Dual training is currently undergoing a massive collapse. We lose something that the whole world envies us for, and we stand idly by. What happened?
The number of vacant training positions is at an all-time high. At the beginning of this training year there were over 200,000 vacancies. The lack of trainees affects some sectors in particular – such as hotels and restaurants, construction companies, public transport, the transport industry and trades. The situation is sometimes dramatic in the freelance practices and offices of doctors, pharmacies, lawyers, tax consultants, veterinarians and dentists.
There are around 46,000 vacant positions for every 129,000 occupied training positions. The training crisis is growing into a shortage of skilled workers, which is becoming more and more virulent. In a few years, the generation entering the labor market will be half the number of those leaving.
The consequences affect society as a whole: For example, if public services come to a standstill or the goals of the energy transition are not achieved by 2030 because there is a shortage of 400,000 skilled workers every year – planners as well as craftsmen. There is simply a lack of workers to set up charging stations or wind turbines. Even today, many private and public construction and renovation measures cannot be carried out in a timely manner. Opening hours in the catering trade will be reduced.
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The strong focus on Abitur and Fachabitur is one reason for the crisis
The causes of this crisis are manifold. One reason is the strong focus on the Abitur. Today in Germany, around half of a cohort acquires the general higher education entrance qualification or advanced technical college entrance qualification. In 1950, with five percent and in 1985 with 27.9 percent (West Germany), it was still a clear minority of a cohort.
There is no question that this high rate of high school graduates was only achieved by significantly lowering the requirements. According to the 2018 Leo Study by the University of Hamburg, almost 17 percent of functionally illiterate people in Germany have a high school diploma or a comparable school-leaving certificate. Training companies have been complaining about a lack of reading and writing skills as well as mathematics knowledge for years.
>>Read here: “Where there are no trainees today, there will be a lack of skilled workers tomorrow” – number of vacant apprenticeship positions at a record high
The majority of the many young people with a high school diploma or vocational diploma decide to go to university and find it difficult to persuade them to take up vocational training. However, due to the drop in level, many high school graduates are no longer able to study at all; the number of university dropouts is correspondingly high, and they then have to be integrated later into the training market.
While representatives of all parties never tire of emphasizing the equality of study and training, this equality is being reduced to absurdity precisely by politics itself. By making every effort to get as many students as possible to graduate from high school, the Real and Hauptschule leaving certificate is de facto relegated to something second-class, which is not worth striving for.
What needs to change
- We will not secure Germany as a business location through high school-leaving graduate quotas, but through a high-quality school education.
- If the Abitur is no longer awarded in an inflationary manner, more young people will be interested in an apprenticeship and the number of dropouts will fall.
- We will only achieve a higher level in all types of school if the teachers can concentrate on their core task of imparting knowledge and are relieved of other tasks.
- German and mathematics lessons in elementary schools must be strengthened. Children are not allowed to leave primary school without basic skills.
- Language support in early childhood must also be expanded, because too many children start school without speaking German properly. The earliest possible language support enables children with a migration background in particular to be integrated, have equal opportunities and achieve good educational success.
- Many young people only know a few jobs. Due to the corona virus, company internships and personal careers advice have often been canceled in recent years. Career guidance must become more modern and digital.
- Ultimately, good prospects must also be created for companies in rural regions, which have even greater problems filling their training places than companies in the big cities. We need better public transport in rural areas so that trainees can easily reach their training places and vocational school without a car.
- We also need inexpensive living space, for example in the form of dormitories for trainees, so that young people also decide to go to the country.
The authors:
Peter Klotzki is General Manager of the Federal Association of Liberal Professions. Astrid Mannes is an education politician (CDU) and was a member of the Bundestag and a member of the Committee on Education and Research until 2021.
More: Finding trainees more difficult than ever – especially in these professions