Inclusion in vocational education and training
Vocational education and training programmes are an important foundation in terms of providing opportunities for young people and young adults to participate in the world of work. For this reason, it is vital that young persons are provided with support in line with their individual needs during training.
Inclusion is also a significant component of vocational education and training. At the same time, VET forms an essential basis of participation in working life. General prevailing conditions and vocational education and training practice are therefore relevant to the focus on inclusion.
The fostering of inclusion and participation via VET takes place in particular via the statutory framework provided by the Vocational Training Act, the Crafts and Trades Regulation Code and via various parts of Social Security Code. Inclusion-oriented VET instruments and provision take individual situations as their starting point.
Social security legislation differentiates between provision for “persons with a disability” (German Social Security Code, SGB, IX § 2) and provision for “young persons requiring assistance” (SGB III § 78). The result of this differentiation is that various VET opportunities and support services are available to young people at different learning venues. Young people deemed to be in need of support are those with learning difficulties and those suffering from social disadvantage, who could be expected to have difficulties in completing a course of vocational education and training. This group of persons is also summarised under the term of “disadvantaged young people”, i.e. young people who do not have access to training or require assistance in completing such training because of social, individual and structural disadvantages.
Provision for disadvantaged persons
- Vocational education and training in extra-company institutions (SGB III, § 76)
- In-training support (SGB III, § 75)
- Assisted training (SGB III, § 130)
- Youth welfare services provision (SGB XIII, § 13)
Provision for persons with a disability
- Dual vocational education and training on the basis of the Vocational Training Act (§ 64–§ 66) and the Crafts and Trades Regulation Code (§ 42k–§ 42n)
- Supported company-based training (SGB III, § 117)
Supplementary organisational and funding opportunities are in place for companies. In addition, there is further provision to offer young people longer-term support in making the transition to working life, such as interlinked training in conjunction with vocational training centres and volunteer guidance and assistance services (e.g. the “job mentor” model). A wide range of further provision is also in place at local government level (cf. for example the “überaus” Programme Database).