Employment success is determined by prior school learning and occupation

In Germany, both dual and school-based vocational education and training lead to qualification for activities at the medium qualifications level. Training in these educational areas, however, takes place in various occupational fields. Whereas school-based training features a particular focus on occupations in healthcare, education and social work, dual training covers a broader spectrum of occupations that also includes a large number of private sector technical occupations. What degree of subsequent career success is achieved by skilled workers who have completed training within the dual system, i.e. at a company and at a vocational school, as opposed to their counterparts who have undergone school-based training? The results of an analysis conducted by the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB) and entitled “Occupational success? A comparison of dual and school-based training courses" show that prior school learning and the employment opportunities associated with the respective training occupation exert more of a central significance on occupational success rather than the different training systems as such.

The BIBB analysis reveals that women who have completed school-based training in the healthcare, education and social sectors and thus gain a qualification in a growing field of employment produce better results in many success indicators than women who have undergone dual training. Notwithstanding this, entry to school-based vocational education and training frequently requires a higher level of prior school learning. This in turn has a positive impact on occupational success. Women in healthcare and social sector occupations are also more likely to be working in their preferred occupation.

Outside the healthcare/education/social work sector, there is no overall difference in the opportunities enjoyed by those completing full-time training courses at vocational training schools as compared to dual training courses apart from a slightly reduced likelihood of obtaining permanent employment in the case of the former.

In contrast to the school-based occupation system, dual vocational education and training provides a wide range of training occupations with different requirements levels. This enables the dual VET system to offer good training opportunities to young people with higher school leaving qualifications as well as integrating those with lower school qualifications. “This integrative function is a particular strength of the dual system that BIBB needs to continue to develop in future”, stresses BIBB Deputy President Reinhold Weiß.

The BIBB analysis is based on data from the 2012 Employee Survey, a representative sampling of around 20,000 workers in Germany jointly conducted by the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB) and the Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (BAuA). Those who had completed dual training were compared with people who had undergone full-time training at vocational schools or in the healthcare, education and social sectors. Because training courses within the occupational fields vary in gender-specific terms and men are far less likely to complete school-based training, multivariate analyses were calculated for women only.

The nine objective and subjective indicators of success used in the BIBB study are individual gross income, a permanent contract of employment, occupational position, specialism and level adequacy, activity within preferred occupation, occupational advancement and satisfaction with work and occupational history.

Unlike in the school-based occupation system, training within the dual system is regulated in a nationally standardised way on the basis of the Vocational Training Act (BBiG) and Crafts and Trades Regulation Code (HwO) and is only possible in state-recognised training occupations.

This latest analysis has been published in the BIBB REPORT series Issue 2/2014 under the title Occupational success? A comparison of dual and school-based training courses. It is available in English on the BIBB website free of charge at https://www.bibb.de/de/14057.php .