Contemporary Challenges to the German Vocational Training System

By Kathleen Thelen

The German vocational training system has long been considered a crown jewel in the German political economy and a key element of the country's still rather successful model of ''diversified quality production''.

Whatever else ails the German

political economy Germany continues to succeed brilliantly in export markets, currently running a US$203bn trade surplus (The Economist 2007). Most observers readily agree that Germany's apprenticeship training system is a crucial contributor to the continuing competitive strength of German manufacturing in international markets. Despite its obvious and continuing strengths, however, the past 20 or so years have been associated with a set of challenges that have led many long-time observers of the German system to worry about its future The key problems confronting the system are not so much related to the quality of apprentice training in Germany (which, indeed, is still widely admired). Rather, the prime concerns revolve around the question of whether employers are able to produce sufficient opportunities for in-plant training to sustain the model in its traditional form.

This paper provides an analytic framework for understanding contemporary developments in German vocational training and for assessing its likely future trajectory.

(Regulation & Governance, Volume 1, Issue 3: Special Issue on Globalization and Institutional Competitiveness, Page 247-260, Sep 2007)