Innovative Methods of Technical and Vocational Education · REIHE BILDUNG - WISSENSCHAFT - INTERNATIONAL 2/89 Innovative Methods of Technical and Vocational Education Report of the

■■■■INTERNATIONAL

BILDUNGWISSENSCHAFTInnovative Methods

of Technical and VocationalEducation

2/89■■■■

Report of the UNESCO International SymposiumHamburg, June 5-9, 1989

Der Bundesminister für Bildung und Wissenschaft yyyy ReferatPresse- und Öffentlichkeitsarbeit yyyy Postfach 20 01 08 yyyy 5300 Bonn 2

REIHEBILDUNG - WISSENSCHAFT - INTERNATIONAL 2/89

Innovative Methodsof Technical and Vocational Education

Report of the UNESCO International SymposiumHamburg, June 5-9, 1989

Bonn 1989Published by theFederal Ministry of Education and Science

This publication has been compiled and edited on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Educationand Science by Hans Krönner, Berlin

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Foreword

From June 5-9, 1989, the Federal Ministry of Education and Sciencejointly with Unesco held an International Symposium on "InnovativeMethods of Technical and Vocational Education" at the Unesco Insti-tute for Education in Hamburg, Federal Republic of Germany.

It was preceded by the first Unesco International Congress on"Development and Improvement of Technical and Vocational Educa-tion" held in Berlin/German Democratic Republic, in 1987. At theoccasion of that event, a follow-up meeting was suggested to exchangeexperiences concerning innovative methods of technical and vocationaleducation, with special regard to concepts of out-of-school vocationallearning.

One of the major objectives of the Symposium was to define elementsof close cooperation between schools and enterprises both at the levelof the education system and of the process of vocational learning.Furthermore, the Symposium was intended to foster internationalexchange of experience in technical and vocational education.

I am particularly glad to present this publication immediately prior tothe 25th General Conference of Unesco which will be opened in Parisin October 1989. This General Conference will have to take importantdecisions on the future role of technical and vocational educationwithin Unesco's programme. Hopefully, the results of the Hamburgexpert meeting will facilitate the decisions to be taken by memberstates.

The Federal Republic of Germany, as many other member states, hasbeen striving for a more prominent place of technical and vocationaleducation within Unesco's programme. I therefore welcome theopportunity arising only a few months after the Hamburg Symposiumto decide on future actions Unesco might undertake in this field. TheFederal Republic of Germany is willing to contribute actively to thisdecision-making process.

Jürgen W. MöllemannFederal Minister of Education and Science

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United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

The Federal Ministry of Education and Science, Federal Republic of Germany

Unesco International SymposiumInnovative Methods of Technical and Vocational EducationHamburg, Unesco Institute for Education, Federal Republic of Germany, June 5-9, 1989

C o m p an y M o d e l Ja pa n

S c ho o l M o d e l S w ed en

C o o p e ra tiv e M o d e l(sch o o l a n d e n terp r ise )

G e rm an D em o c ra ticR e p ub lic ,

F e d eral R e p u b lico f G erm a n y

C o o p e ra tiv e M o d e l(ce n tre a n d e n te rp r ise)

B raz il

M E S S ys tem In te rn a tio n a l L a b ou rO rg an iza t io n

O n -th e -jo b le arn in g N ig e ria ,E g y p t

P ar t 2M icrosystem s

of Techn ica l andVocational E ducation

P a r t 1M acrosystem s

of Technical andVoca tional E ducation

P ro jec t In s tru c tio n F ed era l R ep u b lico f G e rm an y

C o u rse In s tru c tio n F ran c e

L ea rn in g insch o o l- run en te rp rise s

C h ina ,S in g ap o re

Illustration 1Structure of the Symposium

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Contents

Foreword........................................................................................................................................ 3

Contents ......................................................................................................................................... 5

Introduction................................................................................................................................... 7

Opening addresses ........................................................................................................................ 8

Report .......................................................................................................................................... 11

Contributions .............................................................................................................................. 15

Part 1: Macrosystems of Technical and Vocational Education ........................................... 15

An International Comparison of Systems of Technical and Vocational Education - An Attempt at Classificationby Wolf-Dietrich GREINERT........................................................................................................................................... 15

The Japanese Market Model - A Comparison of Japanese Qualification Strategies with those of Other Countriesby Walter GEORG........................................................................................................................................................... 19

The Swedish System of Technical and Vocational Education by Lennert NILSSON...................................................... 22

The Cooperative Model of Technical and Vocational Education in the German Democratic Republicby Michael GUDER......................................................................................................................................................... 25

Brazil: The Entity Called SENAI by Guimarâes Roberto BOCLIN............................................................................... 28

Part 2: Microsystems of Technical and Vocational Education ............................................ 33

An International Comparison of Didactic Models in Technical and Vocational Education by Günter WIEMANN........ 33

The Concept of Modules of Employable Skills (MES) Training by Eckhart CHROSCIEL............................................ 41

Recent Trends in Industrial Technical and Vocational Education in the Federal Republic of Germanyby Harald W. BONGARD................................................................................................................................................ 43

Course Instruction: The French Example by André BRUYÈRE...................................................................................... 45

Learning in School-Run Enterprises by MENG Guang-ping........................................................................................... 46

The German-Singapore Institute - A Centre for Multifunctional Transfer of Training and Technologyby Klaus KRÜGER........................................................................................................................................................... 49

List of Participants...................................................................................................................... 53

Index............................................................................................................................................. 57

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Introduction

Background and purpose of the Symposium

For some years now, a number of Member States of theUnited Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Or-ganization (Unesco) have been making increasing effortsto give higher priority to Unesco's programme in the fieldof technical and vocational education.

This has certainly been a major reason for Unesco to con-vene its first International Congress on the Developmentand Improvement of Technical and Vocational Educationwhich took place in Berlin/German Democratic Republic,in 1987. One of the items dealt with was the cooperationbetween institutions and administration of technical andvocational education on the one hand, and agriculture, in-dustry, trades and services on the other.

Many participants of the 1987 Congress felt that fosteringsuch cooperation might be instrumental in view of theincreasing pace of technological development at theworkplace that technical and vocational education ishaving to face. There was, however, an obvious need tointensify an exchange of experience in this field, particu-larly since Unesco's programmes and terminology in tech-nical and vocational education have often been dominatedby school-based concepts.

Systematic vocational learning in enterprises has a longtradition in Germany. Hence, the Federal Republic ofGermany offered to organize a Symposium to deal withsuch concepts and experiences. Basically, the purpose ofthe Symposium was to acquaint participants withdifferent frameworks of and didactic approaches tointentional vocational learning in school as well as out ofschool:

• On the macro level, different basic models of technicaland vocational education systems were developed byWolf-Dietrich Greinert, followed by case studies fromJapan (presented by Walter Georg in the absence of aJapanese participant), Sweden (Lennert Nilsson), theGerman Democratic Republic (Michael Guder), andBrazil (Guimarâes R. Boclin). There was an additionalcase study on the Federal Republic of Germany, butsince it was presented in the form of two films,including it in this publication was not possible.

• On the micro level, different didactic approaches totechnical and vocational education systems were in-troduced by Günter Wiemann, followed by case studiesfrom the International Labour Organization (EckhartChrosciel), the Federal Republic of Germany (HaraldW. Bongard), France (André Bruyère), China (MengGuang-ping), and Singapore (Klaus Krüger). Twoadditional case studies were presented at theSymposium about on-the-job training (Nigeria, by OluAina; and Egypt, by Abdel Razek Abdel Fattah); sincethey are not available in writing, they are not includedin this publication either.

Organization of the Symposium

The Symposium was then organized by the Federal Min-istry of Education and Science in co-operation withUnesco and held at the Unesco Institute for Education inHamburg, Federal Republic of Germany, from 5-9 June1989. Twelve participants from Algeria, Brazil, China,Egypt, Federal Republic of Germany, France, GermanDemocratic Republic, Hungary, India, Mexico, Nigeriaand Sweden attended, as well as eleven observers, six ad-ditional experts, and a representative of the InternationalLabour Organization.

For a complete list of participants, please refer to page 53of this publication.

The meeting elected the following officers:Chairman Prof. Dr. Günter Wiemann

Institute for Vocational Education,University of Hanover,Federal Republic of Germany

Vice-Chairmen Prof. Guimarâes R. BoclinNational Service for Industrial Train-ing (SENAI), BrazilDr. Michael GuderCentral Institute for VocationalEducation,German Democratic RepublicMr. Yashwant SinghDirector of Apprenticeship Training,Directorate General of Employmentand Training,Ministry of Labour, India

Rapporteur Dr. Olu AinaAssociate Professor, Department ofVocational and Technical Education,Ahmadu Bello University, Nigeria

About this publication

Detailed information on the proceedings of the Sympo-sium is given in Horst Biermann's Report on page 11.Both the basic lectures and the case studies are to befound in the section entitled "Contributions". For reasonsof space, it was necessary to condense some of themanuscripts and to limit the number of illustrations.Also, an attempt was made to adapt the educational ter-minology found in the contributions to Unesco's usage.

Acknowledgements

This publication could not have been prepared withoutthe help of the participants and experts who willingly sub-mitted their manuscripts. The editor therefore extends hissincere thanks to all of them, especially to Mr. Olu Ainawho, as the Rapporteur of the Symposium, hasundertaken tremendous efforts to record the discussions,thus making it possible to compile the proceedings of thisSymposium.

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Opening addresses

Alfred HardenackeFederal Ministry of Education and Science,BonnLadies and Gentlemen,

I welcome you cordially to this Symposium which hasbeen organized jointly by the Federal Ministry of Educa-tion and Science and Unesco within the framework of ahost country agreement. I should like to thank theHamburg Ministry for School, Youth and VocationalEducation, who made the local arrangements. Thanksalso to the Unesco Institute for Education for letting ususe its premises.

Invitations have been extended to all of the five Unescoregions: Africa, the Arab States, Asia/ the Pacific region,Europe and Latin America. We may thus expect inter-esting contributions on the subject of this Symposium.

Two years ago, Unesco's First International Congress onthe Development and Improvement of Technical and Vo-cational Education was held in Berlin/German Demo-cratic Republic. During that congress, it was suggestedthat, in a follow-up meeting, experience be exchangedconcerning concepts of technical and vocational educa-tion which involve a sizeable degree of systematic learn-ing at enterprise level.

The Federal Republic of Germany presented this idea tothe 24th General Conference of Unesco, where the pro-posal met with general approval. The programme for thisSymposium was then drawn up.

Investment in vocational qualification is as important ascapital investment. Our enterprises share this view andare therefore prepared to provide considerable funds forin-house vocational education.

In fact, without a considerable contribution by the enter-prises, it would not be possible to provide adequate voca-tional education, because

• the public education system would probably be unableto provide a majority of young people with practice-re-lated specialized knowledge for a broad range of occu-pations, and

• it would not be possible for the government to alwaysprovide the funds required.

But it is also in industry's own interest to provide techni-cal and vocational education itself in accordance withgeneral government regulations: In this way, the enter-prises train the number of young workers they need andthus remain competitive in the market.

This Symposium has two parts:

Part 1 deals with four macromodels of technical and vo-cational education, which differ with regard to the maintraining providers. Vocational education provided exclu-sively in the enterprise is compared and contrasted withtechnical and vocational education at school. Betweenthese two extremes, there are two other variants which,although in a different way, combine enterprise trainingwith additional external technical and vocational educa-tion. A case in point is the dual system of the FederalRepublic of Germany with its part-time vocationalschools.

Part 2 deals with certain didactic micromodels, which dif-fer with regard to the methods applied; whether technicaland vocational education is provided in the enterprise orin school can be ignored in this context.

The growing interest in systems and methods of technicaland vocational education worldwide is underlined byUnesco's increasing concern with issues of technical andvocational education, in particular with enterprise andout-of-school training, a development which is highlyappreciated and strongly supported by the Federal Re-public of Germany.

In this connection, I should like to mention a problemwhich we have encountered when cooperating withUnesco in the field of technical and vocational educationand which has not yet been solved to our satisfaction: Atthe 24th General Conference of Unesco, the FederalRepublic of Germany pointed out that Unesco's terminol-ogy in technical and vocational education wasmisleading. For example, it is not clear why the termsout-of-school education and non-formal education arelargely synonymous in Unesco usage. Like numerousother countries, the Federal Republic of Germany has asystem of formal technical and vocational educationwhich, nevertheless, includes major out-of-schoolelements. Fortunately, Unesco's statistics were correctedin this respect a few months ago. I hope that this Sympo-sium will help us arrive at further conclusions in this re-spect.

We are meeting here at the Unesco Institute for Educa-tion, which has given major impulses to literacy cam-paigns in recent years. This month, the Institute housesnot only our present Symposium, but also a Unescoconsultation on the interaction of education and produc-tive work. The Federal Republic of Germany has, in re-cent years, considered literacy and technical and voca-tional education to be priority issues in the Unesco pro-gramme.

Coming to the end of my address, I wish you an inter-esting discussion and hope that this Symposium will be asuccess. Thank you.

S. R. SamadyUnited Nations Educational, Scientific andCultural Organization, ParisDr. Hardenacke, the representative of the Federal Min-istry of Education and Science; Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is a great pleasure for me to welcome the participantsfrom Member States, the representative of the ILO andobservers from non-governmental organizations to thisSymposium on Innovative Methods in Technical and Vo-cational Education, which has been organized, in cooper-ation with Unesco, by the Federal Ministry of Educationand Science and the German Commission for Unesco. Iwould like to express Unesco's gratitude to the authori-ties concerned in the Federal Republic of Germany forhosting this international meeting and for contributingsignificantly to its preparation and organization. I am de-lighted that this Symposium is held here in the city ofHamburg, an important cultural and economic centre, andat the Unesco Institute for Education, which is an ex-panding international cooperative project in the field ofeducational research and quality of education.

The importance of technical and vocational education forsocial and economic development has been widely recog-

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nized. The demands of the economy affect both industri-alized and developing countries. In particular the needfor technical personnel in developing countries is crucialand places great pressure on systems for technical and vo-cational education and the limited national resources. Inmany industrialized countries, the training and retrainingof large numbers of skilled workers and technicians tomeet requirements of new technologies and changes inthe employment structure have become an urgent task.

Worldwide trends in the development of education showthat considerable efforts have been made by many coun-tries to expand and modernize technical and vocationaleducation. A statistical report on technical and vocationaleducation in the world published by Unesco in 1983 indi-cates that student enrollment in full-time secondary insti-tutions of technical and vocational education had risenfrom 15.7 million in 1970 to 24.3 million in 1980, whichrepresents a growth of rate of 54 %, while the rate of in-crease in general secondary education during the sameperiod was 45 %. More recent figures confirm this rapidgrowth in enrollment of young men and women invarious branches of technical and vocational education.The development of part-time technical and vocationaleducation and training has also been very significant,especially in the industrialized countries.

In Unesco's programme, technical and vocational educa-tion has been an important area of the Organization's ac-tion. Unesco's policy in technical and vocational educationhas been guided by the Recommendation concerning Tech-nical and Vocational Education which was adopted by theUnesco General Conference in 1962 and revised in 1974.Under objectives, the Revised Recommendation refers tothe contribution of technical and vocational education tosociety's goals of greater democratization and social, cul-tural and economic development; at the same time, it refersto developing the potential of individuals for active partici-pation in the life of the community. It has been suggestedthat technical and vocational education should exist as partof a system of lifelong education and that it should beginwith a good foundation in general education and a broadbasic technical and vocational education, in order tofacilitate horizontal and vertical articulation within the edu-cation system and between school and employment as wellas adaptation to scientific and technological progress.

During the last three decades, Unesco has cooperated withits Member States in improving and developing technicaland vocational education. In collaboration with otherUnited Nations agencies and funding sources, Unesco hasparticipated since the early 1960s in setting up a largenumber of national institutions for the training of engi-neers, technicians and technical teachers. Unesco has alsocarried out studies on curricula and teaching methods andpromoted innovations and exchange of information and ex-perience around the world. In 1987 Unesco organized anInternational Congress in the German Democratic Republicon the Development and Improvement of Technical andVocational Education which reviewed major trends andsuggested strategies for the development of technical andvocational education including the promotion of interna-tional cooperation in this field. Unesco is currently in theprocess of preparing its Medium-Term Plan for 1990-1995and the programme and Budget for 1990-1991. Technicaland vocational education will continue to have an impor-tant place in Unesco's future programme.

Despite the efforts made by most countries to developtheir systems of technical and vocational education, anumber of problems remain, among them the cost and ef-

ficiency of technical and vocational education, adaptationof training to technological developments and to struc-tural changes in the economy as I mentioned earlier, andprovision of qualified teachers and adequate facilities andmaterials to ensure the quality of technical and vocationaleducation.

An important question related to the efficiency of techni-cal and vocational education is the methodology and rele-vance of training which is the subject of this Symposium.As you know, different models of training and modalitiesof cooperation involving educational institutions andenterprises have evolved in accordance with social andeconomic conditions and the systems technical and voca-tional education of the countries concerned.

A study carried out by Unesco in 1986/87 on the ap-plication of the Revised Recommendation concerningTechnical and Vocational Education revealed that meas-ures for coordination between technical and vocationaleducation institutions, industries and employment aretaken by most of the countries. In this connection, a va-riety of mechanisms and modalities have been developed.These include joint advisory boards and school/ industrycommittees, cooperative education and training pro-grammes, return to industry and summer practice, mod-ular systems, etc. The need for reinforcing such coopera-tion depends on national legislative measures and regu-lations as well as the potential and willingness of theenterprises to ensure appropriate training consistent withthe broad educational and training objectives.

I believe this Symposium will provide a good opportunityfor an exchange of information and experiences con-cerning the different approaches and training models fortechnical and vocational education. The annotatedagenda of your meeting has outlined a few models. Thiswill be supplemented by country reports during themeeting this week. It is important that the different train-ing modalities be examined carefully in relation to theconditions required for their effective application. Thepurpose of this Symposium is to learn about innovativemethods of training and to benefit from available experi-ences in the participating countries, particularly from ourhost country, the Federal Republic of Germany, whichhas undoubtedly one of the most developed systems oftechnical and vocational education in the world.

In conclusion, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to thankyou for having accepted to participate in this Symposiumand for your contribution to it. I am confident that youwill have an interesting and useful week of special pres-entations and discussions, as well as visits to industrialand training institutions which will contribute to betterunderstanding of the different ways of organizing techni-cal and vocational education and the philosophy and tra-dition behind them. Finally, I would like to assure youthat any suggestions you may wish to make to Unesco, asa follow-up to this Symposium, for the improvement oftechnical and vocational education and promotion of in-ternational cooperation in this field, will be carefully con-sidered in the light of our future programmes.

I wish you a very successful meeting.

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Ravindra DavéUnesco Institute for Education, HamburgDr. Hardenacke; Ms. Ehmke and other representatives ofthe Federal Ministry of Education and Science; Dr.Samady; Professor Wiemann; Mr. Blom; Mr. Krönner;fellow participants and friends,

I have great pleasure in associating myself in extending avery warm and hearty welcome to all of you to this In-stitute, and especially to this programme. I am happy thatDr. Hardenacke and other representatives of the FederalMinistry of Education and Science are here, and I havegreat pleasure in extending a cordial welcome to them.Moreover, this Symposium has created an important op-portunity for my colleague Dr. Samady to visit theUnesco Institute for Education, and I am extremely happyto welcome him to the Institute.

My colleagues and I are glad that the Federal Ministry ofEducation and Science and Unesco decided to associatethe Unesco Institute for Education with this importantinternational Symposium and to hold it at our Institute.This has helped us in strengthening our cooperation withthe Federal Ministry of Education and Science and otheragencies and individuals connected with this programme.The theme of the Symposium is not only significant andtimely for Unesco Headquarters in Paris, especially in thecontext of the Third Medium-Term Plan, but also for theprogrammes and activities of the Unesco Institute forEducation, and we are looking forward to profiting fromyour valuable deliberations.

The Unesco Institute for Education, as you may know, isan international research centre functioning under the largeumbrella of Unesco. Its activities include research,research-based training and orientation programmes, pub-lications, documentation and dissemination. Its pro-grammes are for both industrialized and developing coun-tries, and are closely aligned to the overall goals and objec-tives of Unesco. But all its activities are developed with aconceptual framework of lifelong education, and focusedmainly on the content, methods and other qualitative as-pects of education. It is the concept of lifelong education,on which the Unesco Institute for Education has broughtout a large number of publications, and the specific focusof activities in the framework of this concept that bringsthis Institute closer to the theme of this Symposium.

According to the comprehensive concept of lifelong edu-cation, learning is not confined to the school alone, but italso occurs in the home, in the community, and especiallyat the workplace, which is significant in the context ofthis Symposium. Furthermore, lifelong education is notconfined to general and liberal education only, but in-cludes technical and vocational education as well in orderto achieve occupational development hand in hand withthe personal and social development of individuals andtheir communities for the purpose of ensuring a higherand better quality of life. The concept of lifelong educa-tion also encompasses both initial and continuing educa-tion through formal, non-formal and informal learning ar-rangements especially in the contemporary context of theexplosion of knowledge in science and technology on theone hand and rapid obsolescence of existing knowledge,skills and related occupations on the other.

It is for these reasons that the Unesco Institute for Educa-tion is interested in the "Innovative Methods of Technicaland Vocational Education" that will be discussed in theSymposium in an international and comparative per-spective. The Institute has done some selective work in

this direction which is of relevance to this theme, and asyou are here at our Institute, I may share some informa-tion very briefly with you. For example, last year withthe active cooperation of Dr. Psacharopoulos of theWorld Bank and a number of other specialists from dif-ferent parts of the world, we brought out a special numberof our quarterly journal, the International Review of Edu-cation, on the organizational, structure, sociological andeconomic issues of technical and vocational education. Italso contains concise case studies of China, India andNigeria, besides incidental examples of Costa Rica,Colombia and some other countries. This year we havecompleted an international investigation on curricula forlifelong vocational education based on specific experi-ences in technical and vocational education selected fromseven countries, namely, the Federal Republic of Ger-many, the Netherlands, Poland, Sri Lanka, Tanzania,USA and Venezuela. The final report came out just a fewdays ago, and we shall be happy to share it with thosewho are interested in this publication. In fact, we are justin the process of distributing it to various agencies and in-stitutions for dissemination purposes.

