"There is great potential in young people with family responsibilities, whose career prospects can be opened up by part-time initial vocational training," states the President of the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB), Friedrich Hubert Esser.
This is backed up by data from a special evaluation of the 2011 Microcensus, according to which almost 47 per cent of all young mothers (around 117,000) and around 31 per cent of all young fathers (around 21,000) aged between 16 and 24 had no vocational certificate and were neither attending a school nor completing a dual-system apprenticeship.
"Action is needed here. We must make it possible for young parents to gain a foothold in working life. An initial vocational training programme on a part-time basis gives these young people an opportunity to gain a vocational certificate," emphasises Esser.
Not familiar enough
In the President of BIBB's view, the innovative instrument of part-time initial vocational training is beneficial for all parties involved: "For the trainees, because they can combine an initial vocational training programme better with their family responsibilities, and for the companies, because they are harnessing potential in a motivated and conscientious target group and securing their supply of skilled workers for tomorrow." It also helps to integrate more people into the labour market, he points out, making them less dependent on support and assistance.
Part-time initial vocational training has been legally enshrined in Germany's Vocational Training Act (Berufsbildungsgesetz, BBiG) since 2005. But apparently this form of initial vocational training is still not familiar enough to many companies and young adults - at least, that is the conclusion suggested by the low number of newly concluded part-time training contracts. In 2011 only 1,173 such contracts were concluded in the whole of Germany. This equates to just 0.2 per cent of all newly concluded training contracts in the year 2011. Around 92 per cent of new part-time trainees were women. Nationwide some 3,000 young adults are currently undertaking a dual-system apprenticeship on the part-time model.
Gain for everyone
A new publication from the JOBSTARTER programme based at BIBB, entitled "Ausbildung in Teilzeit - ein Gewinn für alle" (Initial vocational training on a part-time basis - a gain for everyone) now shows how businesses, apprentices, chambers, public employment agencies and part-time vocational schools can work together to turn the part-time model of initial vocational training into a success.
The main questions are the following: how can companies be persuaded to offer part-time initial vocational training? How do trainees manage their childcare and cover their living costs? And how is the cooperation between companies and part-time vocational schools working out? The new JOBSTARTER publication is supplementary to an earlier brochure on financing options for part-time initial vocational training, published in autumn 2012 ("Ausbildung in Teilzeit - Finanzierungsmöglichkeiten des Lebensunterhalts im Überblick").
The JOBSTARTER programme - supported by funding from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and the European Social Fund (ESF) - is an initiative to help improve the training-place situation for young people and to meet future skilled workforce needs, particularly in small and medium-sized enterprises. Part-time initial vocational training is an important theme of the programme. JOBSTARTER projects create places for initial vocational training on a part-time basis, advise companies and young adults embarking on this model and embed this form of training into regional structures for initial vocational training.
By the end of 2012 they had created 276 in-company apprenticeship places on a part-time basis, offering career prospects to that number of young people with family responsibilities.