His country is in the grip of the worst economic crisis it has seen in decades. The unemployment rate is rapidly rising. Spain's Minister of Education, José Ignacio Wert, therefore sees not only the financial markets being in a state of crisis. Only recently, he urged tough reforms in the education sector and announced to in future strive to emulate a system he perceives as exemplary: the dual vocational education and training system in Germany.
In the course of the severe recession experienced by many European countries, this dual education system emerges to be an export hit. France, too, contemplates adopting new elements of vocational education and training from the German model. The great hope: at last to faster and more successfully place young people in particular in viable occupations.
A new report by the business consultancy McKinsey now has compared the vocational education systems in an international study and awards best marks to the German system. Far more career entrants find a job comparatively fast than is the case in any other country. Also, the report states that a lack of financial means is rather more rarely an impediment in striving towards a continuative educational qualification.
In an international comparison, the German employment market thus has very good prospects for young people: The youth unemployment rate is less than ten per cent and thereby half that of the OECD average. Approximately 70 per cent of young people in gainful employment in Germany were able to obtain a permanent employment contract the latest three months after completing their apprenticeship. These numbers are significantly higher than the average of the evaluated countries (54 per cent), says McKinsey education expert Kai Holleben.
Moreover, only 17 per cent of polled young people in Germany stated that they would not strive towards continuative educational qualifications due to a lack of financial means. The international average of this value is 31 per cent.
For the study, McKinsey has conducted more than 8,000 interviews regarding the vocational training market in a total of nine countries. These included in addition to Germany also the USA, the United Kingdom, India, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Turkey and Morocco. In each country, representative samples of young people in the age group of 15 to 29 years, of employers and of representatives from educational institutions were interviewed regarding their views on preparation for a working life.