Furthermore, we have developed a fairly large-scale pro-ject on post-literacy and continuing education in theframework of lifelong education, for developing coun-tries, and under this project also, we have specificallyemphasized the acquisition of technical and vocationalskills for income generation in order to fight the problemsof poverty, besides ignorance and related issues. As partof this project, we have brought out between 1984 and1988 some 20 case studies carried out in different regionsof the world. They are published in English, French,Spanish and Arabic, and if any of you are interested, weshall be happy to share them with you. There are severalother programmes and activities that the Unesco Institutefor Education has undertaken in this important field ofeducation for vocational development.

Thus, from the Institute's point of view, we are interestedin learning from your valuable experience, sharing ourhumble work done so far in this field, connecting and in-terlinking the ideas to be generated by this Symposiumwith other activities and meetings of Unesco and the In-stitute, such as the one to be held here in the last week ofthis month, where the interaction between education andwork will be one of the issues to be discussed in the con-text of secondary education curriculum. We shall con-tinue to work in this field through research, follow-up ac-tion and other activities towards the promotion of har-monious progress of both general and technical and voca-tional education for better development and a better quali-ty of life for individuals and their societies in all MemberStates of Unesco.

It is in this spirit that I wish this Symposium a great suc-cess. Thank you.

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Report

by Horst BIERMANNThis report is based on the country reports submitted, thepapers given, oral contributions made at the Symposium,and the Draft Summarizing Report prepared during themeeting.

Whereas the international Unesco Congress 1987 inBerlin/German Democratic Republic was held onDevelopment and Improvement of Technical and Voca-tional Education, the 1989 Symposium was primarilyconcerned with the associated innovations and methods.

It was held with a relatively small attendance of expertsconcerned with the theory, planning or practice of voca-tional education, coming from universities, institutes fortechnical and vocational education, ministries, and edu-cational institutions. The discussions, including those onthe fringe of the Symposium, were heavily influenced bythe possible consequences of new technologies on thecontent and structure of vocational education.

The programme was divided into two parts:• Part 1 (macro level), and• Part 2 (micro level) of technical and vocational edu-

cation.

At the macro level, criteria for the classification ofsystems of technical and vocational education were to bedeveloped; the micro level aimed at a classification ofteaching and learning methods in vocational education.The Symposium was supplemented by country reportsand case studies.

Part 1:Macrosystems ofTechnical and Vocational Education

Discussions at the macro level were inaugurated by akeynote paper of Professor Wolf-Dietrich Greinert fromthe Technical University of Berlin (cf. page 15 of thispublication). The purport of these remarks was to clas-sify systems of technical and vocational education and todefine basic forms. Beyond this analytic function, thetypes identified and the associated criteria should fa-cilitate communication. Specifically with regard to tech-nical and vocational education the problem had alreadyarisen at the 1987 Berlin Congress of conceptualizationand this of comparability.

In the development of criteria for the basic types, thespeaker dissociated himself from pragmatic and static ap-proaches. Particularly the mere description of places oflearning in technical and vocational education provesinadequate. Rather it is necessary for example also to in-clude the institutions, so that social structures and inter-ests are taken account of. As a principle of classificationGreinert took the role of government in technical andvocational education as a starting-point, and arrived atthree basic types: market model, school or bureaucraticmodel and cooperative model.

Model 1: The Market ModelThe government plays a minor rolein vocational qualification processes

These models are based essentially on liberalist philoso-phy. As a consequence of market mechanisms there is fre-quently a decoupling from the general education system,

and the students are to a large extent university-oriented.Technical and vocational education is left largely to the in-dividual and the recruitment needs of enterprises. Since asa rule the state does not lay down any framework provi-sions, control and financing of training also remain a mat-ter for the enterprises. The position of major enterprises isdominant in this system.As a case study, Professor Walter Georg from the Univer-sity of Hagen, Federal Republic of Germany, presented theJapanese system of technical and vocational education (cf.page 19 of this publication) in which in particular the mi-nor role taken by the state is clear. The other features, suchas recruitment of training personnel and staff, are evidenceof this allocation, too.Large enterprises offer in-house qualification, thus bindingemployees to the enterprise and making them relativelyimmobile in the external labour market. The general edu-cation system is not put in question by the enterprises, al-though it is not oriented towards technical and vocationaleducation.

Model 2: The Bureaucratic ModelThe government is responsiblefor technical and vocational education

This type of system of technical and vocational educationis based on the responsibility of the government for the de-tailed planning, organization and control of technical andvocational education and often also for its operation.School-type models are characteristic of this. Greinert alsoassigned to this classification - not without disagreement indiscussion - the approach to in-company technical andvocational education in socialist countries.Characteristics of state-organized technical and vocationaleducation are, among others, the high degree of bureau-cratization, the close connection between general andtechnical and vocational education (school careers), and thecomparability of educational standards and qualifications.The role of enterprises in such systems can becomemarginal and be restricted for example, to making placesavailable for practical experience.Sweden is today regarded as the archetypal example ofschool-type technical and vocational education, as Dr.Lennart Nilsson, Docent at the University of Göteborg,Sweden, made clear in his presentation (cf. page 22 of thispublication). Up to 90 % of under-nineteens go to sec-ondary comprehensive schools. These form an integratedschool system with a general and a vocational emphasis.Both general and technical and vocational education arepublicly financed. About one-half of the students completea vocational line, which comprises various vocationalgroupings, and are thus qualified for employment in morethan just one specific enterprise. The school-type technicaland vocational education was introduced with the aim ofovercoming traditional training forms.

Model 3: The Government-controlled Market ModelThe government provides a frameworkfor technical and vocational educationin private enterprises or institutions

The state merely sets framework conditions for theproviders of training, as a rule in the form of vocationaleducation acts. This type can be classified as a state-con-trolled market model. Characteristically, forms of cooper-ation emerge between public vocational schools and pri-vate training enterprises or inter-company training centres.Small and medium-sized enterprises participate in thisform of training predominantly.

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Typical features are the market-controlled recruitment ofstudents, the orientation of training objectives and content topractical applicability, and the influence of social groups ontraining (e.g. vocational structure, financing, control, ex-aminations). It can be seen that a cooperation of individualplaces of learning or of training providers does not by anymeans result in a dual system or a basic model in Greinert'sdefinition.The dual system in the Federal Republic of Germany as anexample of a cooperative model was presented by the Fed-eral Ministry of Education and Science with the aid of films.Whereas the first film showed the institutional guidelinesand sharing of responsibilities at the two places of learningin the dual system, the second explained the work and roleof the in-company instructors.On the question of cooperation between schools and en-terprises, Dr. Michael Guder, Deputy Director of the CentralInstitute for Vocational Education outlined the system oftechnical and vocational education in the German Demo-cratic Republic (cf. page 25 of this publication). Clearly thestate was responsible for all forms of education. From an in-stitutional point of view, technical and vocational educationof young people is only a part of the overall education sys-tem.There are also state-run municipal vocational schools whichprovide theoretical training in the case of certain vocationsand certain sizes of enterprise. In both cases theory andpractical training in workshops, laboratories and shop-floorare closely coordinated. The lifelong stages of learning,training, work and continuing education are harmonizedsimilarly. The traditional dual systems has thus been de-terminedly overcome. What has arisen is an organized train-ing system providing systematic qualification with equaltraining standards for basically all young people.By way of a further move for cooperation the BrazilianServicio National de Aprendizagem Industrial (SENAI) wasintroduced by Prof. Guimarâes R. Boclin (cf. page 28 of thispublication). SENAI is an institution for which there is onlya skeleton agreement on the part of the government. Coop-eration in training is restricted to the industrial sector. Thisinstitution is governed by a National Department and re-gional subdivisions who have the task of running the trainingunits and cooperating with the local firms involved.

The financing of SENAI is by means of a contribution basedon the enterprise's payroll, scaled according to enterprisesize, of all industrial, transport, communications and fishprocessing enterprises. Various levels of training are offereddepending on prior education of the young people in ques-tion. The training takes place in factories, mobile units, or intraining centres, according to circumstances. The SENAIinstitution has been able to maintain autonomy both from thegovernment and the various factories. Stress must be laidupon the social function of this institution in preventingdrop-outs.

Concerning the macrosystems with their examples, discus-sion confirmed Greinert's position that all three basic modelshave been made possible by the industrialization of thecountries involved. The reports from these countriesshowed, however, that none of the theoretical models can befound in reality. Normally mixed typed predominate, withvarious schemes alongside restricted by sector, region ortraining area.

It does not seem to be sufficient to compare countries withcertain models, in particular in view of the structureswhich have grown up historically and socio-economicallyfor education, training and further education. And so

Greinert argued that the dual system in the Federal Re-public of Germany did in fact predominate in initial tech-nical-industrial training but not, however, in the caring orlaboratory professions and not either in the field of con-tinuing technical and vocational education.

The contributions from Mr. André Bruyère showed sim-ilarly that in the last decade a system of courses on thebasis of business cooperation had grown up alongsidetypical school education. Although general interest hadbeen expressed in the dual system of technical and voca-tional education, the discussion made clear that an iso-lated transfer of one of the three models from industrial-ized nations to those in the process of industrialization didnot seem feasible in view of the complex mixture of sys-tems.

The classification according to function rather than thecustomary descriptive differentiation of learning insti-tution met with good response as the division of responsi-bility practised hitherto in institutions was becoming in-creasingly difficult as a result of new technologies andtransformations in labour organization. The formulationof basic models of technical and vocational education canonly be accepted as a first step to highlight the trend ofthe analysis. Further work should aid the development ofcomparative criteria based on this.

The attempt to classify the case studies of the three theo-retical models and the additional country reports broughtthe discussion to the general conclusion that many coun-tries have not developed professional statistics. Thus or-ganized systems of technical and vocational educationoriented empirically to the labour market often lack thenecessary basic information. Likewise, despite all thestatistical basis, educational and training forecast hadproved to be a problem in the traditional industrial na-tions.

The transition of graduates from technical and vocationaleducation at school to the labour market also frequentlypresented problems, both quantitatively and qualitatively.Graduates worldwide from schools with general educa-tion seem to have difficulties when faced with the choiceof different educational careers, to orientate themselvestowards technical and vocational education. The be-stowing of certificates can result in students being over-qualified in academic fields - as was shown in theMexican example - in relation to the real requirements ofthe labour market, however, they turn out to be misquali-fied.

The request was made, therefore, in the discussion thatfurther analyses of the three basic models presentedshould be designed with the principal object of contrib-uting to the respective country's structures.

Part 2:Microsystems ofTechnical and Vocational Education

Professor Günter Wiemann from Hanover University,Federal Republic of Germany, introduced the second partof the conference with an international comparison of di-dactic models in vocational education (cf. page 33 of thispublication). As in Part 1 of the Symposium, the variousmethodical approcaches in technical and vocationaleducation were classified according to a specific criterion:their relation to real work situations. Four basic forms ofdidactic models of vocational learning were classifiedinto two main groups:

• training in situations of natural life and work and

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• training under artificial conditions.One of the oldest and most natural forms of beginningwork is on-the-job training. Wiemann explained the crite-ria of learning organization with the aid of examplestaken from history and from other cultures. The aim is toproduce for an actual situation, for a market. There is ahigh degree of job responsibility. The trainer knows hissubject and his job. As a rule he is not a teacher.Through the work process the apprentice grows into hisprofessional reference group too. The form of training isfound in particular in what is called the informal sector;in the formal sector it is bound by the technical standardsand work organization of the job.Learning in course instruction, project instruction, and inschool-run enterprises are quoted as examples of artificialsystems of learning. The course instruction method hasbecome important worldwide for the training of industrialworkers. This was particularly clear in the examplesfrom the metalworking field. Courses, in this context, arehere considered to be methods in vocational teachingrather than institutions. This is a sequential attempt ascomplex requirements from actual work situations areisolated and separated into small elements and steps builtup from one another. Today objective learning goals as arule assist in the structuring of courses and in evaluatingthe standard of the qualification acquired at the end of thelearning unit. The advantage of course instruction lies inthe apparent similarity of the pedagogic method to indus-trial production methods hitherto. The advantages anddisadvantages of course instruction do not differ greatly.It is largely a closed system, and hence problems arise inpractice faced with demands of real-life work situationsand also problems of acceptance of necessary innovation.Project instruction is based in principle on the attempts ofreform pedagogy at the turn of the century. It was re-discovered for technical and vocational education as a re-sult of the anticipated requirements for skilled workers asa result of the new technologies. According to this prin-ciple it is important to simulate the actual complex worksituation in factories as closely as possible. The aim is apolyvalent skilled worker who can autonomously detect,analyze and solve problems in groups or alone. Thischanges the role of the teacher for theory and practicealso. As resulted from the discussion, a shift from courseinstruction to project instruction can lead to problems forthe teaching staff with regard to their technicalqualification as well as to their identity and acceptance.One peculiar feature in the typology of the didacticmodels is the school-run enterprise, as in this organizationall other forms of learning can be carried out. In principleit is a matter of combining the advantages of systematiclearning in schools and productive work in factories. Thesponsor may be a school, could also, however, be afactory or an independent institution. It is hoped that thisSymposium will contribute to the development of a the-ory of school-run enterprises.Examples of the different didactic models could be foundin all countries, as was shown by the country reports anddiscussion, although with differing degrees of importanceand incidence. In the opinion of Mr. Eckhard Chroscielstress should be laid on the concept of the InternationalLabour Organization (ILO) due to its worldwide sig-nificance.After extensive research, the ILO has developed a con-cept for technical and vocational education replacing thetraditional learning form with a modular system (cf. page41 of this publication). This module system is flexible, is

adapted to the regional and socio-cultural conditions, andis oriented to the employment situation. The Module ofEmployable Skills (MES) system is available for all coreoccupational areas. MES consists essentially of threeareas:• the concept itself, e.g. documents for developing

curricula, job analysis etc.,• instruction material in the form of learning elements,

and a• staff development programme.More detailed information on the actual state of the MESsystem which was begun 15 years ago are given in theILO handbook to be published at the end of 1989. Thisconcept proved particularly productive in countries andsectors with no sufficient infrastructure in terms of enter-prises, schools and qualified manpower. It is relativelyquick and inexpensive to start up. The limits are cur-rently seen where semi-skilled workers become super-fluous and the demand is for technicians.Mr. Harald W. Bongard introduced the new concept ofproject instruction of Volkswagen AG, Federal Republicof Germany, for the training of skilled workers (cf. page43 of this publication). He pointed out that the socialbackground for the new training programme went beyondtechnical and organizational change and included changesin values and the democratization of society. Volk-swagen's aim is the prevention of breakdowns in pro-duction, this being possible by employing qualifiedpersonnel. Work quality control should be a part of allemployees' work processes. Creativity and a responsibleattitude are demanded as learning objectives in training,to meet the new demands. It is necessary to reorganizelearning, content, targets and methods in training. Hereprojects in conjunction with other more open methods,such as instruction texts, have replaced the traditionalbasic courses. Young people learn largely through theirown study, in groups or with tutors. Whereas the newrole of the student demands an active learning and work-ing style, the instructor's activity is based more on moder-ation, consultation and preparation of the learning situa-tion. In the discussion it was stressed that the apprenticesshould learn under actual work conditions and not arti-ficially, falling behind in matters of technology, work or-ganization, and the use of material, machines and tools ofthe trade. A note of criticism made to the effect that theprevious certification and examination system cannot dojustice to the new training form and is also questionableas a prognosis for job preservation. It was also clear thatin view of the high costs involved in this training it wasapplicable only to the elite in major industries. It wasquestioned as to whether the concept could not be suit-ably adapted and converted under simpler basic condi-tions.If, on the other hand, one considers the portrayal of theschool-run enterprises in China as presented by Mr. MengGuang-ping from the State Education Commission inBeijing (cf. page 46 of this publication), one is struck bythe variety of approaches in various sectors, enterprisesizes and sponsors. It is necessary to make use of all re-sources due to the need for qualifications. In this way itis possible to train at various levels by one's own efforts,i.e. without international support. Essentially only the fi-nancing of the training is state-controlled. Enterprises re-ceive appropriate tax concessions and schools can makeprofits with their production. The Chinese examples ofschool-run enterprises highlight the flexibility and adapt-ability of these projects.

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The question of cost and application was raised in theexample of the school-run enterprise of the GermanSingapore Institute (GSI) which was presented by GSIDirector Klaus Krüger (cf. page 49 of this publication).The work of the GSI concerns not only the training ofskilled workers but also, for example, consultation by en-terprises and further education. The centre of activities isin the field of industrial metal-working. There was adeliberate emphasis on new technologies as far as cur-riculum and equipment were concerned. The middletechnical level in particular was not in evidence, inkeeping with the qualifications and infrastructure of thecity state. It follows, therefore, that the Institute sees it-self as a training institution of key personnel who in turndevelop a considerable multiplier effect.

In contrast to traditional school projects, projects in theGSI are developed as production tasks and are harmo-nized closely with the economy through institutionalizedcooperation. New technologies, automation and in-dustrial design are considered important subjects from theoutset and are included in the project tasks.

Prospects

This first Symposium with participants from Unescomember countries on the didactics and methodology oftechnical and vocational education can be considered asuccess. Observations and discussions both at the macroand the micro level produced classifications of systems oftechnical and vocational education and of forms of voca-tional learning.

The concept of the school-run enterprise in particularfound a strong following as it does not represent a rigidmodel, either institutionally or as regards the learningmethod, but rather represents an open system and so canbe adapted regionally and sectorally to the technical stan-dard, qualification and economic requirements of the re-spective countries.

Didactically both the MES system of the ILO and tra-ditional course instruction or project instruction can beincorporated into the school-run enterprise concept. Thusthis concept seems appropriate not only for elitisttechnical and vocational education, but also for thedevelopment of a professional infrastructure. Only as aconsequence does the question of complex full-timeschools or dual systems of technical and vocationaleducation arise.

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Contributions

Part 1: Macrosystems of Technical and

Vocational Education

An International Comparison of Systems ofTechnical and Vocational Education -An Attempt at Classificationby Wolf-Dietrich GREINERTThis Symposium deals with the question of how systemsof technical and vocational education may or should re-spond to new developments in the field of production,distribution and information technologies as well as tochanges in work organization by adopting new qualifica-tion methods.

When considering this question on a national level, it suf-fices to look at the training methods as such, i.e. themicrosystem of technical and vocational education. If wewish to consider the question in a wider framework (asthis Symposium intends to do), we must also include thesystemic and organizational level, i.e. the macrosystem,as there are relations between the micro- and macrolevelsof systems of technical and vocational education whichcannot be ignored.

In the following, I shall propose a classification for sys-tems of technical and vocational education, because it ishardly possible to compare the large number of complexnational systems of technical and vocational education,for example from the aspect of training method reform.My paper consists of three parts:• The prerequisite:

A reliable criterion for classification.• The intermediate result:

Basic types of formal technical and vocational educa-tion.

• The final result:National systems of technical and vocational educationas variants and/or combinations of the basic types.

1 The prerequisite:A reliable criterion for classification

If we wish to assign the numerous national systems oftechnical and vocational education to a few basic types,we have to establish a criterion for such classification.The selection of a suitable criterion presents difficulties.This is obvious from the attempts made by four Germanauthors in recent years to identify basic types of technicaland vocational education:• Lauterbach compares twelve countries and distin-

guishes between technical and vocational education byenterprises, at school, and the dual system, and mixedsystems.

• Maslankowski distinguishes between the dual system,technical and vocational education at school, MEStraining, national services, and on-the-job training.

• Hegelheimer compares seven European countries anddistinguishes between three types: dual systems, full-time school, and mixed systems.

• Zedler, following Hegelheimer's classification, distin-guishes between four basic types: the dual system,full-time vocational school, mixed systems, and on-the-job training.

Despite their pragmatic orientation, these four clas-sifications must be viewed with a critical eye. Even afirst glance reveals that there are contradictions. For ex-ample, Maslankowski's MES training is a trainingmethod, which is used where a training system does notexist.

Lauterbach's, Hegelheimer's, and Zedler's basic type of"mixed systems" is a lapse in logic, as a mixed type can-not be a basic type.

The pragmatic character of the four classification systemsis above all borne out by the absence of an explicit classi-fication criterion. It becomes clear from Lauterbach's ex-planations that the crucial question is: In what place(s) oflearning (school, enterprise, training workshop, etc.) doesthe greater part of technical and vocational education takeplace? All four authors identify a school-based systemand a dual system, with three of them naming also thepurely enterprise-based type of on-the-job training.Maslankowski's basic type of national services for techni-cal and vocational education does not, however, fit intothis concept. We may note: The main place of learninghas become a generally accepted criterion for classifyingsystems of technical and vocational education. At anyrate I could not find any other approach in the relevantliterature.

The place of learning may be a plausible criterion forclassification, but its value for analysis is limited. On theone hand, the term is not sufficiently precise and, on theother hand, it is used to denote a (new) pedagogical cate-gory. Places of learning are traditionally defined by theGerman Education Council (Deutscher Bildungsrat) asplaces which can be distinguished by their pedagogicalfunction. Each place of learning is characterized by itsfunctions in the learning process.

An aspect which is apparently excluded here quite delib-erately is the question of responsibility, i.e. the questionwhat social or political agents determine the structure andfunctions of the individual places of learning. This im-plies that systems of technical and vocational educationare above all the result of considerations on what is ex-pedient from the pedagogical standpoint. A brief look atthe historical development of such systems, however,shows that they are first and foremost the result of a con-flict between economic and political interests; they reflectthe distribution of power in society. What should belearned at what place of learning seems to be a rather hy-pothetical question in that respect.

