Dual System Of Vocational Training Research Articles

Shopfloor programming — a concept supporting skill-based manufacturing

German-speaking countries have a long tradition of skill-based manufacturing. Within the German dual system of vocational training, production workers are provided with a high degree of qualifications, experience, and skills. Nowadays, however, advances in technology and the increasing use of numeric control for machine tools and other types of production machinery are major factors endangering this tradition. It is therefore of particular interest to investigate the extent to which forms of shopfloor programming are applied which can help to stabilize or even increase production workers' skills and qualifications, thus preserving their ability to work autonomously.

Youth training: the West German example

In the debate about the new Youth Training Scheme, there has been a lot of talk about the example of the much admired West German dual system of vocational training. It is true that the German system provides a training place for a large proportion of school‐leavers; 86 per cent of minimum‐age school‐leavers in 1977 had begun an apprenticeship by 1980. Yet it too has its problems; and for policy‐makers involved in the implementation of YTS there are lessons to be learned from both the successes and the failures of the German system.