Playing is learning - this applies also to vocational students. Since 2009, the Ministry of Economics of the Federal State of Rhineland-Palatinate funds simulation games at vocational schools. The games help the young people to test their abilities in managing an enterprise.
The demand for this kind of learning has continuously increased since that time and in the 2012 budget, Economics Minister Eveline Lemke again allocated about 30,000 Euro to this purpose. This sum allows up to 1,080 apprentices to participate in the game and test their aptitude for being an entrepreneur in a playful manner.
"Economic thinking and acting are not developed all by themselves. The simulation game helps the young people to realise the far-reaching consequences of entrepreneurial decisions. Dealing with complex issues and problems is intensive and the small groups practice also successful cooperation.
That way, in addition to professional and methodological competences, all players acquire also insights as regards what is important in personal interaction", Lemke emphasises. The game is played in groups and the most successful group is subsequently assessed. The graduates praise the supplementation to theoretical learning and the high degree of practical relevance.
The referees come from the Institut für Unternehmerisches Handeln (Institute for Entrepreneurial Action) at the University of Applied Sciences Mainz. They present the fictitious enterprise, a traditional family business active in the innovative sports and leisure industry with a focus on the development and production of upper range outdoor tents. Several students then form groups competing against each other in a fictitious market.
The group completes tasks on the basis of given framework conditions and key data and makes decisions as a team, for instance, on how much material ought to be ordered, whether new machines ought to be bought or new employees hired. Important key topics, such as, strategic thinking, planning, supply and demand on the market and also production capacity planning are trained this way. The game is played over several periods each simulating one calendar year.