For this reason alone, the place of learning is not a suit-able criterion for classifying systems of technical and vo-cational education. Furthermore, the notion of the placeof learning has a static dimension, which means that,while it may serve to describe and analyze structures, itdoes not indicate how the system functions. Modernsystems theory must, however, be a means for relatingstructure to function.

My approach to classifying systems of technical and vo-cational education is therefore based on a criterion whichis both political and dynamic: The role of the govern-ment. How does the government define its own role inthe process of vocational qualification of the majority ofits citizens?

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2 The intermediate result:Basic types of formal technical and vocationaleducation

When analyzing the numerous national systems of techni-cal and vocational education while applying the abovecriterion, we obtain the following three basic models:

0DUNHW#0RGHOThe government plays a minor role or no role at all in vo-

cational qualification processes.

%XUHDXFUDWLF#0RGHOThe government is the sole authority responsible for theplanning, organization and control of technical and voca-

tional education.

*RYHUQPHQW0&RQWUROOHG#0DUNHW#0RGHOThe government provides a more or less tight frameworkfor technical and vocational education in private enter-

prises or other private training institutions.

Illustration 2Classification of systems of technical and vocational

education according to the role of government

Model 1:The government plays a minor role or no role at all invocational qualification processes

This model could be called liberal. It is, however, betterto term it a market economy system or market model.Such systems can be found in the United Kingdom, in theUSA and in Japan.

Although the systems of technical and vocational educa-tion in these countries differ considerably, above all theirsocio-economic origin has been entirely different, theyhave one thing in common: Vocational education is notrelated to general education, for example in the form ofvocational schools, nor is there a separate system whichwould guarantee minimum vocational qualifications forthe majority of young people.

The above-mentioned countries have well-developedgeneral education systems which, as a rule, involve 11 or12 years of compulsory schooling and are rather stronglyinfluenced by the government. All young people in thesecountries attend what is called a high school. The numberof high school graduates going on to college and universi-ty is very high in these countries as compared with thesituation in the Federal Republic of Germany.

Technical and vocational education for its greater part isnot, however, under government influence. It is directlyrelated to the productive factor of work and to the labourmarket. Its development and organization is left to thecitizen's own initiative and to the commitment of enter-prises, local authorities, and other training providers whooffer and organize, practically without having to complywith government regulations, vocational education andtraining geared to practical work situations.

There are usually also school and government pro-grammes (for marginal and problem groups) providingvocational qualification; however, the historicallyevolved traditional structures still dominate. Enterprisesare major training providers. Above all, big enterprisesusually achieve an outstanding position in the marketowing to their economic superiority, as is the case for ex-ample in Japan.

What are the mechanisms responsible for the functioningof these market-oriented systems of technical and voca-tional education? The following is a list of mechanisms,which does not, however, claim to be complete:

• The market model determines the quantitative relationsbetween qualification requirements and vocational edu-cation. Vocational qualifications are providedaccording to demand. Demand is determined by thecustomers, i.e. the enterprises.

• The type of qualification (qualitative aspect) is deter-mined exclusively by the presumed applications in theenterprises. Inter-company qualification transfer de-pends on the market, but it is usually not very strong.

• The market mechanism of vocational qualificationfunctions best when the potential customers providetraining themselves and control the results.

• In this case, training is financed by the customers, i.e. itis governed by the principle of cost minimization. Itwill usually be related more to productive than topedagogical principles (on-the-job training).

• Providers of vocational training select the traineesirrespective of superior social values (e.g. equal oppor-tunities); trainees, in principle, have the same legalstatus as regular workers.

Model 2:The government is the sole authority responsible forthe planning, organization and control of technicaland vocational education

For logical reasons, this model should be termedbureaucratic; in view of its predominantly institutionalform it may, however, be called the school model. It canbe found in France, Italy and Sweden and also in variouscountries of the Third World. Bureaucratic systems oftechnical and vocational education can, however, also befound in socialist countries, where enterprise trainingplays an important or even central role (e.g. in theGerman Democratic Republic, in Poland and inHungary).

School-based systems of technical and vocational educa-tion are similar to a great extent in structure and origin.Their special feature is a graded vocational school systemclosely linked with general education, in developed coun-tries always at the upper secondary level.

Access to the different training courses which providequalification at clearly defined levels is determined by theapplicant's completion of lower secondary level educa-tion. This link between school education and technicaland vocational education is also demonstrated by anotherfeature of the system, namely the direct connection ofschool leaving qualifications with vocational quali-fications (often included in wage agreements), which mayeven result in a real double qualification (e.g. universityentrance and skilled worker qualification).

School-based systems of technical and vocational educa-tion are in principle hierarchical elite systems and are to befound mostly in countries with a centralized administration.Owing to their elitist character, they usually involve aneducation monopoly in the field of technical and vocationaleducation which virtually precludes the development ofcompeting forms of training, e.g. "dual" systems.

Private enterprise does not play a role in such systems oftechnical and vocational education, except perhaps asprovider of places for students who are required to spendpractical work periods in industry. The stronger the gov-

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ernment's claim to the sole responsibility for technicaland vocational education, the more the bureaucratic sys-tem of planning, organization and control is closed.Nevertheless there are cases in which enterprises cooper-ate indirectly in these systems: In France, for instance,the major chambers operate vocational schools which aresubsidized by the government and therefore required toobserve the training rules and regulations issued by thegovernment.

What are the mechanisms underlying such schoolsystems? In the following, some important mechanismsare listed:

• The quantitative relations between qualification re-quirements and technical and vocational education aredetermined by public planning authorities. Demand-oriented planning is most efficient when it refers to alimited number of established basic occupations.

• The type of vocational qualification (qualitative aspect)is not primarily determined by practical worksituations, but usually also takes account of individualand social requirements. The more the vocationalschools are related to general education including itsperformance and selection criteria, the more their tech-nical qualification function is influenced by the sys-tem-related problems encountered by general schools.

• Planning, organization and control of the process oftechnical and vocational education are determined to agreat extent by bureaucracy; the implementation of therelated universal principles tends to guarantee theprovision of systematic training strongly influenced byteaching theory.

• School-based technical and vocational education isfinanced from public funds. Since such funds are, bydefinition, limited, there are usually no national train-ing models aiming to provide vocational qualificationfor an entire age group.

• School models function best for occupations and occu-pational fields which do not involve much training ofpsychomotor skills, e.g. commercial occupations.

Model 3:The government provides a more or less tightframework for technical and vocational educationin private enterprises or other private traininginstitutions

This system could be called a government-controlledmarket model; however, it is precisely what we call a dualsystem. It can be found in the Federal Republic ofGermany, in Switzerland and in Austria.

Such systems are commonly called dual because twoplaces of learning, enterprise and (government-supported)vocational school, cooperate with the common aim ofproviding the trainees with vocational qualifications. Thedual structure may, however, vary. South American dualsystems of technical and vocational education, forinstance, mainly involve inter-company training centresas the second place of learning; these centres are financedby the enterprises as a whole. The system of technicaland vocational education which German industry intend-ed to establish in the 1920s and 1930s, apprenticeship inindustry involving instruction at a (private) industrial vo-cational school, can also be considered a "dual" system.

Government-controlled market models are characterizedby the strong dividing line drawn between the system oftechnical and vocational education and the public generalschool system. This is demonstrated above all by the ex-istence of a more or less detailed specific technical andvocational education law, which cannot be categorized asschool law. The legal responsibility for technical and vo-cational education under such systems therefore lies, as arule, with the department of economics or labour.

Government-controlled market models of technical andvocational education can be found above all in placeswhich have traditionally had an advanced trade culture.Small businesses and the tradition of training provisionby the crafts are not, however, indispensable prerequisitesfor dual technical and vocational education. As isdemonstrated by the German example, the system canalso be adapted by industry. What is essential for themodel's functioning is neither the place of learning nor aspecific enterprise structure, but rather the existence of atraining sector which is designed according to privateenterprise (i.e. free-market) rules and which can bemodified by rules issued by the government.

The dual system can be defined as a system involving twoplaces of learning only with regard to its institutionalform. With regard to function, the dual character dependson the integration of two different sets of regulationsgoverning technical and vocational education. This in-tegration is reflected most clearly by the law on technicaland vocational education, e.g. by the 1969 VocationalTraining Act of the Federal Republic of Germany(Berufsbildungsgesetz, BBiG), which, in a target-orientedapproach, combines the private law sphere of the marketwith the public law sphere of the government.

What functional criteria can be derived from this basicpattern? The following are important:• The quantitative relations between qualification re-

quirements and technical and vocational education de-pend on the market (which provides the training oppor-tunities); however, enterprises which offer trainingaccept government-issued rules.

• The type of vocational qualification (qualitative aspect)is determined primarily by practical work situations inthe enterprise. The definition of qualification goalsinvolves not only the enterprises but also the govern-ment and other interest groups (e.g. trade unions, pro-fessional associations).

• The enterprises are the training providers. However,vocational training processes have to be organized ac-cording to government rules and are subject to direct orindirect government control.

• The costs of training are, in principle, borne by theenterprises. Dual training models are, however, char-acterized by the application of regularized financingmodels (e.g. fund financing) and/or co-financing oftechnical and vocational education by the governmentto a greater or lesser extent, as is the case, for instance,in the Federal Republic of Germany for the financingof part-time vocational schools.

• In dual systems of technical and vocational education,the extent to which vocational training is designedsystematically and governed by pedagogical principlescan be modified according to demand. The most im-portant instrument in that respect is the modification offinancial incentives.

The above analysis could create the wrong impressionthat the dual training model is an optimized system, par-ticularly designed to avoid the disadvantages and one-

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sidedness of the other two models. It is obvious that thisis not the case. Variants of all three systems originated atabout the same time as a result of long historical growthprocesses, and all models proved their efficiency in theindustrialization of certain countries.

3 The final result:National systems of technical and vocationaleducation as variants and/or combinations of thebasic types

We must not be misled to consider the above basic typesof formal technical and vocational education to be truecopies of reality; all existing systems of technical and vo-cational education are variants and/or combinations of thethree basic types, which are to be understood as models.There is hardly any country with a system of technicaland vocational education which is precisely one of thebasic types.The model character of the basic types of formal technicaland vocational education is now demonstrated by anattempt to briefly analyze the system of the FederalRepublic of Germany while applying the above classifica-tion pattern. I have chosen the system in the FederalRepublic of Germany not out of national pride, but for thefollowing two objective reasons:• The proposed classification system is much more

difficult to handle than classification according to placeof learning. Applying the suggested criteria requires athorough knowledge of the system of technical and vo-cational education to be analyzed; I have such knowl-edge of this particular system only.

• Like many other organizations, Unesco has so far hadgreat difficulties in describing and classifying the sys-tem of technical and vocational education of theFederal Republic of Germany by using its ownterminology. Is our dual system to be classified as for-mal education or as non-formal education? Is it full-time or part-time technical and vocational education?An explanation is urgently needed.

When applying the above classification pattern to the sys-tem of technical and vocational education in the FederalRepublic of Germany, the following results may beobtained:• Like all advanced systems of technical and vocational

education, the Federal Republic of Germany's system isa complex combination of all three basic types. Thedual form, however, dominates. About two thirds ofall 16- to 19-year-olds obtain their vocational quali-fication in the dual system (enterprise and part-time vo-cational school). Entirely school-based technical andvocational education is found in a few occupations ofthe health and social sectors.

Since the beginning of the 1970s, however, full-timevocational schools have increasingly been assigned thetask of providing basic technical and vocational educa-tion, so that the dual system focuses increasingly on theprovision of specialized knowledge and skills. Themarket model is characteristic of the sector of con-tinuing technical and vocational education in theFederal Republic of Germany: Freedom from govern-ment regulations, greatly varying application-orientedcourses, voluntary participation, and varied forms ofmixed financing are the most important features of thesystem.

• The system of the Federal Republic of Germany is notsingular. It is only a special variant of dual technicaland vocational education. It has the following features:

• In addition to (private) enterprise, a second place oflearning, namely part-time (vocational) school withthe government being responsible for curriculum, fi-nance and control;

• only indirect control of technical and vocational edu-cation by industry's self-governing bodies(chambers);

• in principle, individual financing of technical and vo-cational education by the enterprises;

• design and recognition of vocational qualifications(recognized occupations) largely regulated by thegovernment;

• prevalence of the social partners in technical and vo-cational education policy.

All in all, the dual system in the Federal Republic ofGermany is a very advanced form of dual technical andvocational education: One should be very careful whenconsidering it as a model.• The market for training places and the legislation in

technical and vocational education as the central func-tional elements of dual systems are of a very specialnature in the Federal Republic of Germany.

• Vocational education opportunities are voluntarily pro-vided on the market for training places by industry,commerce, the crafts, agriculture, the civil service, theprofessions and the home economics branch. Most ofthe training provided is closely related to productionand does not involve major costs; there is a tendency touse the students as (cheap) labour. However, some ofthe enterprises involved are able to offer interestingemployment prospects. A small number of trainingproviders, above all industry, offer high-cost, regularand future-oriented technical and vocational educationseparate from production (e.g. in training workshops).Employment prospects in these enterprises are usuallyvery good.

• Of course, demand of individuals for training placesconcentrates on enterprises which offer attractive train-ing and/or work places. Consequently, these enter-prises dominate the market for training places, wherethey are able to exploit the customer potential to theextent they require. The large majority of lessattractive enterprises are no more than a training re-serve: As they provide training places above all tosave labour cost, they absorb the remaining customersirrespective of the enterprise's current economic pros-pects.

• The modest training efforts of these enterprises never-theless lead to recognized skilled worker qualificationswhich facilitate a change of employer or occupation forthose who, upon completion of their training, are notsubsequently offered employment by their trainingenterprises.

• Technical and vocational education in the differenteconomic sectors is governed by the uniform nationalprovisions of the Vocational Training Act (Berufs-bildungsgesetz, BBiG). The BBiG covers the follow-ing areas of enterprise training:• Establishment, contents and termination of the train-

ing contract including the rights and obligations ofthe students, the employer and the training staff aswell as the payment of allowances;

• the organization of technical and vocational educa-tion including provisions governing the personal,technical and teaching qualifications of the instruc-

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tors, the type and establishment of training institu-tions, the organization of training for the recognizedoccupations including determination of the contentsand the periods of training;

• examinations and supervision of technical and voca-tional education as well as provisions governingfurther training, retraining and technical and voca-tional education for handicapped persons.

Furthermore, the BBiG stipulates that committees beestablished at the federal, regional (Länder) andchamber levels; these committees take decisions andprovide advice on issues in technical and vocationaleducation. In 1981, the BBiG was supplemented bythe Vocational Training Promotion Act (Berufs-bildungsförderungsgesetz, BerBiFG), which deals withstatistics, planning and research in technical and voca-tional education.

• The institutional structure of the dual system of techni-cal and vocational education in the Federal Republic ofGermany is in general characterized by the existence oftwo places of learning: enterprise and part-time voca-tional school. Traditionally, the enterprise is to providepractical skills, while the school provides the relevanttheoretical knowledge.

This is a rather simplistic characterization which doesnot take account of the special institutional structure ofthe system of technical and vocational education in theFederal Republic of Germany, i.e. the broad range oftraining opportunities. For example, the enterpriseoffers numerous learning environments, ranging fromthe regular workplace to the workplace which is spe-cially designed for learning purposes, to the learningcorner, the training workshop, the research laboratoryand the classroom. In addition, there are a growingnumber of inter-company training workshops, in a waya third place of learning because of the special institu-tional structure, which are to relieve the trainingburden above all for small and medium-sized enter-prises.

The traditional distribution of tasks among the placesof learning is also becoming more and more indistinct:The school-based variant of the basic vocational educa-tion year includes the provision of practical skills; thetraditional distribution of tasks between enterprise andschool is no longer practicable with regard to new tech-nological qualifications in the field of the recentlyrevised recognized occupations in metalworking andelectrical engineering.

Despite these thorough institutional changes, the sys-tem of technical and vocational education in theFederal Republic in Germany still remains a dual sys-tem, as this dual character does not explicitly dependon the duality of learning places.

I hope that I have been successful in my attempt to helpyou to better understand the system of technical and voca-tional education in the Federal Republic of Germany. Iwould be happy if my classification system could also in-crease your understanding of your own national systemsof technical and vocational education.

The Japanese Market Model -A Comparison of Japanese QualificationStrategies with those of Other Countriesby Walter GEORGBefore dealing with the structure of technical and voca-tional education and employment in Japan, I should liketo make the following remarks concerning my paper:

• In a brief statement like this, the different strategies oftechnical and vocational education can only be ex-plained by overemphasizing ideal types which arerarely found in real life. Reality is reduced to a certainnumber of models, which do not reflect the existingvariety.

• Such variety is to be found particularly in Japan, wherethe mechanisms of technical and vocational educationand employment are not determined by systematic in-stitutional structures which could be described in or-ganizational charts and diagrams. These mechanismsare part of informal policies and management strategieswhich have for years been a major topic of discussionin the western hemisphere. Evidence of this interestare such concepts and catchwords as quality circle,company clan or corporate/ organizational culture.

• Therefore, when comparing the macrostructures oftechnical and vocational education, we must not onlylook at the different institutions but also attempt todiscover the underlying principles and mechanisms.What economic and social opportunities and risks ac-company the respective organizational structure oftraining and employment?

In the following, I am attempting to make such an analy-sis for Japan. I am referring to the framework establishedby Professor Greinert, who distinguishes between marketmodel, school model and dual model, and tries to assignthe numerous systems of technical and vocational educa-tion to one of the three. Japan is an excellent example ofthe market model, because the contents and organ-izational structure of technical and vocational educationseem to be largely free from government intervention andregulation. However, anyone who knows Japan wouldprotest if I presented Japan as a model of a free-marketeconomy. It is characteristic of Japan's economy that thestate determines numerous limits to the free market mech-anisms. Export enterprises which try to gain a footing onthe Japanese market constantly complain about this.

The industrialization of Japan in the last quarter of the19th century was a top-down process, i.e. it was triggeredand controlled more by government investments in theeconomic infrastructure than by private initiatives. Thetraditional function of public administration is that of adriving force of industrial modernization, a functionwhich still characterizes today's intensive communicativeand cooperative relations between governmental and in-dustrial management. However, these relations are basednot so much on a legal framework of government inter-vention opportunities as on a soft, informal influence andthe creation of a climate which is conducive to inno-vation. This, from the Japanese standpoint, means aslittle bureaucracy as possible.

This background information is, I think, very importantfor an understanding of the "Japanese market model".

In the following, I am focussing on the characteristictraits of the Japanese system of technical and vocationaleducation when describing the background, functioning

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and consequences of the market model, a model in whichthe government plays only a minor role or no role at all.

Hypothesis 1:Under the market model of technical and vocationaleducation the government has merely the function ofpreventive crisis management and repair.

Technical and vocational education in Japan has alwaysbeen the task of the individual industrial enterprises. Inthe face of the postwar shortage of qualified workers thegovernment first became aware of its responsibility. In1958 the first vocational training act was passed. Themost recent version (1985) provides for the establishmentand maintenance of government-run training centres andfor public funding for company and inter-company train-ing centres. With respect to quantity and quality, thissector is, however, of marginal importance. Less than1 % of the annual number of school leavers go to suchtraining centres.Most of these centres are designed for school leavers whowere not successful in their first attempt to enter employ-ment, or they provide retraining for the unemployed orthe potentially unemployed. On the whole, the govern-ment-maintained training centres are above all supposedto reduce imbalances on the labour market by offeringadequate qualification, and to close the gaps which tech-nological change has left above all in small enterpriseswithout training capacities of their own.The large majority of Japanese enterprises provide trainingaccording to their own company concepts without any gov-ernment intervention. Therefore, technical and vocationaleducation is not a controversial issue between governmentand industry, nor is it an issue of trade union policy. Tech-nical and vocational education is an integral part of enter-prise activities and thus of industrial work organization andemployment policy, and as such is not questioned by thirdparties. Neither the government nor the public expect theenterprise to achieve certain training standards beyond in-house needs. Vice versa, Japanese enterprises do not claimgovernment funding for their training efforts. The govern-ment intervenes only in the case of labour marketimbalances, and when the entrepreneurs are not interestedbecause investments do not promise any profit.This reduction of governmental functions is most clearlyreflected by the fact that on the Japanese labour market vo-cational qualifications play only a minor or no role at all.

Hypothesis 2:The market model of technical and vocationaleducation limits the exchange processes on the labourmarket considerably.

Since there are no government-recognized occupationsnor any generally valid certificates of vocational quali-fication, the labour market lacks an important controlinstrument. According to our western understanding, theinstrument of recognized occupations guarantees standardvocational qualifications which are marketable. Everyonewho has obtained such vocational qualifications is inde-pendent of the individual enterprise.That is not the case with Japan. Neither the system ofprogrammes for technical and vocational education northe organization of work and training at enterprise level isgeared to occupational profiles or the awarding of voca-tional certificates. Qualifications have a practical valuefor the enterprises concerned but no exchange value onthe labour market. This means a considerable reductionin inter-company mobility. Since a change of enterprise

would mean that the staff concerned lose the privilegesthey have acquired during permanent employment, andthe enterprise loses its investments in technical and voca-tional education, both sides have little interest in suchmobility.

Hypothesis 3:The market model of technical and vocationaleducation contributes to a clear-cut segmentation ofthe labour markets within and outside the enterprises.

The top segment of the Japanese labour market is the"regular" staff, with permanent employment and pro-motion as well as pension rights being guaranteed by theenterprise. Regular staff is recruited each year directlyfrom among the school leavers and university graduates.This segment is estimated at about 30 % to 35 % of theentire Japanese work force.

This regular staff is granted a status similar to civilservice at the expense of the larger, secondary labourmarket segments in which employment is mostlyunprotected. In contrast to regular staff, "marginal" staffincludes part-time and temporary workers, loan workers,(female) home workers, and the majority of the labourforce of small and very small enterprises. The groupsconcerned are above all women, persons of advanced age(beyond retirement age), "unsuccessful" young people,and foreigners (particularly Koreans). There are hardlyany exchange processes between the top segment and thesecondary labour market groups (and if so, only in onedirection). There is segmentation both within the enter-prises and between them. The much-quoted "pillars" ofthe Japanese employment system, namely lifelong em-ployment, the principle of seniority (with regard topayment and promotion), and company unions, can beunderstood only when bearing in mind this segmentation.They provide protection only for regular staff.

