Brave new world of vocational colleges in Hamburg

The implementation of a comprehensive reform of the vocational colleges is imminent, designed to fundamentally reorganise the system of vocational education, yet the project is met with very little attention. Only where there might be a catch, where vocational or commercial colleges will merge with others or colleges will be completely shut down, the stakeholders choose to express their outrage. Yet the reform plans, officially presented by Hamburg's Schools Secretary, Ties Rabe (SPD), will have a direct impact on a total of 32 of the 44 vocational colleges in the city and their combined number of 54,700 students.

The administration speaks of a mega project. And the goal Rabe pursues with it is hardly controversial: the vocational education system is to be made more efficient in order to prepare young people for a better and faster entry into an apprenticeship and career, in order to reduce long periods of waiting and in order to render it capable of continuing the provision of the entire number of 2,487 vocational education and training courses within the dual system. "If we did nothing, five to ten schools would have to be closed within the next few years", says Rainer Schulz, Head of the Hamburg Institut für Berufliche Bildung (HIBB – Hamburg Institute of Vocational Education and Training).

The aim of the reform is immediately linked to the notion of efficiency: to a certain degree, this is about survival. The introduction of urban district schools (Stadteilschule), which prepare more pupils to complete their university entrance qualification, and the reduction of queues in the field of vocational education and training led to a significant decrease in the number of vocational education students – from 59,800 in 2009 to the current number of 54,700. And the numbers will remain at this level, says Schulz. Therefore, the educational programmes are to be condensed, little used sites are to be abandoned and professional competences are to be bundled by merging certain schools.

However, a reform of the vocational colleges would be nothing without increased occupational orientation at the urban district schools, which makes sure that young people think early enough about what may be their dream job and that they obtain the necessary qualifications. Rabe intends to present the corresponding plans this coming Tuesday.

At the heart of the concept is the significantly increased amount of practical experience, which the youths are to obtain already during their school years. In future, they will spend a considerable time during ninth grade with internships at enterprises and businesses. Rabe leaves it to the schools, whether to send their pupils to work in the industry one day per week or whether to organise this practical experience in internships of several weeks. The latter is more easily organised, both for the schools and the businesses.

At the end of ninth grade and supported by their teachers, the youths are then to make a concrete "Subsequent decision after Grade 10" and are to use the tenth grade to qualify themselves for this transition in a targeted manner. This includes job application training as well as content focusing on the desired occupation.

This occupational orientation will constitute a mandatory part of the curriculum. Those wishing to graduate from school after tenth grade will have to complete a compulsory additional internship in the final school year. The concept is to be introduced step by step as of this summer and is to become compulsory for all schools as of middle of 2014. Moreover, Rabe intends to motivate enterprises to accept as apprentices also youths of a younger age to spare them having to wait for too long.