Number of young people in the transitional phase still on the decline

The drop in numbers of VET beginners in the transitional phase from school to vocational training has continued in 2012. This applies to the national average as well as to most of the 16 Länder (federal states). A "mere" 267,000 young people entered transitional phase measures in Germany in the past year.

The main cause of this development is demographic change. However, there were differences between eastern and western Germany and between city states and territorial states, some of which were striking. The current development of the transitional phase is included in the Data Report of the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB) that supplements the Federal Government's Annual Vocational Training Report with comprehensive information and analyses about the development of vocational education and training in Germany.

The many measures available in this transitional phase offer young people ways to improve their individual chances of starting a vocational training. It therefore appears likely that the majority of these young people have a relatively low level of secondary education or no school certificate at all. But about 26 per cent of the young people in the transitional phase can show a certificate of lower secondary education or an even higher secondary level. About 53 per cent graduated from secondary modern school, and only 19 per cent do not have a certificate of secondary education. This can be inferred from the figures of integrated VET reporting. It shows the training and qualification offers that young people utilize after graduating from secondary education level I.

Despite the drop in the numbers of beginners, BIBB President Friedrich Hubert Esser thinks that it is necessary to improve the coordination of funding programmes offered by the federal government, federal states and communities for the transition from school to vocational training and to provide combined programme packages. "We should strive to prepare the young people for training in as realistic settings as possible, to expand job orientation systematically, and to focus on young people with a genuine need for assistance with our measures offered in the transitional phase."

It should not happen that young people with a good school education get caught in the transitional phase; instead, potentials should be utilized more efficiently in the future to meet our demand for young skilled workers.