With regard to technical and vocational education inenterprises, this segmentation means that only regularstaff enjoy long-term enterprise investments in education.The marginal staff (i.e. above all women and the staff ofsmall enterprises) are given no opportunity to acquire anyqualification of permanent value; they have usually ac-quired only a very narrow range of vocational skills andhave only limited access to working aids involvingmodern technologies. All in all, segmentation leads toextremely unequal qualification prospects for the differ-ent groups of staff.

Hypothesis 4:The market model of technical and vocationaleducation requires other criteria for enterprise staffrecruitment and other organizational models.

As there are no special vocational qualifications on the-DSDQHVH# ODERXU# PDUNHW/# VR0FDOOHG# ZRUNDWWLWXGHV#VXFK#DV the ability and willingness to learn,to achieve, to adapt and to fit in are of central importancein the recruiting process of an enterprise. In the case ofregular staff, decisions on recruitment are almost irre-versible both for the enterprise and for the applicant.Therefore, there is careful consideration on both sides.The enterprise's most important criteria concerning thebiography of the applicant are his/her family backgroundand his/her learning ability, which is derived from schoolleaving certificates. For applicants the major criterion isenterprise size: the bigger the enterprise, the better theprospects for lifelong employment and a civil servant-likecareer with a salary increasing with seniority.

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All Japanese enterprises recruit new regular staff onceevery year when students leave school or university. Thisrhythm increases segmentation: Small enterprises mustcontent themselves with those school leavers who remainafter the best have been creamed off by large enterprises.As small enterprises have only limited training capacities,they are most likely to attach importance to relevant techni-cal qualifications when recruiting staff. Thus, this segmentincludes a kind of labour market for part-time employmentof specifically qualified workers. However, as the employ-ment conditions in small enterprises are neither very securenor very attractive, these different recruiting patternsintensify discrimination against any institutionalized tech-nical and vocational education outside the enterprise (gov-ernment-supported training centres, vocational schools).

On the whole, the prospects of permanent employmentand a guaranteed career depend on success in the enter-prise's staff recruitment procedure. Whether the applicantis successful or not is essentially determined by the typeof formal school qualification (secondary school, univer-sity), and still more by the rank of the institutions in theinformal hierarchy of education institutions. The key tofirst-class employment is evidence of a first-class schooleducation.

Hypothesis 5:The market model of technical and vocationaleducation increases the expansion of education andintensifies the hierarchical character of the generaleducation system.

The Japanese recruiting and employment system rewardsthe individual's success in education. Japan is an educa-tional meritocracy. Since during the nine-year compul-sory education no distinction is made between differentinstitutions and curricula, and since access to the three-year secondary school is not restricted, educational op-portunities are largely independent of the pupil's socialorigin. A successful school career seems possible foreveryone. The secondary school/ university entrance ex-amination also aims to test the applicant's knowledgerather than his/her problem-solving ability. As a resultthere is excessive competition in education which starts atthe preschool age; schooling aims to prepare the pupilsfor the university entrance examination, with specialprivate schools providing complementary education.

This is accompanied by an extraordinary expansion ofeducation: About 95 % of compulsory school leaverspass on to the three-year secondary school, and about45 % of secondary school leavers enter one of Japan'sapproximately one thousand universities. This increas-ing enrollment in post-compulsory education adds to themarginal character of technical and vocational educationat school. The share of secondary school studentsattending vocationally oriented courses has fallen fromjust under 50 % to under 30 %, and the downward trendcontinues. Vocational secondary schools have become arefuge for compulsory school leavers who have not beensuccessful in the educational competition.

There is an informal hierarchy in the Japanese educationsystem. School leavers compete for admission to thenext stage of education. Admission to one of thereputed universities (and thus to top management jobs)is usually impossible if the applicant did not attend oneof the best secondary schools. Failure in the admissiontest can hardly be made up later on in working life.Thus, examinations passed at a certain point in one's life

decide on the distribution of vocational and social careeropportunities.

Hypothesis 6:The market model of technical and vocationaleducation relieves the public education system of theneed to meet vocational requirements.

The Japanese education system does not determine thepupils' vocational careers either by differentiating schoolcurricula or by awarding school leaving certificates.Schooling has a determining function only with regard tothe prospects for climbing up the career ladder, but notwith regard to the fields of activity which the schoolleavers will enter.

Since enterprises seem to consider a good general schooleducation the ideal basis for the acquisition of company-specific skills, the expansion of education has not trig-gered a qualification and absorption crisis. Despite theofficially announced sceptical attitude of entrepreneursvis-à-vis the all-too-high expectations of school leavers,the recruitment and selection mechanisms of Japanesestaff policy have in fact encouraged the expansion ofeducation. In contrast to the political response in othercountries, which quickly attempted to stop the ex-pansion, in Japan there seems to be less fear ofoverqualification or misqualification and also less beliefin a social need for underqualified workers.

Although learning at schools and universities is notrelated to working life, the results of such educationseem to meet the requirements of the employment sys-tem. Despite the virtual insignificance of technical andvocational education, the "secret curriculum" of theJapanese school system aims to prepare the pupils for asmooth transition to the world of work. It is not somuch the acquisition of knowledge as the training ofbehaviour and orientation patterns which make theschool such an important agent of socialization.

The school system makes great demands on the pupil'sdiscipline and punctuality as well as his willingness tofit in and subordinate himself. Preparation for second-ary school/ university entrance examinations starts earlyon and leads to permanent competition. Pupils becomeused to hard work in their early school days: Anaverage of 240 school days per year means only shortholidays as compared with western countries. A consid-erable part of classroom work is collective learning:Group work, pupil meetings, club activities, sportsevents, excursions, joint meals at school and cleaning ofthe school building are of great importance in everydayschool life. After a long school day from 8.30 in themorning or earlier to the afternoon, many pupils attendadditional private classes in order to improve their pros-pects of passing the entrance examination for the desiredsecondary school or university later on. By teaching itsstudents to sacrifice leisure time, to practise personalcommitment, to tolerate stress, and to be willing totackle problems, the school indirectly contributes con-siderably to prevocational education.

This priority of the socialization and integration func-tions over the qualification function can also be found inenterprise training and work patterns.

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Hypothesis 7:The market model of technical and vocationaleducation guarantees the workers' commitment andwillingness to perform not via their identification witha certain occupation (or qualification) but via theiridentification with a certain enterprise.

This process of integration starts with the initiationceremony and initial practical work experience. The aimis not to provide vocational qualification, but to admit thenewly recruited staff to the family-like enterprise commu-nity. In Japanese enterprises, there are no clearly definedjob profiles; the different teams have to deal with a broadrange of tasks. As work organization is based on teamstructure, it is not necessary to define individual tasks andcompetences. Vocational qualification is a by-product ofin-house work organization; it is the result above all ofthe mutual assistance within teams and of worker rotationinvolving numerous different jobs.Vocational training aims to provide general company-related knowledge rather than specialized job-relatedskills. Every staff member is expected to accept anyworkplace. By rotation, the worker is to gather a wealthof work experience so that he/she can do different jobs inthe enterprise. On the other hand, rotation increases theindividual's adaptation to team standards, thus encour-aging integration into a network of mutual commitmentsand intensifying in-house communication. Formal in-company training is only of minor importance; the staffpolicy of Japanese enterprises is aimed at producing"allround" workers, integrating them into the companycommunity and including them in a network of moralvalues and numerous personal relations. Thus it is the"secret curriculum" of Japanese corporate culture andwork organization which ensures the individual's motiva-tion and emotional integration, guarantees informal quali-fication on a mutual basis and activates the worker'sknowledge gained from experience.

Hypothesis 8:The market model of technical and vocationaleducation does not have the protective functionsof organized vocational training and work.

Protective functions are the development of collectivestandards for work, such as the occupation-related claimswith regard to the contents and form of working condi-tions, the definition of the reasonableness of individualtasks, and the setting of limits to the degree of enterpriseintegration. The Japanese worker's feeling of his/her ownvalue depends on the degree of his/her integration into theenterprise and the team. This means that workers in Japanare less able to evade extra working hours and jobs thantheir counterparts in western industrialized countries. Theabsence of vocational standards means that the workers donot have much opportunity to oppose an unreasonableworkload, and that they are interchangeable, and this all themore so as Japanese company unions do not provide an or-ganized counterforce against the employers.

On the other hand, guaranteed employment and theprinciple of seniority are protective mechanisms whichensure the worker's loyalty, conformity and flexibility.By dispensing with a formal, bureaucratic or occupation-oriented organization of work and technical and voca-tional education, the Japanese model seems to be superiorto the western bureaucratic model with regard to its self-control, flexibility and innovative capacity. At least fromour western point of view, these advantages are achievedlargely at the expense of the worker's social status. We

must bear in mind, however, that the different types oftraining and work organization are part of differentcultures, each with its special historical background andits own network of individual and social values. It wouldtherefore not be appropriate to try and compare thesystems by analyzing the advantages and disadvantagesand establishing the superiority or inferiority of one sys-tem vis-à-vis the other. We shall hardly find suitable so-lutions for improving our own national systems bylooking at other systems.

Now a final question: Do the ongoing and predictablechanges in systems of technical and vocational educationindicate that the systems are approaching the same kindof ideal model of training organization which would meetthe requirements of modern industry to a particularextent?

In all industrialized countries, the increasing applicationof new technologies has caused a change in the traditionalorganizational structures. In the Federal Republic ofGermany, doubts are increasingly being voiced about thetraditional sequence of technical and vocational educationpreceding qualified employment, reference being made tothe necessity of deregulation and more flexibility. InJapan, on the other hand, technical innovation is in-creasing the need for specially qualified workers who canhardly be recruited on the labour market, nor can they betrained by the enterprises themselves because they lackadequate training capacities. Practical work experienceor out-of-company vocational qualification are gainingincreasing importance on the labour market: They enablethe workers to enter the regular staff irrespective of theirgeneral school qualification.

However, it cannot be concluded from such differen-tiation of the Japanese labour market that new types ofvocational qualifications have been established. Weshould also be careful to interpret the attempts of westerncountries to achieve greater flexibility as a "Japanization"of the principles of work and training organization. Thedissolution and constitution processes which can beobserved in both systems are obviously taking place with-in the traditional institutions and strategies whose stabilityremains unaffected. Despite the large-scale technical, or-ganizational and socio-economic restructuring, the speci-fic principles of organization of work and training in dif-ferent industrialized countries have remained largely un-changed. This points to a functional equivalence of thedifferent organization of technical and vocational educa-tion and work rather than to a convergence as a result ofthe application of new technologies.

The Swedish Systemof Technical and Vocational Educationby Lennert NILSSONEvery system must be looked upon in its historical, socio-economic and political context. From that point I want topresent you a historical view of the motives behind themain features of the vocational school system in Sweden.

Sweden has a population of about 8.5 million people. InSweden, technical and vocational education is a part ofthe integrated secondary school. About 80 % to 90 % ofall youngsters in Sweden in the 16- to 19-year age groupare students in this school system. About 50 % belong tothe vocational line. Each age group in Sweden consists ofapproximately 100,000 people. This means that about

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100,000 are undergoing a two-year technical and voca-tional education.

Several hundred integrated schools exist, and there arefive different places for teacher training for technical andvocational education. The responsibilities, from a politi-cal point of view, are bound to the Ministry of Education.The National Board of Education has the administrativeresponsibility. The organizations on the labour marketare members of the different boards (rad) which have re-sponsibility for changes in curricula and the extent ofeducational possibilities. Financial support from the statehas increased to 90 %. The remaining 10 % is covered bylocal authorities.

Why do we have technical and vocational education inschool form?

7R#JHW#WKH#DQVZHU/#ZH#KDYH#WR#EH#FRQVFLRXV#RIWKH# WZR# PDLQ# WUDGLWLRQV# LQ# :HVWHUQ# (XURSH=2Q#WKH#RQH#KDQG#WKH#WKHRUHWLFDO#VFKRRO/#PDLQO\ERXQG#WR#WKH#FKXUFK#DQG#WKH#VWDWH>#DQG#RQ#WKHRWKHU# KDQG# WKH# FRQFUHWH# HGXFDWLRQ# ERXQG# WRWKH#JXLOG#V\VWHP#IRU#FUDIW0RULHQWHG#SURGXFWLRQ1The end of the guild system in Sweden in 1846 createddemands on the local authorities to organize a kind ofschool in order to educate young workers in vocationaltheory and general knowledge. The practical skills wereto be acquired through work with a craftsman or inindustry.

The system first followed the German model: eveningand Sunday schools, technical elementary schools, andtechnical institutes.

The industrialization begun in the 1870s led technical andvocational education to be viewed by the state as a tool toincrease the rate of industrialization.

Criticisms of technical and vocational education weremainly confined to the lack of specialized training avail-able for jobs on different levels in the factories during thenew industrialized epoch. No legal framework existedwhich might have imposed obligations upon employeesand employers through apprenticeship laws of the kindwhich existed in other Western European countries.

Demands of the crafts and industries during the firstdecade of this century were one reason behind the struc-tural reform of 1918. The other was the demands fromthe liberals and social democratic party. These two politi-cal groups formed the new government in 1918.

The structural reform of 1918 was a response to thedemands of industrialization, but these motives werecombined with a belief in the social reform of work andsociety as a result of the universal right to vote. Youngpeople from the working class were to be educated bothas skilled workers and as politically responsible men andwomen who, by exercising their right to vote, would helpto create a more humane society in which social anddemocratic justice would be prized.

The main points in the structural reform of 1918 were:

• The system of technical and vocational educationwould consist of three branches: education for craftsand industry, commercial education, and domestic edu-cation.

• Education for crafts and industry was to be organizedon three different levels:• the first level: apprenticeship schools,• the second level: vocational schools and• the third level: technical schools.

• The apprenticeship schools were looked upon as acompulsory school occupying eight to twelve hours aweek over two to three years, as a complement to thepractical component of the technical and vocationaleducation which had to be organized in workplaces.Local authorities were to decide whether this schoolshould be compulsory or not.

• The vocational schools were organized as voluntaryschools for those who wanted a further education invocational theory related to their own jobs. There wasa strong link between apprenticeship schools and voca-tional schools.

• The technical schools were organized without refer-ence to the first and second levels in the vocationalschool system. In their funding and their curriculum,these schools were structurally very similar to second-ary grammar schools. These schools were whollyfinanced by the state. The schools on the first and sec-ond level received equal financial support from thestate and from the local authority.

• The curriculum in the local community vocationalschools comprised vocational theory and generalknowledge. At that time it was felt that it would be tooexpensive to integrate practical skills into technical andvocational education in local community schools. Inthe light of government motion No. 96/1918, it is clearthat a very optimistic view was held of the possibilityof developing the country during this increasingly in-dustrialized epoch. At that time the country wasgoverned by a coalition of liberals and socialdemocrats.

The parliamentary speeches of the first social democraticminister of education and ecclesiastic affairs, VärnerRydén, show a very strong belief in the democraticevolution of work and social life as a result of the intro-duction of universal suffrage (i.e. the right of all men andwomen to vote).

An assumption underlying the structural reform of 1918was that there would be increasing job opportunities foryoung people in the so-called "productive sector" ofsociety.

From our vantage point approximately 70 years later it iseasy to conclude that the reform ought to have been intro-duced at least ten years earlier, given job demands atvarious levels in the factories at the beginning of the in-dustrialized epoch.

Economic depression and a high level of unemploymentamong young people in the early 1920s were strongfactors behind supplementary reform. The 1918 reformwas built upon the assumption that the practical com-ponent should be acquired in the workplace. In 1921,local community schools received state financial supporttowards teachers' salaries to provide the practical com-ponent of technical and vocational education. However, asystem cannot be developed solely through state supportof the teachers' salaries. After the economic crisis of1933, the social democrats and the farmers had the politi-cal power in Sweden. They formed the government andhad the political majority in parliament during the decade.

These two parties took an active part in decreasing youthunemployment. The main strategy was for the state togive financial support to increase the education of craftand industrial apprentices. Neither the employees nor theemployers accepted, although for different reasons, this

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kind of state intervention in the private sector of theeconomy.

The government's next step was to establish a new type ofvocational school for unemployed young people. Thistype of vocational school began in 1935. The purposewas to give young people a comprehensive technical andvocational education. This type of school was totally fi-nanced by the state. The schools were organized in thoseparts of the country where unemployment was higherthan average. In 1937, there were 11 schools in sevendifferent counties with a total of 1,200 students. The totalnumber of students in this type of school was approxi-mately equivalent to that of the local community voca-tional schools in toto. This situation showed that therewas a great demand for a reorganization of the vocationalschool system or at least a great demand for a new com-plementary reform.

In 1937, a parliamentary commission was appointed withthe task of formulating proposals for a new type of voca-tional school as a complement to the local community vo-cational schools. The committee (verkstadsskoleutred-ningen) presented its report in 1938. The main sug-gestions were:

• A new system of regional workshop schools should beorganized, based on the county councils. Theseschools were to recruit regionally and offer a com-prehensive technical and vocational education; at least24 workshop schools were to be created, one in everycounty. This new form of vocational school wouldalso be a means of helping the development of ruralareas.

• Every school should include about 150-200 studentsdivided into 10-15 different departments. The educa-tion should be mainly of two years' duration forindustry-oriented education and two to four years forcraft-oriented education, and result in a complete edu-cation for skilled workers.

• Training in practical skills was to be organized in cor-respondence with the main feature of a workshop. Thetraining provided was to focus on productive work inorder to maintain the features of productive life andcreate craftsmanship in the different fields of work.Productive work was also looked upon as a means ofmaintaining qualifications in relation to the demands ofthe labour market.

In order to create practical skills closely related to thedemands of industrialized working life, the practicalskills were to focus to a greater extent on mechanicalskills. Previously manual skills had been predominant.

• The state was to provide financial support to cover thefull costs of teachers' and headmasters' salaries and90 % of the costs for equipment and other facilities.Besides, the state was to provide students with a main-tenance grant during the period of their education.

In the late 1930s, it was obvious from the state that thevocational school system should be developed in linewith structural changes in work and not according tocycles of prosperity and depression. The main assump-tion was that if systems of technical and vocational edu-cation were not organized in this way, there would be alack of skilled workers in times of prosperity. The statehad to intervene in order to create, through technical andvocational education, the asset which skilled workers rep-resented. This was looked upon as a national questionand not just as a matter of social equity. One of the duties

of the state, especially as far as the social democraticparty was concerned, was to reduce unemployment andwork towards full employment. This political stance tookroot during the 1930s and had a very deep impact on thedevelopment of the vocational school system after theSecond World War.

The workshop schools were the backbone of the voca-tional school system for 30 years, especially during the1950s. The development of the practical component oftechnical and vocational education in local communityvocational schools was modelled on the regional work-shop schools. Thirty years after the 1941 supplementaryreform, this branch of the vocational school system wasreplaced by the upper secondary comprehensive school(1971).

As a result of the agreement drawn up in 1938 (Salt-sjöbadsavtalen) between the Swedish Employers' Con-federation (Svenska Arbetsgivarföreningen) and theSwedish Confederation of Trade Unions (Landsorgani-sationen i Sverige), the two main organizations in thelabour market also prepared a joint official report onmutual cooperation aimed at increasing the education ofapprentices over and above their existing collectiveagreements in the labour market in 1944.

In the early 1930s, employers and employees had notplayed an active part in increasing the provision of techni-cal and vocational education. Now they found that it wasin both their interests to work together to create and toassume responsibility for the direction of the system fortechnical and vocational education. In 1942 they hadtogether been active in lobbying the government to put toparliament the question of setting up a National Board forthe vocational school system. The coalition governmentagreed and parliament voted to create this type of author-ity for the vocational school system. In this authority,representatives of the employers and the employees werein a majority. The National Board for the vocationalschool system existed for 20 years, from 1944 to 1964.

Social motives are very evident in the complementaryreforms of 1921 and of 1941. During the 1930s theMinistry for Social Affairs took the initiative in creatingnew forms of technical and vocational education forunemployed young people.

The supplementary reform of 1941 can be looked upon asa result of a new combination of social politics and labourmarket politics.

Underlying the supplementary reform of 1941 was a com-bination of social motives and efforts by the state and theorganizations in the labour market to create technical andvocational education tailored to the industrialized labourmarket.

The increasing rate of industrialization and economicgrowth especially during the 1960s created new man-power demands, but also possibilities for a redefinition ofthe vocational school system in a way which responded todemands of greater equality.

In 1968, 50 years after the first structural reform, a newreform was decided upon by the government:• The external structure of secondary schools was to be

reorganized. The gymnasium, the continuation schooland the vocational school were to be brought togetherin a new comprehensive school. The education for-merly provided by the vocational school system was tobe organized into 16 different subject areas.

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• Technical and vocational education was to be organ-ized in broad initial blocks, in which students wouldreceive an allround education in specific groups ofsubjects during their first year. These "branches", orgroupings of subjects, were linked to clusters of speci-fic vocations, one of which students chose as the focusof their second-year studies. All the various forms ofeducation organized in this way should have a durationof two years.

• During the first year, practical skills and vocationaltheory should occupy approximately two-thirds of thetotal time. About ten hours should be devoted asfollows: To the Swedish language (four hours perweek), athletics (two hours per week) and the structureof the labour market (one hour per week); besides thesecompulsory subjects, students were to choose at leastthree hours per week in one general subject such asmathematics, English or drawing. In addition, studentscould choose optional subjects, mainly during the sec-ond school year.

• Technical and vocational education should expand. In1970, 35 % of 16-year-olds should have the oppor-tunity of following a vocational orientation, 30 % thegymnasium orientation and 20 % a continuation schoolorientation.

