IT occupations under review

The Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB) is investigating a modernisation of the four dual IT occupations of information technology specialist, information technology and tele-communications system electronics technician, information and telecommunications system support specialist and information technology officer. A new BIBB project now launched on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology (BMWi) will be supported by a Council which includes rep-resentatives from trade and industry associations, companies, ministries, vocational schools and academic research .

“The digitalisation of the world of work means that both the significance of the IT occupations and the importance of IT competences in other occupations will continue to increase,” stresses BIBB President Friedrich Hubert Esser. “Economy 4.0 will alter production right along the value added chain. This will bring about changed tasks and new skills requirements for many employees in IT occupations.” The assumption is, therefore, that particularly competences in the cross-cutting areas of information technology, business administration, communication and media design will continue to grow in significance. For this reason, proposals are being drawn up within the scope of the new BIBB project for the projection of the occupational profile, for the structure of the occupations themselves, for future examination arrangements and for the interfaces between training, advanced training and higher education. The results are planned to be available by the autumn of 2016.

The introduction of the four IT occupations in 1997 was one of the success stories in the history of vo-cational education and training. Around 200,000 skilled workers have been trained in the meantime. The high degree of attractiveness of the training is in particular due to the combination of broadly based core skills and specific specialist qualifications it offers. A flexible structure and an examination model that is aligned to operational practice have enabled the IT occupations to fulfil the requirements of the companies and create good employment opportunities for those completing the training qualifications. The number of newly concluded training contracts in these occupations is about 15,000 per year, and the occupation of information technology specialist has proved particularly popular. “We are seeking to continue this success story by adapting these occupations to the changing demands of the world of work”, said BIBB President Esser.

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