A Decade of Skill Formation in Britain and Germany

Abstract

The 1980s marked the beginning of an era of activity and change in vocational training in Britain marked most notably by the introduction of National Vocational Qualifications, government funding for Youth Training, the expansion of Further Education and the creation of the Training and Enterprise Councils. One of the principal aims of all these initiatives was to increase the volume of training in Britain, in particular at the intermediate skill level. In Germany, by contrast, the dual system has remained unchanged in its basic principles and operations. This article reviews quantitative trends in skill formation at the intermediate (craft) level in engineering and construction over the past decade in Britain and Germany and provides a new assessment of standards aimed at in construction in the two countries. It appears that the volume of training provided in the engineering and construction sectors in Britain has not increased over the decade. In engineering the level has remained roughly constant in relation to employment; while NVQ qualifications have displaced a proportion of the traditional qualifications the latter continue to constitute around one‐third of all awards. In construction, the level of training activity has fallen dramatically since 1991. Traditional qualifications have been displaced by NVQs but NVQs have failed to compensate for the decline in traditional awards. Supply‐side reforms therefore appear to have had little impact on training in these sectors and it is suggested that explanations of these trends should be sought on the demand side. The continuing problem of externalities, labour market institutions‐‐in particular the weakness in Britain of sector‐based employer organizations‐‐may offer a more convincing explanation. Assessments of the relative quality of the NVQ Level 2 in construction and the German construction apprenticeship show the standard of practical competence acquired to be similar in both countries. The standard of the German tests of technical knowledge and of mathematics was judged to be well above the building trades craft level in Britain. The article concludes that, allowing for differences in the size of the engineering and construction sectors in the two countries, Britain continues to lag behind Germany in the production of intermediate level engineering and construction skills.