• State financial support should be independent of thedifferent orientations in the new comprehensive school.The full costs of teachers' and headmasters' salariesshould be paid by the state. In fact, the state took re-sponsibility for about 95 % of the total costs of theschool system at the secondary level.

The idea of a structure of technical and vocational educa-tion which offered an initial subject area orientation,followed by successive specialization towards a morespecific occupation, was not an idea of the 1960s. Thisframework for the development of the vocational schoolsystem in Sweden was first discussed in 1939 by a com-mittee set up in 1936 to propose measures to avoidharmful social consequences of industrial rationalization.

It was another 25 years before "a new competence forskilled workers in industrialized society" resulted in thestructural reform of technical and vocational education.The main theses were that training in manual skills shoulddecrease while skills relevant to the mechanization ofproduction should increase. There should also be anattempt to meet new demands arising from an industri-alized mode of work organization. The mode of workand the tasks should be redefined as a result of new tech-niques and new forms of work organization. All thesethings indicated very great quantitative and qualitativechanges in manpower demands.

The industrialized form of work also made it possible toreduce the working hours and the duration of technicaland vocational education. This situation enabled reformsto be made in the pursuit of equality between studentswho had earlier had a theoretically oriented education,and those who had had a practically oriented one.

During the 1960s, the opportunity of introducing reformswhich would achieve greater quality was grasped. In1968, the government and the parliament gave theirconsent to the reforms proposed by the Vocational SchoolCommittee. In 1971, the new comprehensive schoolbegan, and within it a redefined technical and vocationaleducation.

The 1968 structural reform of technical and vocationaleducation can be seen as a combination of adjustment to

the second epoch of industrialization, and of response to asocial demand to create equality between different typesof technical and vocational education as well as betweenthe vocational school system and the school system foracademic education.

The Cooperative Model of Technical andVocational Educationin the German Democratic Republicby Michael GUDERIn connection with scientific and technical as well as theeconomic and social developments, the education andqualification of skilled workers is gaining significance.Above all, the impact of the so-called key technologieshas extremely enhanced the scientific and practical workdone to design skilled worker qualifications. Internation-al comparisons have shown that the education systems ofdifferent countries respond to comparable structural de-velopments in technology and industry with quite differ-ent educational concepts, both on the whole and in detail.This has something to do with educational tradition, butalso with the specific social and economic situation. Ithas been confirmed again and again that the educationalconcepts of one country cannot be transferred to anothercountry unchanged. This is why an exchange of ex-perience and a comparison of solutions are so very impor-tant, a task which Unesco has specifically undertaken toperform. The following paper describes the GermanDemocratic Republic's approach to technical and voca-tional education.

1 General survey

The German Democratic Republic has a total populationof 16.7 million. 8.6 million persons are gainfully em-ployed, that is to say more than 97 % of all employablemen and women. In 1988 the qualification structure wasas follows:• 21.6 % cadres from higher education institutions and

technical colleges;• 4.0 % master craftsmen;• 60.7 % skilled workers;• 13.7 % semiskilled workers.The various routes of technical and vocational educationbuild on the 10-year general polytechnical school, whichprovides both general and polytechnical education and isnot yet differentiated by future occupations. After com-pletion of this school, skilled worker education is possiblein• 238 occupations after grade 10; these occupations

include 98 basic occupations (broad-profile occu-pations) with several specializations (a total of 392);

• 47 rare crafts;• 62 occupations for 8th-grade leavers of the general

polytechnical school.Lower-achieving adolescents leaving general polytech-nical school before grade 8, in addition, have an oppor-tunity to undergo education in sections of skilled occu-pations.

Higher education entrance qualifications can also be ob-tained by several routes including the extended secondaryschool, where classes provide vocational education com-bined with higher education entrance qualifications in 82skilled occupations, as well as a preliminary course at ahigher education institution following the completion of

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skilled worker education and a period of gainful employ-ment.

In general, the education system is designed according tothe principle of horizontal articulation; there are no deadalleys. Every adolescent at any level of education mayobtain an entrance qualification for an institution ofhigher education. A prerequisite is that he or shepossesses the required physical and psychological quali-ties and has performed well at the preceding educationallevel. However, the number of persons trained in thevarious occupations and occupational groups is pro-portional to the actual needs of the economy.

2 Vocational education closely linkedwith the country's economy

Technical and vocational education in the GermanDemocratic Republic comprises vocational education ofapprentices and vocational and continuing education ofskilled workers and master craftsmen. From the verystart, it has been an integral part of the integrated socialisteducation system and has, at the same time, been closelyconnected with the reproduction process in enterprises,industrial combines (associations uniting several nation-ally owned enterprises in a particular industry), industrialsectors and the overall economy. Its structure and systemacknowledges that technical and vocational educationgreatly contributes to the reproduction of the capacity forwork of society and enterprises; this contribution canmost effectively be made in close connection withindustry. What now characterizes this connection?

• The most important type of vocational education insti-tution is the so-called enterprise vocational school(Betriebsberufsschule). Enterprise vocational schoolswere gradually established from 1948 onwards, as na-tionally owned enterprises developed on the territory ofthe later German Democratic Republic. They are gov-ernment education institutions which are, at the sametime, part of a enterprise. They combine theoretical in-struction and practical training in training workshops,laboratories, specialized training workshops or directlyin the enterprise's production section. There are 330enterprise vocational schools.

Since the late 1960s, enterprise schools (Betriebs-schulen) have been developing on the basis of theenterprise vocational schools in major enterprises (atotal of 380). These schools, as a rule, provide appren-tice training, skilled worker and master craftsman vo-cational and continuing education, polytechnical edu-cation for general and polytechnical school studentsand, in many cases, they also have a hostel for appren-tices. Two thirds of all apprentices are trained in enter-prise vocational schools and enterprise schools.

A second type of institution in technical and vocationaleducation is the municipal vocational school (Kommu-nale Berufsschule, 245). Municipal vocational schoolsare government institutions of education which aresubject to the local authorities (county councils). Theyprovide the apprentices of enterprises that have no vo-cational school of their own with a theoretical educa-tion. Most apprentices come from small industrialenterprises, from the commercial and service sectors ofthe economy, and from the private and cooperativecrafts.

• Vocational education of apprentices is, in principle,based on a training contract concluded between theadolescent and a enterprise. Thus, the apprentice is a

member of the enterprise with all rights andobligations. The training contract guarantees the ap-prentice a job in the enterprise on completion of train-ing.

• The enterprises are responsible for training adult work-ers to become skilled workers and master craftsmen aswell as for their continuing technical and vocationaleducation. For this purpose there are not only theenterprise schools but, in many enterprises, alsoacademies of further technical and vocational educa-tion (Betriebsakademien, 715).

• The teachers and heads of vocational education andadult vocational education are members of the enter-prise. They are thus closely connected with the pro-duction process, they are acquainted with the occu-pational requirements to be met by skilled workers, andthey enjoy extensive opportunities for continuing edu-cation in the enterprise themselves. The heads of theeducation institutions report directly to the director ofthe enterprise as regards their education and trainingwork.

• Industrial combines and enterprises plan the requiredoccupational and qualification structure and derivefrom it the requirements to be met by technical and vo-cational education. Programmes of technical and voca-tional education including continuing education arethus oriented to the specific needs resulting from scien-tific and technical as well as economic and structuraldevelopments.

• Industrial combines and enterprises are essentially re-sponsible for developing the skilled worker occu-pations and determining curricula for vocational educa-tion. With regard to the majority of skilled occupations(170), the combines are fully responsible for the estab-lishment and activities of special vocational commis-sions.

• Industrial combines and enterprises are responsible forthe material and technical equipment of enterprise vo-cational schools and enterprise schools as well as ofacademies of further technical and vocational educa-tion. This provision ensures that the devices, machinesand facilities required for specific occupations areavailable for vocational and continuing education, forexample in informatics.

• As a rule, the enterprises bear the costs of practical vo-cational training as well as of investments in vocationaleducation and adult education institutions. This isabout 70 % of the total expenditure on technical andvocational education. The cost of providing teachersfor theory instruction and tutors in hostels for appren-tices, including also the cost of municipal vocationalschools, are borne by the government.

3 Management of technical and vocationaleducation

Managing technical and vocational education is designedas a process of cooperating and sharing responsibility. Inaccordance with the constitutional foundations of theGerman Democratic Republic, it is supervised based oneconomic branches as well as on geographical areas. Thecoordinating organ is the State Secretariat for VocationalEducation. The State Secretariat is responsible, on behalfof the Council of Ministers of the German DemocraticRepublic, for implementing the government's educationpolicy and for coordinating and supervising all necessarymeasures. This is done in close cooperation with the

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ministers, the heads of other central government organsand the chairmen of the district councils. Tasks in techni-cal and vocational education performed under govern-mental, branch and geographical supervision are thusimplemented in coordination. The State Secretariat is re-sponsible, among others, for• _setting up the basic requirements for the development

of skilled occupations, for drawing up governmentalcurricula and for designing educational programmes;

• developing the classification of skilled occupations andof the various specializations for master craftsman edu-cation;

• supervising the drawing up and issuing of govern-mental curricula;

• drawing up, enforcing and supervising the provisionsgoverning skilled worker examinations;

• drawing up and issuing the programmes for the basiceducation of master craftsmen;

• participation in the planning of the integration ofschool-leavers into technical and vocational education;

• supervising and controlling, on behalf of the govern-ment, the results of technical and vocational education,and not least,

• guaranteeing the scientific lead for the further devel-opment of vocational education.

It is the task of the various ministries to implement, intheir sphere of responsibility, the government's educa-tional policy. They ensure the planning of technical andvocational education in the corresponding branch ofindustry and the planning for the next generation ofskilled workers. They are responsible for creating allnecessary education capacities in the industrial combinesand enterprises within their sphere of responsibility, andfor guiding and supervising industrial combines as well asthe competent organs of the district councils in the imple-mentation of governmental curricula. For the purposes ofperforming their technical and vocational education tasks,the ministries have central units for technical and voca-tional education.

The industrial combines and enterprises are in charge ofthe planning and implementation of all personnel,material and financial prerequisites for vocational andcontinuing education. They manage and plan this processin agreement with the needs of the territory, thus creatingall the prerequisites for the superior quality of the educa-tion and training work on the basis of legal provisions,governmental curricula and continuing education pro-grammes. For managing these processes, industrial com-bines and enterprises have departments for education andmanpower development. They have close workingrelations with the directors of institutions of technical andvocational education.

The local people's representations (county and districtcouncils) are responsible for the implementation of thegovernment's policy in technical and vocational educationin their territory. They have to provide guidance, ensurecoordination and exercise control over all enterprises andinstitutions of technical and vocational education withintheir territory. For this purpose, the local councils havedivisions for technical and vocational education and voca-tional guidance. In addition, the local councils are re-sponsible for guiding and controlling local institutionsand vocational guidance centres.

4 Curriculum development and skilled workereducation under the influence of moderntechnologies

Technical and vocational education of apprentices atenterprise vocational schools, enterprise schools andmunicipal vocational schools is, in principle, based ongovernmental curricula, which have been confirmed bythe ministers in charge and declared binding by the StateSecretary for Vocational Education. Before such a curric-ulum is drawn up, an occupation and qualification profilehas to be prepared. This profile is the result of a thoroughanalysis of the development of the skilled occupations,and in particular of an analysis of changed workingmedia, working objects, technologies, division of labourin the enterprises, etc.

Responsibility for preparing the occupation and quali-fication profiles and the curricula lies with the special vo-cational commissions. These commissions, which reportto the industrial combines and other institutions, arehonorary bodies composed of experts in technical and vo-cational education, engineers, occupational scientists, in-dustrial medicine specialists, and other experts. They aresupported by the scientific institutions of technical andvocational education. In addition, representatives of thetrade unions contribute substantially to the preparation ofthese documents. The adoption of each individual curric-ulum requires their approval. All general questions ofcurriculum development, including the profiles of thevarious skilled occupations, are coordinated by the StateSecretariat for Vocational Education in close cooperationwith the central units for technical and vocational educa-tion at the competent ministries. This coordination pro-cess prevents the development of occupations whichwould be of interest only for one combine.

Since 1986 all vocational education curricula are beingrevised. The process will be completed by 1990. SinceSeptember 1988, vocational education for more than90 % of apprentices follows the new documents, on thebasis of the following scientific results and experience:• The whole range of skilled worker occupations existing

in the German Democratic Republic, which includeboth broad-profile occupations and highly specializedoccupations, has proved very stable. Above all themodel of basic occupations has turned out to be flexi-ble enough to include new occupational requirementsresulting from the modern technologies. As a rule, re-quirements resulting from new technologies can be in-tegrated into existing occupational profiles with rela-tive ease. The result is usually a close combination oftraditional and modern occupational contents. Thisapplies in particular to the requirements of modern in-formation technologies. The integration of newcontents into existing occupations prevails over the es-tablishment of entirely new occupations.

• In principle, it must be assumed that conventional andmodern technologies will coexist for a long time tocome. Thus, it is understood that, up to the year 2000,the majority of skilled workers in the metalworkingindustry will work at traditional machine tools. Atpresent, the share of skilled workers operating com-puter-controlled equipment is between 7 % and 10 %of the occupations concerned.

• Sound occupational knowledge and skills are equallyimportant for work involving modern technologies.Yet, basic occupational skills as well as the mastery ofworking media and working objects remain a decisive

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prerequisite for handling the new technologies. Thishas been proved by the experience gained by skilledworkers handling personal computers, CNC tech-nology, or computer-controlled chemical systems.Therefore, technical and vocational education will haveto combine a sound basic education with special train-ing for the future job. Both components togetherensure occupational flexibility. Flexibility, however,will increasingly require the inclusion of so-called keyqualifications, such as the ability to cooperate,sensitivity to technological development, or reliability.These characteristics can be developed only in closecombination with occupational skills.

• Of increasing significance for mastering one's occu-pation is continuing education, not only in one's ownoccupation, but to some extent also in unrelated fields.An example illustrating this is the combination ofmechanics and electronics in a large number of metal-working occupations and also the advance of informa-tion science. We are therefore of the opinion that theskilled occupation and thus also the relevant curricu-lum must be planned as a unit of initial and continuingtechnical and vocational education. This is in keepingwith the differentiated educational requirements ofindustry and provides an opportunity for achievingflexibility in technical and vocational education.

The strategy for technical and vocational education out-lined above is put into practice via a correspondingdidactic and methodical concept. The basic idea is tohave effective processes of education and practice, basedon learning tasks and jobs. The purpose is to arrive at avariable combination of different training methods intheoretical and practical education, with the aim ofenabling the apprentice to carry out his or her occu-pational work independently and creatively. The organ-izational forms of practical training include trainingworkshops, the training unit, the apprentice unit, and alsotraining in working teams.

5 Teacher education

Theory teachers are educated at universities in elevendisciplines. Admission to studies requires university en-trance qualifications plus the completion of skilled work-er vocational education in the corresponding studydiscipline. Preference is given to candidates who haveattended classes providing vocational education combinedwith higher education entrance qualifications. Directstudies extend over four and a half years. The quali-fication can, however, also be acquired via distancestudies. In addition, there are postgraduate studies intheory of technical and vocational education for engineersand economists.

Teachers for practical instruction are educated at engi-neering and technical colleges, after completing skilledworker vocational education and practical work, in directstudies lasting three years or distance studies lasting fiveyears. Education is provided in 22 disciplines. Practicaltraining, however, is also provided by master craftsmenor engineers or by other experienced staff who may haveacquired their teaching qualification via distance studies.

Continuing education of theory and practice teachersincludes their day-to-day work, special training periods inthe enterprises, various forms of the work of methodologycommissions, and cyclical continuing education. Thelatter is compulsory and involves participation in severalspecial courses within a period of five years.

6 Planning for the next generation of skilledworkers and vocational counselling

The dynamic development of the economy leads tochanges in the requirements to be met by occupationaland qualification structures in the industrial combines andenterprises. Planning, based on legislation, is made for afive-year period; details are laid down annually. Theplanning process is carried out in close consultation be-tween the central level and the industrial combines, enter-prises and territories. Requirements made by the govern-mental planning commission regarding the distribution ofschool leavers among educational routes, occupations andindustrial sectors are binding for the ministries and theirrespective industrial combines and enterprises. The latter,in turn, coordinate their demand with the territorialorgans, the result being the basis for the planning ofadmissions to enterprises.

The need for the greatest possible precision in planningfar into the 1990s is emphasized by demographic factors.Declining numbers of pupils during the 1980s, a higherproportion of working persons close to retirement age, butalso social measures and other factors are bringing aboutan absolute limitation of the work potential which willcontinue until after the year 2000. In 1985, only threequarters of the number of school leavers of 1980 wereavailable. In 1990, there will only be half the number of1980. This circumstance compels us to make evengreater efforts to ensure adequate numbers of youngworkers.

The German Democratic Republic has a network of 220vocational counselling centres for recruiting skilledyoung workers. In addition, there are specialized trainingworkshops in enterprises and information centres athigher education institutions and technical colleges. Co-operation among all participating institutions is based ona statutory ordinance. Major responsibility is also borneby the enterprises, which provide polytechnical educationand supervise working groups, etc.

Development of a child's interest in occupational workbegins early on; individual measures are available even atkindergarten age. Special events are organized in grade 6of the general and polytechnical school for students andparents and continued up to the time when an occu-pational choice is made in grade 9. The large number offirst-time applicants confirms the success of thesemeasures. Of course, this does not mean that the GermanDemocratic Republic has solved the well-known pro-blems involved in traditional occupational selectionbehaviour; girls are still reluctant to choose technicaleducation while other occupations are demanded inexcess. Modifying occupational selection patterns can-not, however, be a task for vocational counselling alone,but requires an education effort on the part of societywhich begins in the family.

Brazil: The Entity Called SENAIby Guimarâes Roberto BOCLINThe National Industrial Apprenticeship Service, SENAI,was set up in 1942, by decree-law No. 4048/42, for thepurpose of providing basic, advanced and skills trainingof the work force for the secondary economic sector.That work force, in full course of expansion, was notbeing adequately served, either quantitatively or quali-tatively, by the official or private academies that were re-

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sponsible in those days for what was then referred to asindustrial teaching.

SENAI, organized, maintained and operated by the indus-trial sector, is an entity subject to private law, adminis-tered by normative and administrative bodies at nationaland regional levels.

SENAI's normative bodies are as follows:

• The National Council, with jurisdiction throughout thewhole of Brazil, consisting of the President of the Na-tional Confederation of Industry, who is ex-officiohead of the body, and of the Presidents of the RegionalCouncils, representing the economic categories of theindustrial sectors, the Director-General of the NationalDepartment, representatives of the economic categoriesof transportation, communications and the fish pro-cessing industry, and the representatives of theMinistry of Education and the Ministry of Labour.

• The Regional Councils, with jurisdiction over the cor-responding national entities, comprising the followingmembers: the President of the respective Federation ofIndustries, who is ex-officio head of the body, theDirector of the Regional Department, representativesof the economic categories of the industrial sector, rep-resentatives of the economic categories of trans-portation, communications and the fish processingindustry, and representatives of the Ministry of Labourand the Ministry of Education.

The National Department and the Regional Departmentsare the respective administrative and the executivebodies.

The National Department is in charge of essentiallynormative, technical assistance and coordinating func-tions, whereas the Regional Departments look after theoperation of the vocational training units and participationwith the training services of the various enterprises.

The industrial, transportation, communications and fishprocessing industries make contributions for the upkeepof SENAI amounting to 1 % of their respective payrolls,with enterprises having over 500 workers required to payan additional levy of 0.2 % of their payroll.

A further statutory responsibility of the enterprises is toemploy and enroll in SENAI a number of 14- to 18-yearold apprentices equivalent to at least 5 % and at most15 % of the workers whose jobs call for skills training.Up to the completion of the first half of the maximumperiod stipulated for learning the respective trade, the ap-prentices earn half the national base wage. In the secondhalf they receive two thirds of the aforesaid base wage.

In addition to paying the compulsory contributions setby law for the upkeep of SENAI, the entrepreneurialsector, looking on the institution as an agency for basicand advanced training of its labour, cooperates withSENAI by participating in the technical advisory boardsof the various schools, appoints experts for developingthe courses and programmes, facilitates job marketsurveys and studies, makes technicians available forgiving courses, enrolls youth or adult apprentices in thevarious courses, donates sundry equipment and didacticmaterials, evaluates the efficiency of the courses,provides the schools with industrial assignments forexecution by the student body, provides guest studyfacilities for students and for updating of faculty mem-bers' know-how, and cooperates through financialbacking to the construction and establishment of schoolsand training centres. The aforesaid cooperation by the

Brazilian entrepreneurial sector is undoubtedly apositive proof that SENAI is a sui generis entity, havingthe characteristics of a vocational training agency, butaccepted and viewed by the enterprises as their all-encompassing, fully organized and outstanding cooper-ative skills training centre.

At the present time SENAI has 24 Regional Departments,embodying

• 178 vocational training centres (168 in SENAI itselfand 10 operated in cooperation with enterprises),

• 17 technical academies,

• 4 technological centres,

• 266 mobile units (262 within SENAI itself and 4 run incooperation with enterprises),

• 64 general training centres (54 within SENAI and 10run in cooperation with enterprises),

• 8 training agencies,

• 17 operational training units (seven in SENAI and 10in cooperation with enterprises), and

• 3 personnel development centres.

At every one of the entity's vocational training centres, aswell as in the units set up within enterprises themselves,SENAI's activities have economic and social impact andscope, fostering increases in output, betterment of produc-tivity and social upgrading through vocational promotionof its students.

1 SENAI's modalities of action

SENAI carries on programmes and activities covering allforms of training for jobs:

• Vocational apprenticeship.

A process of systematic vocational training of skilledworkers, by means of theoretical and practical pro-grammes at a level of one or more of the last fourseries of primary schooling, and intended exclusivelyfor the 14- to 18-year age group.

• Vocational qualification training.

A process of systematic vocational training, which mayor may not entail specific systems, being of variableduration dependent on the type of trade involved, andintended for preparing skilled or semiskilled workers.

