innovation and reform in In this article the intention is to take a early enough to ensure that young people which its effectiveness, operating meth- complementary and independent look at acquire usable specialist skills and can if ods and role are under challenge. this method of evaluation. The aim is not they wish launch out on the labour market to review or summarize the state of the art. at an early stage: 2) for the same reasons. This evolution reflects the great changes but merely to ask a few questions that may there are plans to include technical and in social and industrial structures now tak- serve as a guideline (or a further guide] int!) vocational streams and options in the edu- in this phase of transformation. We be- cational system that will support or com- lieve that what is needed is not just to find plement the normal, conventional or"com- Paolo effective short-term solutions but also to prehensive" streams. The historical origin Garonne prepare the terrain for thinking and action of this duality or multiplicity of channels is with a view to supporting major longer- that in the past. education used to he some- Assistant term changes. The unmistakable signs of what elitist, being directed towards a small Director. for those changes are emerging. but their matu- group of citizens called upon - and it might Education, ration through adjustment and experimen- he said legitimized to perform the role of Work, Employ- tation will take far longer. a governing class. Technical and voca- ment and Sacial tional education, on the other hand, devel- Allairs, Organization for Economic The fascination. but also the ambiguity. of oped within the educational system as an and Social Development, Paris, studying technical and vocational educa- instrument of trai ning directed towards the Vocational training 2/I,)92 1 0 7