• The degree of qualification depends directly on the im-mediate work force requirements.

Qualification may be provided at first or second gradelevels, in accordance with the level of schooling calledfor and the vocational profile aimed at. It is intendedfor students aged fourteen and over, and may or maynot include a component of general education.

• Vocational qualification.

A process of vocational training provided at the secondgrade level, whose programmes entail general educa-tion and special training components, for developmentof technicians (with full vocational qualifications), andassistant technicians (with partial vocational quali-fication).

• Full vocational qualifications activities.

Intended for preparing second-level technicians.

• Partial qualification activities.

For training auxiliary technicians.

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• Training of technologists.

• A process of vocational training carried on at a thirdlevel, with programmes covering components of bothgeneral education and special training.

• Vocational training.

A process aimed at coping with immediate problems ofenterprises, connected with productivity. It is intendedfor workers of the various vocational categories, andfor persons who do not as yet have the qualificationsrequired to join the work force. Training involves alimited number of operations and takes a relativelyshort time.

• Vocational upgrading.

A process aimed at expanding the knowledge andimproving the skills of a worker in a trade, for the per-formance of his specific activities. It expands theabilities of the worker in the typical activities of hisfield of endeavour, not inducing a shift in the field ofwork, but making it possible to perform existing func-tions more effectively.

• Vocational specialization.

This process enables a worker in a particular trade toacquire in-depth knowledge in a particular part of therange of activities involved in his occupation. It makesit possible for the worker to engage in other activitiesas well, since the development in depth generates newareas of activity leading to new occupations.

• Vocational refresher training.

A process largely resembling the upgrading activities.The methodology and techniques of operation are thesame. But refresher training means acquiring newknowledge and skills relating to the same area ofactivity of a particular occupation, as a consequence ofthe progress in technology.

2 Unemployment, underemployment and theinformal sector

It must be admitted that the informal sector, in terms ofeconomic practices, provides a creative solution, but oneof an emergency nature, to untrammelled demobilizationof the work force in the absence of an official unemploy-ment compensation programme.

It is, however, to be hoped that recuperation of economicactivity will bring a shift in the volume of these practices,which are far from meeting the needs of the client sectorsinvolved. The informal sector ought, indeed, to be con-fined to serving as a source of supplementary income forthe more needy families.

Such a programme, however, as must be clearly under-stood, calls for a specialized agency to give continuity toits action even within the limitations we have sketchedout. Though necessary, it involves dealing with tech-niques that have to do with autonomous work and themastery of how to market such services, plus the market-ing and technology of handicrafts level production, whichare fields outside the purview of SENAI.

Our entity, though dealing with the lower income bracket,provides training oriented in terms of the requirements ofthe formal sector, enhancing in its graduates the conceptsof punctuality, disciplined teamwork, saving out ofwages, deployment of techniques and use of technology-and capital-intensive equipment.

3 SENAI's involvement with automationtechnologies

Selection of labour-saving automation technologies is aproblematic process. On the one hand, there are thosepointing out the destructive effects of modernization, andthe bogies of unemployment and concentration ofincome. From a different angle, voices are heard warningof the possibility of obsolescence or loss of competitive-ness where traditional processes are still being used.Thus even in the "heartland" nations that generate themost advanced scientific knowledge, there has been somehesitation in applying labour-saving technologies, eventhough such methods admittedly herald social benefits inthe long run. The dilemma involved is typified by exam-ples of the failure of policies aimed at containment oftechnological modernization that ended up turning intothe object of interminable pointless controversies ofintellectuals and politicians.This ambiguity has a direct impact on vocational trainingactivities, since we cannot forswear our objectives by pro-viding instruction based on prevalent realities of the fieldwe seek to serve, and affording services to the socialsectors linked with both options referred to, at one and thesame time. The first of these two options is specificallythe purview of the enterprises using such techniques. Inthe view of the latter, adoption of a particular process ofproduction must necessarily be in accordance with themechanisms and competitive demands of the marketitself, leaving aside emotional and ideological attitudes.In this environment, vocational training plays the role ofan instrument for the spread of the technologies selected,that of a bureau for the transfer of innovative know-how.The latter stance does not, however, indicate that the in-stitution is exempt from the effects of the current unem-ployment crisis, if for no other reason than becausehaving our graduates find their niche in the job marketmeans that the economic structure must produce paralleljob opportunities. Vocational training involves initiationinto a trade, occupational refresher training, upgradingand skills training, couched, in all cases, in terms of thedemand-in-being. Any other approach would end upturning into mere flights of fancy, simulation or emptyrhetoric.SENAI does, indeed, feel the effects of absence of anymore effective national employment policy capable ofharmonizing the pressures of the impact from investmentsby the public sector in industrial modernization, on theone hand, and the supply of labour on the other.A candid dialogue between the state and society at large,such as called for by the present situation in Brazil, wouldbe required for querying projects and devising com-pensatory mechanisms so as to achieve compatibility be-tween public and private investments and the need forproviding jobs as a result of the demands stemming frompopulation growth.

4 Supervisory and managerial staffs for industry

One of the more complex priorities facing SENAI isundoubtedly the training of supervisory and managerialpersonnel to serve the future requirements of industry.Though there are many points at which these functionsintersect one another, such as, for instance, in relation tothe efficient use of time, human resources, technologyand capital as factors of production, there is considerablediversity as regards the inherent nature of the way admin-istrative facts are dealt with at the level of organizational

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culture, and the other requirements involved in dealingwith highly subjective matters.In appearance there has been no change from what pre-vailed previously; yet the nature of the supervisory postswill have to be modified in terms of the expectations ofmutual relationships within an equalitarian society,valorizing even more the privatization of the economy,democratization of decisions, collective bargaining andheightened competitiveness in the market. All thesefactors will doubtlessly call for adaptations in the patternand dynamics of entrepreneurial management.In the meantime, Brazilian society, paced by the enterprisesand their executives, is moving more and more into theinformatics age, in tune with the worldwide trend. Main-frames, medium-, mini- and micro-computers arespreading at a fast pace, opening new portals to achieve-ment, side by side with increasing knowledge and training.The respective facilities are growing in number day by day:With thousands of computers in daily use; a tremendousvariety of peripherals; a wide range of experience;curtailment of costs; more powerful magnetic andsemiconductor memories; teleprocessing facilities;cheapening of data communication; in brief, a state of theart in processing at levels of hardware, applications, andsoftware that is tantamount to a conspiracy against the tra-ditional schemes of training, threatened as they are withanachronism in the light of the demands created by thedynamics, diversification and speed of the solutionsdemanded by management.To cut a long story short, vocational training must matchthe requirements of a new day and age.

5 Lines of action of SENAI

The vocational training activities developed by SENAIare carried on at vocational training centres or in enter-prises, in accordance with a cooperative model in allcases. In both situations the role of the enterprise is of theutmost importance, since SENAI is responsible, in linewith its rules of action, for preparing the work force forthe job market.

6 Training of workers at vocationalinstruction centres

After completion of studies on labour requirements for thevarious occupations comprising the job market, a decisionis made regarding the occupations that are to be taught atthe centres. The respective numbers involved are taken asa basis for sizing the physical capacity to be installed, withdue regard at the same time for the resources that will beavailable, particularly financial ones.

Each trade to be taught is matched by a job analysiscarried out in the enterprises involved, so as to determinethe required profile of performance of students, coveringmastery of the skills entailed in doing the basic tasks ofthe trade, and naturally including mastery of themachinery, tools, equipment, raw materials, technologyand basic principles of industrial hygiene and safety.

Job analysis is conceived as a process whereby a particu-lar occupation is broken down into the whole of thefactors comprising it. The purpose is• to highlight the tasks and operations pertaining to a

particular job;• to identify the occupation levels existing in the job

market;• to describe the content of each job;

• to identify the processes and technical standards of thetrade, as well as pertinent vocational, social and legalcharacteristics involved therein;

• to identify the group of psycho-physical characteristicsthe occupation demands on the part of the individualfor its performance;

• to indicate the technical and scientific subjectsinvolved in learning about and mastering the job.

The method adopted in giving the courses is that of indi-vidual instruction that started to be tried out in 1966 inevening courses, facing the whole of the difficulties thatarise in a situation of change when passing from a tradi-tional method to an active one, involving student-centredapproaches, entailing variable durations of courses, con-stant acquisition of knowledge, and with the instructors asfacilitators of the learning process, the students in anactive role and attendance being provided on an individ-ual basis.

The evening courses, organized along the lines of thosefor teaching young apprentices, were aimed at adults andprovided first of all, in alternate and simultaneous pro-gramming, the theoretical knowledge called for in doingthe work in each skilled occupation, and then passing onto actual performance of the physical work involved.

The evening courses lasted three years, broken down intosix periods of five months each, called "terms", in whichtheoretical instruction was alternated with shop practice.

Promotion from each "term" to the next occurred at five-monthly intervals, based on a demonstration of the properabsorption of theoretical and practical knowledge thatwas appraised on the basis of a minimum weighted rating.The students not getting a passing grade were required torepeat the term which thus extended the time needed forcompleting the course. For this and other reasons the rateof drop-outs from the evening courses was quite high, andit was observed that the training centres did not suitablymeet the requirements of labour training called for by theenterprises.

The teaching method was the traditional one, involvingthe setting up of heterogeneous groups in terms of levelsof competence on starting, and students could begin andcomplete the course at individual periods. Yet the fol-lowing observations were recorded: The desiredobjectives were not always attained; there were manydrop-outs caused by the flagging of interest on the part ofthose who already knew more than the others on the onehand, and those unable to keep up with the group on theother; the hard-and-fast duration of the courses made noallowance for individual differences; and the intendedhomogeneity of each group was not attained.

New approaches were tried and considered valid, and theindividualized instruction methodology was adopted littleby little in all courses given.

The individualized instruction methodology largely usedin the entire SENAI system fosters more efficient andmore all-encompassing learning, since it induces the stu-dent to play an active role in the educational process,turning him into the central factor of the activities, andpaying due heed to his rate of learning and to individualdifferences. At the same time, it fosters the developmentof initiative, creativity, capacity of judgement, and otherqualities essential to proper vocational training, in a defi-nitive break with the passive components of the tradi-tional methods.

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The work is organized in four phases corresponding to thecomplete cycle of the learning processes: study of thesubject, proof of knowledge acquired, application ortransfer of that knowledge, and evaluation. At the outsetthe student studies, draws up routines, and acquires newconcepts, based on reflective thought processes. Consoli-dation of that knowledge can then be achieved by experi-mentation, demonstration, or even the performance ofexercises. In that third phase, a check is made to deter-mine whether the student should be required to participateindividually or in cooperation with the instructor, but it isup to the latter to make the final evaluation.

7 Training of labour within industry

With due regard for the diversity of the enterprisesattended, plus the limitations of its physical facilities,SENAI also mounts programmes within the respectiveenterprises, which may go all the way from programmesof apprenticeship for youths, on-the-job training of work-ers for a particular job, and even programmes for provid-ing the enterprise's entire work force, to the extent ofbroad-scale activities in cooperation with industries thathave to face changes of structure, technology, productionprocesses or alterations in quality.

Training of workers for a particular work post calls for ajob analysis to be effected.

Work post analysis means a process whereby a particularactivity is broken down into the elements comprising it,and the contents are described at a level of detailing suit-able for the objectives and the target population. The pur-pose is:

• to indicate the tasks and operations pertaining to agiven job;

• to describe the contents of the job;

• to identify the processes and technical standards of thework and the vocational, social, and statutory charac-teristics pertaining to it;

• to identify the group of psycho-physical characteristicsthe post requires on the part of the individual who is toperform it;

• to indicate what are the technological subjects thatmust be studied for knowledge and mastery of the post.

Work post analysis has a methodology of its own and canbe applied by SENAI or enterprise technicians dulytrained for the purpose.

Work post analysis and job analysis leads to a structuredand coded record of all information involved, with a viewto

• determining the goals of instruction;

• describing initial patterns of action by students;

• setting up criteria and desirable performance standards;

• developing tests for purposes of evaluation;

• preparing course curricula;

• developing programme contents;

• preparing instruction materials;

• selecting and producing auxiliary resources;

• preparing the plan of control and evaluation.

For both apprenticeship at job site and training in a workpost assignment, SENAI works together with the enter-prise to prepare plans and programmes, embodying theobjectives of instruction, the contents, techniques of in-

struction, and instruction resources. The instructors, whomay be on SENAI's staff or, preferably, on the staff of theenterprise involved, are selected and prepared for theirtasks. Once training has started, SENAI and the enter-prise follow up, supervise and evaluate activities andissue the respective certificates.

Programmes aimed at covering a enterprise's entire workforce entail the need for making a survey of the trainingneeds of the complete staff, and this is done with specificmethodology deploying all levels of supervisors.

At the end of the activity programme, a clear idea willhave been obtained as to who has to be trained, in what,and by when. From that point onwards, SENAI onceagain applies work post analysis in relation to each train-ing requirement detected in the survey, after which theprocedures already referred to are applied.

For enterprises having to cope with structural changes, orshifts in technology, production processes or quality, thework methodology entails the most varied of surveys,starting with a precise definition by the enterprise of thosemodifications that are going to occur and how soon theyare going to take place. The enterprise will then be re-quired to provide the patterns of performance aimed atand the survey of entire work force already on the job,spelling out the various areas of activity, the level ofschooling, the time on the job and so on, to make it possi-ble to determine at the outset the gap between currentrealities and future needs.

From that point on it is possible to visualize the activitiesthat need to be engaged in so as, in case of need,

• to make vocational shifts of members of the organ-ization; and

• to make up for shortcomings in general education andjob capability.

Subsequent to the latter stage, the work amounts to plan-ning and programming the activities to be carried on, tomake up for the shortcomings in general education, oroffset the weak points in vocational competence throughone or another of the various modalities of preparation forwork to be carried on at SENAI, at enterprises them-selves, or in joint SENAI/ FRPSany programmes.

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Part 2: Microsystems of Technical and

Vocational Education

An International Comparison of DidacticModels in Technical and VocationalEducationby Günter WIEMANNAlthough an international comparison of macromodels oftechnical and vocational education reveals major differ-ences, the didactic micromodels chosen by differentsocieties to impart those occupational skills that are con-sidered necessary are very similar.

The differences between these models can best beevaluated when the models are examined in practice tosee how they work and prove their worth in modern in-dustrial production and services.

1 Learning goals in technical and vocationaleducation (problem-solving approach)

Occupational competence is acquired by learning, in anoccupational setting, to work in a manner integrating dif-ferent problem solutions in a systematic way.

These learning processes include in particular:

• Process learning -the mastery of techniques and processes to acquiretechnical competence;

• Social learning -the mastery of social processes in the workplace and inthe enterprise to acquire social competence;

• Learning to plan -the mastery of target-oriented integration of techniquesand processes, social processes and skill utilization toacquire planning competence.

1.1 Process learning (technical competence)

Competence at work consists in mastering a few basictechniques which are integrated with the required tools,materials and substances so as to achieve, by way of anumber of operations, the goals set.

Examples of basic techniques from the occupational fieldof metalworking to be mastered in theory and practiceare:• measuring, calibration, gauging and marking tech-

nology;• cold-working and hot-working (e.g. bending);• cutting (e.g. sawing, drilling, turning);• joining techniques (e.g. friction-type locking and posi-

tive joining, such as threading, riveting, welding;• controlling (e.g. feed motions at machine tools).

1.2 Social learning (social competence)

Systematic work cannot be effective unless it is integratedinto the existing formal and informal social processes in aenterprise. This is why social learning must addressabove all the social processes in the environment of theworkplace; it must include in particular

• the horizontal (colleagues) and vertical social processes(cooperation at work);

• the handling of structural and behavioural influences aswell as conflict settlement and its techniques (conflictsettlement);

• the management structure and flow organization of anenterprise (work organization).

1.3 Learning to plan (planning competence)

Desired occupational problem solutions (performance ofjobs in the enterprise) are possible only by means oftarget-oriented, planned integration, in particular

• of the various techniques and processes;

• of the various social processes.

The ability to bring about such integration systematicallyis termed planning competence; this competence can helpto integrate the following individual processes:

• the various techniques and processes (e.g. sawing,welding);

• the various workplaces (e.g. bench, machine, assemblyline, individual and group workplaces, operationallogistics);

• the various (horizontal and vertical) social relations;

• the various management and administrative functionswithin the enterprise (job scheduling, job evaluation,accounting, works council, insurance and health);

• the various communication systems (linguistic, mathe-matical, graphic as well as electronic communication);

• the various utilization systems (enterprise and market).

2 Didactic Models

The purpose of a didactic model is to assist in the organ-ized acquisition of occupational skills required for the re-production and development of society and economy(social and economic function) as well as in the creationof permanent employment opportunities for those whohave completed initial technical and vocational education(individual and social function).

2.1 Criteria for the selection of learning goals

Didactic models are determined in the first place by theirlearning goals, which guide them and which describetheir learning level and rank. The selection of learninggoals can be based on the following criteria:• reproduction, i.e. the mastery of perfect application of

the techniques learned;• polyvalence, i.e. the mastery of techniques as well as

social and planning processes via theory-guided, inte-grated occupational activities in occupational fields;

• autonomy, i.e. the mastery of techniques as well associal, utilization and planning processes via theory-guided, integrated autonomous activities in occu-pational fields.

2.2 Economic selection criteria

The selection of learning goals always has an economicaspect, too, because the application of these goals has totake account also of the organizational and financial con-ditions prevailing in a country.

The selection of didactic models has to take account ofthe following economic criteria:

• time economy, i.e. the optimization of learning and ex-amination periods;

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• material economy, i.e. the optimization of materialutilization, maintenance and repair, self-supply,economy, recycling;

• staff economy, i.e. the optimization of the use ofteaching staff, counsellors, curriculum experts, mem-bers of examination boards;

• space and equipment economy, i.e. the optimization ofthe use of buildings, equipment, boarding schools, oftraffic and maintenance costs pertaining to central in-stitutions of technical and vocational education.

2.3 Selection of learning contents

The selection of learning contents to design and structurecurricula, which must be based on learning goals, mustensure that the curricula become compulsory for a wholecountry, a region, a school type, an occupational field or asubject, if general goals of social policy in its widestsense are to be pursued.

The claim to a general validity of curricula is based onspecific criteria:

• standardizability, i.e. learning goals, curricula, learningperiods, examination level, the specific abilities of theteaching staff and material constraints (learning aids,school buildings) must be described in a standardizedway;

• reproducibility, i.e. the standards described must beapplicable to any given place of learning, by anyteacher or instructor, at any locality, and at any giventime;

• quantitative adjustability, i.e. the learning standardsmentioned above must be adjustable according toquantity, depending on a desired enhancement or re-duction of goals;

• transferability, i.e. the standards described above mustbe transferable according to specific socio-cultural con-ditions (e.g. in the Third World, in various regions of acountry) without the need to abandon principles andcriteria.

3 Selection of didactic models

The purpose of didactic models is to impart the quali-fications considered necessary by society; the organ-ization of the models answers the question where andhow occupational competence is to be acquired accordingto well-defined learning goals.

A comparison of the different structures developed in in-dustrial societies for imparting working skills shows that,basically, only four clearly distinguishable didacticmodels of the organization of vocational education exist:

• on-the-job training natural typeof learning system:

technical and vocationaleducation as part of the jobsto be done at the workplace

• course instruction• project instruction• learning in school-

run enterprises

artificial typeof learning system:

technical andvocational education in

non-workplace situations

Illustration 3Basic didactic models

of technical and vocational education

3.1 On-the-job training

On-the-job training is the oldest and most frequent(natural) type of technical and vocational education in allsocieties and, in its pure form, has the following features:

• Organization of learning:

The trainee acquires skills in the enterprise by observ-ing, imitating, joining in, assisting and trying, by in-formal imitation of what he or she sees.

Working on real jobs in the enterprise makes immedi-ate economic sense: The products which the traineehas helped to produce reach the market, and their quali-ty is controlled by feedback provided by the demandfor such products within the enterprise and at theworkplace. The trainee's work is always practical, atall times related to real demand, and it provides theprerequisite for the trainee's future ability to earn aliving.The trainee shares the communicative, social andritual relations within the community of staff members,which has its own spirit and will influence the trainee'sway of speaking, behaving and thinking.

• Teaching staff:

The professionally competent master craftsman, thejourneyman, the experienced coworker take over worktasks required by the market, negotiates with clients,with the customers' department or the job schedulingdepartment in the enterprise, he passes on appropriatetasks to the trainee, he plans the work and work proces-ses, in many cases he joins in the work himself, heinstructs the trainee, e.g. by way of the four-stagemethod (preparation, demonstration, imitation, prac-tice), he controls work progress and evaluates workresults; in short, it is the teaching staff's task to makedecisions, to give or refuse permission, to instruct, toassure, to evaluate results, to settle conflicts, etc.

First ExcursusA critique of on-the-job training from the point of viewof technical and vocational education theory

The description of ideal on-the-job training raises thequestion why this traditional form of vocational educationis being replaced partly or wholly by artificial, school-based or quasi-school systems (e.g. a basic metalworkingcourse in a training workshop or in part-time vocationalschool).

Criticism of on-the-job training from the point of view oftechnical and vocational education theory has a long tra-dition. The complete or partial shifting of vocationaleducation to systems outside real work situations as aresult of this criticism cannot be explained solely by thegradual social development of certain life styles, tasksand roles (e.g. the transition from sick-care at home tothe modern hospital system); rather this shifting has beencaused by the conflicting aims of company managementand modern learning. The following factors are impor-tant in particular:

• The company, with its management and technologicalstructure, is designed to optimize goods productionwith the aim of complying with the competitive condi-tions presented by the market; the company's structurehas not been developed to meet the requirements of vo-cational education.

• The company depends for orders on the marketsituation and thus on an accidental segment of goodsproduction (specialization), the possible result being

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merely segmental opportunities for learning againstthe demand for a complete set of learning goals.

• The company employs its staff as goods producers, forwhom the teaching of young workers can be no morethan a side occupation.

• The company is exposed to the market's continuouspressures for modernization and develops new andever more complex structures with the result that voca-tional education becomes more and more marginal.

In response to the criticism voiced by vocational educa-tionists, which I have just briefly outlined, attempts weremade to overcome the structural weaknesses of on-the-jobtraining by introducing didactic systems that either sup-plement on-the-job training (part-time vocational school,introduction of systematic models like MES, courses inthe framework of inter-company training) or replace it.These systems must be described explicitly as non-directforms of learning. All known didactic structures are,however, characterized by the claim that they undertaketo imitate and approximate real work situations in thecompany.

Artificial didactic systems which expressly strive to sup-plement or replace on-the-job training are based on thefollowing considerations:

• Place of learning:

Vocational education in this framework must takeplace in a separate place of learning explicitlyreserved for vocational education, for example intraining workshops, training laboratories, vocationalschools, inter-company training facilities, etc.).


The corporate structures which by definition aim atproduction and prevalence on the market do not allowsystematic learning which is in keeping with the ap-proach recommended by technical and vocational edu-cation theory. Specifically designed didactic systems,on the other hand, are based on systematic learningprocesses adhering to the laws governing learning. Inorder to support learning, systematic teaching aids areused (textbooks and tables, laboratory devices,audiovisual aids, etc.), the express purpose being thatlearning goals (such as learning targets, curricula) areachieved, learning times are optimized and, in particu-lar, trainees are made to understand technological,scientific and mathematical laws involved in the jobsthey perform.

• Teaching staff:

Didactic planning, instruction and the control of learn-ing progress in technical and vocational education arethe responsibility of full-time teaching staff, who havebeen specifically prepared for this task through theirown work experience and through familiarization withtechnical and vocational education theory; their workis based on the results of systematic research in techni-cal and vocational education.

Second ExcursusLearning in artificial systems of learningWhenever societies decide to supplement or replace tradi-tional on-the-job learning with alternative types of train-ing, artificial systems emerge which have been designedexplicitly for the purpose of technical and vocational edu-cation at a specific place of learning. This decision isroughly subject to the following criteria:

Functions Preparation for an occupation as skilledworker in the core area ofindustrialization - manufacturing,maintenance, repair - by means ofindustrial vocational training; on thisbasis ...

Recruitment • a fair-sized group of selected adoles-cents (selection via final schoolexaminations and tests)

• for key positions in lower man-agement (machine operator, foreman,master)

• in combination with advancement andcareer prospects (second chance edu-cation)

Optimization • with a selection of vocational learningcontents (applicability, completeness,controllability)

• in a carefully planned learningframework (systematic approach andregularity)

• under the supervision of selectedexperienced instructors with expe-rience in technical and vocationaleducation

• including also results in research intechnical and vocational education

• at a considerable expense (staff,space, technical infrastructure

• at a place of training specially re-served for vocational learning andseparate from production

Qualification • to become competent skilled industrialworkers

• who have polyvalent skills and cantherefore be employed at any time, atany place and in many occupationaltask to elaborate extensive andflexible problem solutions

Socialization • with calculable social dependability

• and an occupational performanceavailable at any time and

• who accept corporate standards andhierarchical interests;

Training goal the goal being that they make a majorcontribution

• to the efficient manufacturing ofsophisticated goodswhile continuously striving

• to bring down labour costs.

Illustration 4Learning in artificial systems of learning

3.2 Course instruction

Industrialized societies have developed a methodologicalapproach which is the opposite to on-the-job training:course instruction. This method is based on a so-calledbasic metalworking course developed during the latenineteenth century, and since then has been introduced incompany-based training centres, vocational schools and

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inter-company or other off-plant training centres, with itsbasic methodological structure unchanged.

Course instruction has the following characteristics:• Place of learning:

Course instruction requires for its implementation aspecific place, separate from real work situations in theenterprise, with specific jobs to be learned, e.g. of basictechnical and vocational education; of an introductionto welding, hydraulics and pneumatics as well as forCNC technology.

• Organization of learning:The complex and usually integrated work skills to belearned in the enterprise and later to be applied in realwork situations are broken down into a series of indi-vidual learning units and practice periods, organized bydegrees of difficulty (progressing from easy to difficultjobs and from simple to complex tasks); they have tobe mastered by the student in a linear and additivemanner, progressing from one training phase to thenext.A great variety of highly developed learning aids areused to ensure didactic planning, imparting of knowl-edge, and control of learning progress.Experience gained in course instruction has shown thatbreaking down complex jobs into sequences is likely tolead to a high level of performance of students withinrelatively short training periods. As a result of thisfavourable experience, this approach was adopted alsofor other occupational fields (e.g. electrical engineer-ing, building and wood engineering, plastics tech-nology, printing technology, textile technology),including also theoretical instruction (subjects,courses).The great advantages of course instruction, i.e. break-down into sequences, polyvalence, transparence and itsregular nature, have contributed to the extraordinaryspread of this teaching method initially in Europe andlater in the United States, and also in technical and vo-cational education in the developing countries, for ithas been found that course instruction can be adaptedwith relative ease to all societies, cultures andlanguages.Another achievement in technical and vocational edu-cation theory is the polyvalent learning structure;course instruction helps at the same time to overcomethe traditional principle of training in a single occu-pation by preparing students instead for a variety of re-lated occupations and activities, so that they are flexi-ble enough to handle unfamiliar, unforeseeable tasks asthey arise.The introduction of simultaneous, supplementary in-struction in theoretical subjects at in-company schoolsor public vocational schools has turned out to be yetanother consequence of course instruction with itsstrong emphasis on process learning (acquisition ofwork practice).

• Teaching staff:The temporary or permanent separation of vocationaltraining from the enterprise, combined with the con-struction of specific artificial systems of learning (as incourse instruction), calls for teaching staff who are ac-quainted with the teaching methods required for thistask; the result is that there is a need for special train-ing facilities for instructors and teachers at vocationalschools, combined with research in technical and voca-

tional education theory on the part of trade associ-ations, at institutes and at universities.

In course instruction, teaching staff can rely on well-proven learning aids in order to prepare and support in-struction and to evaluate learning results. The wholelearning structure is highly independent of the individ-ual teacher and ensures fair evaluation; this is why longand costly training of the teaching staff is unnecessary.In this case it is sufficient to familiarize the staff withrelevant teaching methods, provided that they havesuccessfully carried out their occupation for some time.

Third ExcursusA critique of course instruction from the point of view oftechnical and vocational education theory• Place of learning:

The above-mentioned advantages of course instructionare obvious; they can, however, become counterpro-ductive if learning at a separate place of learning(which is necessarily simulative) loses contact with thereal work situations in the company because it takesplace outside the company for too long. How long it isadvisable to have training outside the company at aseparate place of learning depends on• the structure of big enterprises with a high degree of

rationalization and a specific company size (e.g. inmotor vehicle construction, in the steel and chemicalindustries), which demands that vocational educationbe separated wholly or partly from real work;

• the structure of small and medium-sized enterprisesunder increasing pressure for specialization, whichforces these enterprises to provide vocational educa-tion, at least partly, outside the company (e.g. inpart-time vocational schools and in inter-companyvocational education facilities) if the said learninggoals are to be achieved;

• the structure of the trainees, which means that high-achieving, confident and creative trainees learn moreeasily in real work situations than lower-achievingindividuals who need more attention and sustainedsupport;

• the structure of the learning contents, which meansthat learning contents with a major theory component(i.e. in electronic engineering, in natural scienceoccupations) are with advantage taught in specialplaces of learning, while others with a majorexperience and practice component (e.g. inmechanical engineering) are preferably conveyed inreal work situations.

• Organization of learning

Didactic systems with a linear structure can becomecounterproductive whenever the entire didactic systemof a place of learning is dominated by rigidly fixedlearning sequences, by an isolated learning situation,and above all by the expected results of learning; inthis way both the complexity of real work situationsand the complexity of occupational problem solvingprocesses are sacrificed while, really, this is what vo-cational education should, deliberately and system-atically, convey.

Learning goals which go beyond the mastery of normalwork processes - for example theory-guided and auton-omous action - cannot be realized in closed didacticsystems with a high degree of outside determination byteaching staff.

• Teaching staff:

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It is a law inherent in social groups - in this case in-structors and teachers of vocational schools - thatthese groups develop for themselves collective interests(and bodies representing these interests), which canalso become counterproductive by undermining themandate of vocational education; this is true wheneverstatus and income considerations are given preferenceover the vocational mandate and the pertinent con-tinuing education.

3.3 Project instruction

An alternative method which is clearly different fromcourse instruction, i.e. project instruction, has beensuccessfully developed with the explicit aim of over-coming the latter's weaknesses.


For this teaching method, too, it is necessary to have alocation for training which is separate from the realwork situation, because otherwise the extensive plan-ning effort required for project instruction is impossi-ble to make. On the other hand, however, the selectionof project tasks taken from the manufacturing process,and reintegrated into this process on completion of theproject, provides interesting possibilities for teaching.

At the time of shifting from course instruction toproject instruction or of an enhancement of course in-struction by project instruction, new requirementsemerge for the relevant training institution. This is truein particular for the equipment and the organization ofworkshops and laboratories, which must make projectsolutions possible.


The purpose of project instruction is to imitate thecomplexity of real work in the enterprise by simulativelearning which is close to reality, with the aim ofavoiding the remoteness from reality which is charac-teristic of course instruction.

The selection criteria for project instruction are ex-pressly oriented to polyvalent and autonomous learn-ing; this means that the organization of learning mustbe based on autonomous problem-solving on the partof the students. Instruction focuses on jobs which havebeen selected according to economic and didactic crite-ria and which must• allow the integration of techniques, social processes

and planning processes;• in terms of the degree of difficulty, enable students to

produce problem solutions on their own initiative;• by way of their function, possess a practical value (if

possible with social relevance) in order to make sensefor the student and

• be likely to be completed within a foreseeable periodof time and at reasonable costs.

In contrast to the predetermined learning structure ofcourse instruction, project instruction must proceedfrom an open learning structure, because learning pro-cesses and learning results cannot always be planned:The risk of failure must be explicitly accepted. Thelearning processes, which are not precisely calculableas a result of the largely autonomous learning on thepart of the student, can be made visible by previousand subsequent courses, the aim being to ensure near-complete achievement of the said goals of learning.

• Teaching staff:

In contrast to course instruction, which is based on pre-cise rules and regulations, project instruction makesgreat demands on teaching staff in terms of planning,implementation and assurance of the results of training.Preparation of instruction requires a great deal of time,imagination as regards the anticipation of possibleevents, and great commitment including the readinessto deal with conflicts emerging with the students.

Fourth ExcursusA critique of course instruction from the point of view oftechnical and vocational education theoryThe fact that project instruction in technical and voca-tional education (and also in general schools) hashitherto made only slow progress has important reasons:• Place of learning:

The redesign of the places of learning in order to makethem suitable for project instruction is expensive; as arule, more floor space is required to provide room forlearning groups to move about, a new arrangement ofwork benches and machinery for group work must beintroduced (e.g. pentangular benches, combinationbenches, mobile machinery) and traditional machinerooms must be variable. Places of learning forintegrative learning of theory and practice and newlearning aids must be created; on the whole, thismeans complicated and costly investment.

• Organization of learning:In particular, a desirable "open" learning structurewhich is not predetermined for every situation that mayarise has traditionally not been regarded asguaranteeing the success of training. Since learningprocesses cannot be planned precisely, considerablestructural conflicts and social disturbances are boundto occur and, above all, learning goals cannot becontrolled and guaranteed as in course instruction andin subject-related vocational school instruction.

3.4 Learning in school-run enterprisesThe expression school-run enterprise is liable to mis-understandings, because it is open to at least two differentinterpretations:• First interpretation:

School-run enterprises are explicitly organizational,economic and didactic models which link technical andvocational education to production for the market; themanufactured products and the production processesare used for vocational education and students areallowed to work for production as they acquire moreskills.

• Second interpretation:Other didactic systems, too, including course andproject instruction, allow students implicitly to fulfilproduction tasks for the market. The production tasksto be completed contribute to vocational education, andthe students are allowed to work for production as theyacquire more skills.

For clarity's sake, it is suggested that only the firstinterpretation of school-run enterprises should beaccepted, and that the second interpretation should betterbe explained with the expression "learning by carryingout production tasks".

The following thoughts therefore relate to the firstinterpretation, i.e. an explicitly organized school-runenterprise.


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School-run enterprises are separate training institu-tions, which, though similar in equipment to themanufacturing plant, are, in addition, supplied with allnecessary equipment for teaching and learning(classrooms, laboratories, media rooms, etc.).

• Organization of learning:The organization of vocational education is structuredin such a way that all previously discussed teachingsystems can be linked consecutively with one another.

Safeguarding this didactic model is possible by anexternal partnership cooperation with neighbouringenterprises, with local and regional markets, withschools in the general education system, and with theinstitutions of continuing technical and vocational edu-cation.

The definition of a school-run enterprise includes the fol-lowing characteristics:

• Procurement:For manufacturing and vocational education it is neces-sary to make products which have sales chances on alocal or regional market; cooperation with neigh-bouring enterprises is expedient; this is true in particu-lar of the procurement of materials, of the modern-ization of technical equipment and of the recruitmentof teaching staff.

• Manufacturing:The selection of work tasks also takes account of theoccupational skills of the students. This is why, inorder to optimize learning opportunities, preference isgiven to labour-intensive tasks (prototypes, devices,repair, maintenance, etc.). Mass production is justi-fiable in school-run enterprises only as a planning task.

• Selling:Goods produced are sold either by the school or bypartner enterprises or by special selling agencies.

• Funding:The proceeds from the sale of products, from remun-erated work in continuing education and from inno-vation counselling, provide some relief for the schoolwith regard to investment and current cost.

• Assistance:School-run enterprises are a suitable place for provid-ing vocational orientation on skilled occupations andon opportunities for continuing technical and voca-tional education for schools in the neighbourhood; inthis connection, the school-run enterprise assistsstudents in the introduction to the world of work.

• Campaigning:The above-mentioned tasks include the possibility ofcampaigning for skilled occupations in the region withthe necessary information on training conditions (struc-ture and duration of training, examinations, continuingeducation, boarding schools, costs, etc.)

• Counselling:The modern equipment of the school, the level of train-ing of its teaching staff, the technical and informationresources (technical library, collection of standards,learning media) allow the school to provide competentcounselling to enterprises in terms of management (es-tablishment of new enterprises, accounting, bookkeep-ing, etc.) and in technical terms (tool grinding, intro-duction to new technologies, etc.).

• Innovation:

Since school-run enterprises are not immediately ex-posed to market pressures, they are suitable institutionsfor innovations of technical products and processeswhose development can at the same time further voca-tional education of students, the continuing educationof teaching staff and the cooperation with enterprises(technology transfer).

• Promotion:

Students who are highly motivated and particularlyefficient can be enabled by their school to acquire qual-ifications and take vocational and general examinationswhich allow them to go on to further education institu-tions; in this way, a special occupational elite is createdin the medium term.

• Learning:

Technical and vocational education, if organizedappropriately, combines the technical and economicfunctions of the school-run enterprise, which offers stu-dents a unique opportunity during training to assimilateboth thought and behaviour patterns of an enterprise.

• Teaching staff:

In view of the teaching staff's dual function of havingto produce for the market while at the same timemaking possible meaningful vocational education, thespecial requirements of this teaching model can be metonly if there is teaching staff with different skills at ahigh technical, economic and didactic level as well aslong practical experience and imagination in the waythey teach (this is needed above all for the schoolhead). As a rule, this ambitious model makes it neces-sary to recruit teaching staff with very differentbackgrounds, and special attention must in addition begiven to the recruitment of staff for the acquisition oforders, for marketing and for sales.

Fifth ExcursusA critique of instruction in school-run enterprises fromthe point of view of technical and vocational educationtheory• Place of learning:

School-run enterprises as a didactic system have so farbeen formed only in countries where enterprises do nottake an active part in vocational education; whereschool-run enterprises have been formed, this has beendone under the following conditions:

• Tradition: An indispensable prerequisite for enter-prises to play a major role in vocational education isa tradition-based attitude on the part of entre-preneurs and trade unions, which implies that theywish this and support it actively (as is the case in theFederal Republic of Germany); if this prerequisite isnot fulfilled, technical schools, training centres andschool-run enterprises are established as institutionaland didactic variants of in-company training.

• Elites: Countries who intend to industrialize theireconomy establish training institutions with a highgeneral and technical standard, while making re-cruitment of trainees conditional upon the fulfilmentof stringent admission requirements; the purpose isto train a technical elite for management positions inenterprises with a view to advancing the technicaland industrial development of their country; thishappened, for example, in 19th-century Prussia whenthe "Königlich-Preußische Fachschulen" were estab-

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lished in Schmalkalden, Iserlohn, Remscheid andSiegen.

• Cost reduction: on account of the considerableinvestment and running costs of school-run enter-prises, an attempt is made to reduce operating costsand raise funds for further investments by means ofproduction for the market.

• Competence: the close connection between produc-tion and vocational education holds a major chanceof avoiding the weaknesses of simulative didacticsystems, thus making possible reality-based learning.


The establishment of school-run enterprises is usuallythe result of a prevailing deficit; this didactic system isintended to replace real-work learning in the company.In this connection, the following critical questionsarise:

• The economic and financial situation of many schoolsrequires that priority be given to production goals;but the recruitment of instructors from enterprisesand the resulting socialization problems concerningpatterns of thinking and behaviour can also bringabout a situation in which such a school is dominatedby economic considerations; another factor is thepressure exerted by the partner enterprises in orderto achieve specific market goals with the help of theschool.

• The learning climate in a school, the prevalence ofcurricula and examinations, and the socialization ofteaching staff (recruited from higher education insti-tutions) can bring about a situation in which learningdominates while production is neglected.

These two contrary positions (and observable devel-opments) of school-run enterprises when being facedwith having to make a choice between "real" and "sim-ulative" learning can be made congruent with the helpof the following formula:

• A manufacturing company produces the quantity that

can be sold on the market.

• A school-run enterprise produces the quantity that isrequired for teaching and practising, in other words,production for the market is used as a "vehicle" toreach the complete set of learning goals.

• Teaching staff:

School-run enterprises depend for their functioning onteaching staff with high technical, economic, educa-tional and innovatory competences plus an extraordi-nary commitment to the "pioneering phase" andstamina in the political and economic "tug-of-war" be-tween the learning requirements made by the schooland the enterprise's economic interest. This almostintractable problem has frequently led teaching staff tosubmit exclusively either to the interest of the companyor to the requirements of learning.

Yet, it is this ambiguous position of the school-runenterprise, namely that it is not quite a school and notquite a company, which provides this didactic systemwith an educational openness, liveliness and innovativetendency that cannot be achieved by any other model.

4 Conclusion

Vocational competence can be imparted by way of differ-ent teaching models; but the extent to which the technicaland vocational qualifications imparted are appropriate,flexible and transferable in modern industrial productionand services and, in particular, the degree of autonomy inthe workplace resulting from the ability for independentoccupational problem solving, are decided by the modelor combination of models chosen.

Illustration 5 (below) points out the control of occu-pational problem-solving through the integration of occu-pational "knowledge" and occupational "doing".Illustration 6 (next page), in conclusion, compares andcontrasts the potentials and capacities of the differentconcepts of technical and vocational education.

Illustration 5Didactic relationship between occupational problem-solving

and vocational education in technical occupations

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On-the-job training:Occupational problems are solved inreal work contexts. Emphasis oflearning is on carrying out workunder the direction of experiencedstaff; occupational knowledge isacquired informally by learningrules gained from experience

Course instruction (I):Occupational problems are brokendown into learning sequences andstructured according to theoreticalconsiderations in linear form.Learning takes place outside the realwork context at a separate place oflearning under the direction of full-time instructors

Course instruction (II):Occupational problems are brokendown into learning sequences andstructured - by subjects - accordingto logical considerations. Learningtakes place outside the real workcontext at a separate place oflearning under the direction of full-time instructors.

Project instruction:The solution of occupationalproblems is simulated by the con-struction for training purposes ofcomplex learning situations inwhich learning and doing areintegrated. Learning takes placeoutside the real work context at aseparate place of learning under thedirection of full-time instructors

School-run enterprises:The solution of occupational prob-lems takes place under quasi-reallearning conditions in a schoolwhich is a firm. On-the-jobtraining, course instruction andproject instruction may be inte-grated. The school-run enterprisecombines vocational learning withproduction for the market under thedirection of full-time instructors

Illustration 6Basic models of the organization of technical and vocational education

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The Concept of Modulesof Employable Skills (MES) Trainingby Eckhart CHROSCIELA continuous but regulated supply of different types andlevels of well-trained and skilled human resources is oneof the essential prerequisites to economic and industrialdevelopment. It has long been recognized by industry,crafts and commerce that vocational training is in itself aninvestment, as the quality and standard of goods producedand of services rendered depend to a large extent on thelevel and degree of skills that the staff involved possess.

Many of the vocational training programmes that havebeen and are being used by technical assistance projectsin developing countries originated in the industrializedcountries. They were often developed at times whenchanges in terms of new technologies, production proces-ses, tools, equipment, materials, as well as in occu-pational profiles, occurred at far slower rates than in theperiod of rapid change which characterizes today's world.These training programmes were designed to meet thecertification requirements of recognized national occu-pational profiles, as well as to suit the educational level ofthe locally available training population. The methodolo-gies and instructional materials used for such programmesrequire technically and pedagogically well-trained andexperienced staff. Because of the rigid, time-based struc-ture of both the training programmes and the instructionalmaterials, modifying them to changed or different train-ing needs is in most cases difficult and time-consuming.

The recognition that a new generation of flexible trainingconcepts and programmes, on a modular basis, would berequired to enable training authorities and industries tocope effectively and efficiently with fast-changing train-ing needs, in many countries led to research and devel-opment work in this area.

In the early 1970s, the International Labour Organ-ization (ILO) started its own research to develop a flexi-ble, employment-oriented vocational training concept,as well as new types of instructional material, suitablefor learner-based and instructor-led application.Studying and taking into consideration, whereapplicable, the results of similar developments fromother sources, the ILO has over the past five years de-veloped a modular vocational training approach usingModules of Employable Skills (MES). This approachfollows present trends whereby the structures andcontents of vocational training programmes are based onthe competencies required to perform the tasks con-tained in a given job and/or national training speci-fications. MES developments have so far concentratedon the following areas:

• the concept itself in terms of procedures, forms, chartsand other documents to carry out job, task and skillanalysis, to develop, implement, control, monitor andevaluate vocational training programmes and to devel-op instructional materials;

• a bank of instructional materials in the form of learn-ing elements;

• a concept, programmes and instructional materials forvocational training staff development.

Logical and acceptable divisions of work, in the form oftechnical tasks, are the basis for the development of MEStraining programmes. Global occupational profiles or

technical fields of work, which are broken down into suchtasks, can be used as initial task lists to support local pro-grammes in line with national or specific occupationalprofiles. Banks of learning elements or of other suitableinstructional materials can support the development oftraining programmes for these national and specific occu-pational profiles.

Social and economic developments often lead to thecreation of new jobs comprising tasks from differentoccupational areas for which new training programmeshave to be developed. Banks of task analysis data and oflearning elements could facilitate the development oftraining programmes for such new jobs.

As the definition of a task is often subject to varyinginterpretations which might range, for example, frommarking out an installation layout to the complete instal-lation of an electric system in a building, it was decidedto introduce a new term called the Modular Unit (MU),with a precise and clear definition which says that "amodular unit is a logical and acceptable division of workwithin a particular job, occupation or field of work with aclear start and finish and which would not normally befurther subdivided." Where technology is of a stand-ardized nature, the substantive content of a modular unitcan be used on a global basis taken from the initial tasklist.

The modular units performed within given jobs aregrouped into modules of employable skills. An MES jobspecification consists of a job description and a list andprecise descriptions of those modular units performedwithin a given job.

Examples of employable skills show that in situationswhere only one craftsman is working, he/she will have toperform all those modular units required to complete agiven job, in order to be usefully employable or self-em-ployable. In situations where there is enough work to jus-tify the employment of two or three workers, the moduleof employable skills of each worker would consist ofclusters of related and often interlinked modular units,reflecting the division of work among them. In some em-ployment situations, this can lead to very narrow spe-cializations whereby a module of employable skill mightconsist of only one modular unit.

Modules of employable skills can also consist of modularunits from different occupational areas and different fieldsof work. Illustration 7 (next page) gives an example of themodule of employable skills of a first-line maintenancemechanic working in a small hotel. It consists of twelvemodular units from different occupational areas.

Masterlists of modular units from a given occupationalarea or field of work can be documented on Job-ModularReference Charts. The main purpose of this type of chartis to facilitate the identification of modular units per-formed within groups or clusters of related jobs, forwhich training programmes have to be prepared. Thecontent of these charts can easily be updated in the lightof changing training needs.

MES training programmes can be updated or expandedto suit new requirements. This is of particular impor-tance when workers have to be updated to enable themto apply new technologies or work processes in theirjobs, or when redundant workers need to be retrained fornew employment opportunities. For example, the train-ing programme for a simple electrician, who initially

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had to perform only ten modular units in his job, can beexpanded to include training for nine more modular unitsrequired to carry out two newly introduced installationmethods, and to connect three additional electric circuits.

MU Title OccupationalAreas

Field of Work

01 Changing lightbulbs

ElectricalEngineering

Domesticelectricalinstallations

02 Replacingsingle phasepower plugs

ElectricalEngineering


03 Replacing fuses ElectricalEngineering


04 Replacingwashers onwater tabs

Plumbing andPipe Fitting

Installing andmaintainingdomestic watersupply systems

05 Replacingwater tabs andvalves


Installing andmaintainingdomestic watersupply systems

06 Repairingclogged-upwater drains


Installing andmaintainingdrainagesystems

07 Replacing lockson doors andwindows

Woodworking Installing andmaintainingdoors andwindows

08 Replacingbroken windowglass

Woodworking Installing andmaintainingdoors andwindows

09 Patching uppaintwork

BuildingConstruction

Painting inbuildings

10 Maintainingand repairingwater tanks

MechanicalEngineering

Sheet metalwork

11 Cleaning filtersof airconditioners

Air Condi-tioning andRefrigeration

Installing andmaintainingunit type airconditioners

12 Changingwheels ofcustomers cars

AutomotiveEngineering

Car servicing

Illustration 7Module of Employable Skills of a maintenance

mechanic working in a small hotel

The instructional material for use with MES training pro-grammes was initially designed in the form of learningelements. These are self-contained instructional booklets,each covering a specific item of skill or knowledge. Eachlearning element consists of• precisely formulated learning objectives;• a list of required equipment, materials and aids;• a list of other, related learning elements;• instructional pages which contain short, concise texts

and which are profusely illustrated;• a progress check which is matched to the learning

objectives of the element.

Learning elements of this type are suitable for bothlearner-based and instructor-based application. They con-tain, in the form of texts and illustrations, what a good in-structor would explain and demonstrate to his trainees.

Because of the short, concise texts and the many simpleline illustrations, learning elements are readily adaptableto computer-based training, interactive training, orvarious distance learning techniques.

The concept of learning elements has been designed notonly for MES training but also for use with other voca-tional training approaches. On the other hand, learningelements are not the only form of instructional materialused for MES training. Other suitable instructionalmaterial from all kinds of sources can, and should be usedwhenever learning elements are not available or notapplicable. To facilitate the proper selection of suchmaterial and the planning of lessons or instructional units(the term used for a lesson plan in MES training), asimple form has been developed for use by instructors.Well-prepared instructional units can also form the basisfor learning elements to be developed at later dates.

Learning elements are developed under the following sixmain categories:

• Work Safety (general and overriding while specificaspects of work safety are included in each element);

• Activities;

• Theory;

• Graphic Information/Circuitry;

• Technical Information, Materials/Components/ Meth-ods;

• Technical Information, Tools/Equipment/Machines.

Learning elements from these categories can be compiledto form limited or comprehensive training programmes.Depending on the level of decision-making required for aworker to perform a given modular unit, activity learningelements can be supported by different types of informa-tion learning elements.

Learning elements which have initially been developedfor training in a particular occupational area can, in manycases, also be used for training in other occupationalareas.

In-depth skills analysis is used to identify the learningelements and/or instructional units required to train aperson to perform the steps of work of a given modularunit. This information is documented on Modular Unit/Learning Element Reference Charts. This chart is usuallyprepared in such a way that all the steps of work arelisted, including those required for decision-making, andall the learning elements and/or instructional units re-quired to impart the skills needed to perform the varioussteps of work. Once correctly prepared, this documentcan be used as reference to facilitate the development ofMES training programmes in many other trainingsituations. It is, however, essential that the content ofsuch charts is verified on the spot and that they aresubsequently modified to suit local conditions and stand-ards.

Learning elements or instructional units of a common andbasic nature apply to many different modular units. Theyare listed on the respective modular unit/ learning ele-ment reference charts. Repetitive statements of their titlesmay therefore occur if a training programme has to beprepared for more than one modular unit. Whole MEStraining programmes are therefore shown on MESSelection Charts. On these charts, all the modular unitsof a given training programme are listed in correlation tothe titles of all the learning elements or instructional unitsrequired. This chart can also be used by instructors or by

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the trainees as a control document, by colouring thearrows pointing to completed learning elements inrelation to the modular units of the programme.

Guidance Material for the Instructor

Guidance Material for the Trainee

List of Equipment, Materials and Aids

Learning Elements01 Applying First Aid

02 Observing and Using Safety Signs

03 Observing Safety Precautions in Working with Handand Machine Tools

04 Observing Safety Precautions in Workingwith Ladders and Scaffolds

05 Selecting Protective Clothes

06 Reading Construction Plans

07 Reading Architectural Diagrams

08 Identifying Ladders and Their Uses

09 MeasuringUsing Rules and Tapes

10 Marking OutUsing Rules, Tapes and Straight Edges

11 Marking OutUsing Chalklines and Plumbbobs

12 Marking OutUsing Spirit Levels and Water Levels

13 Marking Out Installation Layoutsin an Installation Cabin

Performance test to match the skills, standards andconditions of this modular unit

Modular Unit 1Marking Out Installation Layouts

Illustration 8:Learning Package

For each MES training programme, a learning package isprepared which consists of the following (cf. Illustra-tion 8):

• guidance material for the instructor;

• guidance material for the trainee;

• a list of tools, equipment, materials and aids required;

• the titles of those learning elements and/or instruc-tional units required to close the training gap;

• a performance test which matches the objectives of thetotal training programme and, as required, phase testsfor each modular unit.

There are arrangements of phase tests and the final per-formance test for a training programme. Accreditationand certification can be documented by introducing askills passport with national or even regional validity.The MES training cycle is applicable to initial training,upgrading, updating or retraining.

One of the most important aspects of MES training is thesystematic training of vocational training staff, in linewith their job requirements, to plan, develop, implement,monitor and evaluate training programmes, and to devel-op the instructional material required for such pro-grammes. Up to now, 47 learning elements and relatedprogramme outlines have been developed to train staff inthe above-mentioned aspects of MES training.

Recent Trends in IndustrialTechnical and Vocational Educationin the Federal Republic of Germanyby Harald W. BONGARDAlthough the structure of crafts and industry, the econom-ic infrastructure and the economic systems of the coun-tries represented at this Symposium are very different,and despite the fact that quite different educationalsystems operate in these countries, we all want to knowwhat educational endeavours are required to use humanresources to improve living conditions in general.

In studying this question, we shall confine ourselves totrends in initial technical and vocational education, andpresent an example from the industrial sphere in theFederal Republic of Germany, the basic elements ofwhich can be transferred to many other qualification pro-grammes: the qualification process at Volkswagencompany.

In so doing, we shall focus on the training of those skillswhich, in the discussion, are referred to in quite differentterms, as so-called key qualifications, as transfer quali-fications, or as interdisciplinary qualifications, etc. Someof the skills involved are:

• The independent execution of skilled work;

• collaboration with others in a team;

• the procurement, utilization and passing on of informa-tion;

• methodological competence to solve different prob-lems; and

• the ability to organize one's own learning processes andto complete them successfully.

The training programmes already developed or to be de-veloped must also be assessed in the light of corre-sponding advances made with regard to

• changes in the social structure,

• technological changes, or

• changes in work organization.

To do so, it is necessary to give a brief description ofthese changes and to specify what requirements are beingcancelled or needed less than in the past, and what otherrequirements are becoming more and more important.

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For the sector of industrial production worldwide, the pre-vailing trend can be described as follows: Instead of

• exposure to physical strain and to

• harmful environmental influences, and

• the requirement of manual skills or dexterity,

demands on the quantity and structure of knowledge andskills are increasing.

The combination of knowledge and skills, of theory andpractice, of technical and general learning contents,together with the necessary methods, is to ensure thecompetence of independent skilled workers. These com-prehensive learning contents are required if trainees are tounderstand complex technical patterns, processes andcontrol structures.

In our view, requirements also increase in terms of theability to concentrate and to assume responsibility, andthus also in terms of the assurance of the quality of thegoods produced. In this sphere, quality assurance con-cepts which have in the past all too often assured qualityonly by expensive refinishing have to be eliminated.

Equally, requirements in terms of the ability to cooperatewith other staff are increasing, since assembly and/orrepair work, the operation of complex work systems, theimprovement of internal operations, and the design ofworkplaces can in future only be carried out by smoothlyfunctioning groups of workers. We will conclude thisoutline of the scope for designing industrial vocationaleducation by adding to this catalogue another requirementwhich tends to be taken for granted today, namely theability for lifelong learning and for readily adjusting tochanging requirements.Changes in the technical sphere and the sphere of workorganization call for motivated and independent team-workers. These new demands are based on a changedconception of man in the working environment, and thusnecessarily also of man in vocational education. Voca-tional education is increasingly becoming the first stageof a lifelong education process, which will always takeplace to a major extent in the enterprise.Volkswagen has developed a new qualification concept.Its essential characteristics are described in the following,in order to answer, at least partly, the interesting questionof how this concept can be realized in the enterprise. Thepertinent guidelines will be specified.The basic principle of technical and vocational educationin the enterprise and in the production process is to givethe student systematic training to prepare him/her forworking life in in-company educational facilities, viatraining workshops, qualification centres, in-companytraining places, or learning laboratories. The qualificationphases in real work situations in the enterprise should beprepared as well as followed up in in-company trainingfacilities.Alternatively or in addition, written concepts, e.g. guidingtexts, can help staff to explain complex facilities, logisticsystems, or organizational structures, so that trainees areenabled to understand and use them. In this way, in-company learning can become effective and meaningful.Learning in the framework of technical and vocationaleducation should alternate between group and individuallearning processes; the group (at Volkswagen it consistsof six trainees) should stay together over a period of oneor two years, if possible.

Anyone wishing to influence and design social processesmust allow these processes to happen and encourage themby means of organizational measures. However, an edu-cational task cannot be solved by creating the organ-izational framework alone. In order for social processesto be encouraged, instructors must be qualified accord-ingly. But qualification by seminars alone is notsufficient in our view. In order for favourable social pro-cesses to be supported and negative ones to be changed,yet another requirement must be fulfilled: Instructorsmust be enabled to experience these group learning pro-cesses themselves. At Volkswagen, therefore, groups orteams of about seven instructors each have been formed.We have combined this with yet another modification.Our instructor teams are responsible for providing com-plete training for one or several occupational groups ofapproximately 120 trainees each. These instructors haveacquired the qualifications needed to cater to all quali-fications spheres involved in their training sector, whichwe call a learning field.The instructor team is also responsible for qualificationwhen the trainees are in the enterprise, which is aboutone-third of overall training time.The instructors' work has also changed fundamentally.The principle of fixed learning sequences for all trainees,the complete determination in advance of all tools, draw-ings, operating and process materials, the establishmentof training schedules which determine when which ma-chine has to be operated by which trainee, all this hasbeen given up at Volkswagen in favour of other organ-izational forms of learning which are to enable trainees todevelop self-sufficiency, organizing ability, initiative, re-sponsibility, and quality awareness.We have therefore developed a learning project for thefirst training year in the sector of metalworking; thislearning project confronts groups of trainees with com-plex tasks while providing them with methodical aids.After a planning phase, these groups then discuss theresults with one of their instructors. The instructor acts aslearning consultant, who is supportive of the learning pro-cesses taking place in the trainees. In this function hewill refrain from providing answers to open questionsand, instead, give hints for self-help.In the first year of training, each trainee in the occupa-tional field of metalworking builds what is called aMultispan (multicutter), or in electrical engineering, aLötstation (soldering station).The Multispan is a device driven by a drilling machine,which combines a mechanical saw, a tool grinding unit anda boring unit. This learning project, which covers a periodof about ten months, contains all basic vocational quali-fications. But not every trainee makes all parts himself. If,for example, a trainee has acquired the qualifications formilling, but has deficits in turning, he will carry out thelathe work for his group. In return, he is provided withparts which another group member makes in order to com-pensate for his own deficits. This approach to some extentincreases awareness of quality during the educational pro-cess, because substandard parts will not be accepted. Alsoin the case of Multispan, not all drawings, measurementsand aids are determined right from the start. Althougheverything has been designed, the given designs are notbinding. There is scope for the trainee to act on his or herown initiative, an approach which increases creativity.In order to encourage the trainee to become more inde-pendent, aids are systematically withdrawn during thelearning process; in this way, trainees are enabled to ac-

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quire increasing competence. Differences in the pace oflearning and working are to some extent within the groupsthemselves, but also compensated for, via internal differen-tiation, by additional support and remedial measures. Thetrainees are not only allowed to support each other duringthe learning processes; they are, on the contrary, explicitlyencouraged to do so.Yet another feature of the new trend is the development oforganizational skills and of the ability to work inde-pendently. A person who is constantly told precisely whatto do and is not allowed to come to grips with problems,will never become self-sufficient. At Volkswagen, we havetherefore abolished the traditional machine tool courses. Inthe trainees' very first week, our instructors tell the groupsof trainees about machine tool safety. Afterwards, everytrainee plans his own machine tool work for a total periodof about eight weeks. To do so, he must make a timeestimate, and enter his name in the relevant machineutilization plans. The utilization periods must then be con-sidered by him in his daily or weekly schedules, and he isexpected to make any necessary arrangements with hiscolleagues if plans are modified.The above examples show just how important an integratedapproach is in skilled worker/ employee training, whichshould not only provide but also enhance social and indi-vidual skills. We hope that this paper will help us discussand encourage the changes required in technical and voca-tional education in our respective countries.

Course Instruction: The French Exampleby André BRUYÈREThe different courses which exist in France may beassigned to four categories:

1 Courses for the integration and reintegrationof young people into employment

These courses were designed in view of increasing youthunemployment. They are of a social as well as of an eco-nomic nature. These are offered for young people whohave left school without a qualification. Two types shouldbe mentioned in particular: courses providing an intro-duction to working life and courses preparing for employ-ment. The young participants receive an allowance.Duration varies from two to six months. With regard to thesecond type of course, working time is divided betweentraining (75 %) and the course in industry (25 %).

2 Courses for information and orientation

These courses primarily cater for those young people whoattend the preparatory classes provided at the end of thesecond grade of lower secondary school (collège). It maybe the aim of these courses either to familiarize youngpeople with the industrial working environment or to givethem an insight into the occupation or the group of occu-pations for which they intend to prepare themselves. In thelatter case, the courses in industry are longer and last 15 to18 hours per week according to a scheme of alternation ofone and two weeks.

This preparation for working life is particularlyinteresting for those who do not wish to take part in oneof the traditional forms of school-based training.

3 Compulsory courses forming part of training

These courses can take place at different stages of train-ing: either during or at the end of a school year or at theend of the training period.

These courses must be aimed at fulfilling at least threetasks which are essential for the harmonious developmentof training:

• familiarize the student with the economic reality;

• explain to him/her the sense of his/her efforts, the pur-pose of his/her training;

• maintain zeal and motivation, fill the gap which theyoung person may feel between school and reality.

The question what place the course should take in trainingis rather important. It must be adapted to the nature oftraining, to the age of the student and to the training stagehe/she has reached.

The learning objective must be clearly and jointly definedby the actors in the training institution and those responsi-ble in the host enterprise. To express this necessity theterms concerted education and period of in-company edu-cation have been chosen.

The school/ enterprise relations must lead to a realpartnership and a new pedagogical principle. In-companytraining is regulated; it appears in the regulations of alarge number of technical qualifications.

There are three types of courses for participants in school-based training:

• Training sequences in industry for students attendingthe lycées professionnels of upper secondary educa-tion. They were introduced in 1979 following a majorconcerted effort by the teachers' unions and the em-ployers' representatives. The aim is to initiate studentsinto industrial life and activities and to enable them toapply, in work practice, the knowledge and skills theyhave acquired at school. At the same time, youngpeople are to be confirmed in their training choice;they are to be given an opportunity to discover theenterprise, the equipment, the production, and thesocial and human relations within a production orservice unit.

The courses are of short duration: an average of 15days, divided into two, three or four periods over atotal of ten weeks. An agreement is concluded be-tween the school and the enterprise, and "the peda-gogical annex" establishing the contents, the objectivesand the modalities of the course constitutes the master-piece to which the teachers and the enterprise instruc-tors must refer. A survey is conducted at the end of theyear.

• Practice periods for students preparing for the second-ary qualification baccalauréat professionnel.

This practice period covers 14 to 16 weeks of the two-year schooling. It is to enable the pupil• to work with industrial-scale equipment or installa-

tions under conditions which cannot be created inschool;

• to adapt to the work organization;• to learn about industrial reality, to understand the im-

portance of everyone's role and responsibility.These periods at school and in industry must ensurecontinued training. The skills to be imparted to thestudent are specified in relevant regulations, and the re-

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quired papers and materials are jointly defined byschool teachers and enterprise instructors.

There is an interdisciplinary evaluation of in-companytraining; a final statement is proposed to the jury.

• Courses in industry during the preparation of the sec-ondary qualifications baccalauréat technologique andbrevet de technicien supérieur (BTS).

Although participation in a course in industry is not re-quired to obtain the qualification of baccalauréat tech-nologique, relevant regulations recommend such prac-tice periods of four to six weeks' duration at the end ofthe first year.

In contrast to this, the students preparing for a BTSmust complete a full-time course at one or severalpublic or private enterprises within the framework of acourse agreement. The duration of the course is fromfour to eight weeks.

After five years of vocational studies, the student canbe better included in the production process. A certi-ficate of completion of the course is required before thecandidate enrolls for the oral vocational examination.

It should be noted that, for the past two years, theFrench Ministère de l'Education Nationale has beenawarding scholarships in order to enable studentspreparing for the BTS to participate in courses inEuropean enterprises.

4 Voluntary courses

Various young people are involved in courses of thiskind. Motivation, which is often more related to reality,varies greatly. Consequently, there is the complex issueof inadequate global treatment.

Conclusions

This development has produced a new idea about the de-sign and organization of school instruction and about therespective roles of schools and enterprises, the latterbeing considered one way of providing training in anotherplace of learning.

Both have realized what immense profit this newsituation might yield, while cohesion among the educa-tional staff has increased. The students are bettermotivated because they understand why and for what pur-pose they have to make such efforts. They have becomeaware of the roles they are expected to play as workersand citizens. During their training, they have an oppor-tunity to compare theory and practice by using modernequipment.

Concerted education confirms the new principle of learn-ing on the basis of projects. Therefore it should be givena distinct place in Professor Greinert's classification ofmacrosystems as a school-based system in order toinclude the modifications of the past ten years which haveled to a profound change in technical and vocational edu-cation in France.

Learning in School-Run Enterprisesby MENG Guang-ping

1 Some background information and a look at thegeneral situation

1.1 China's economy in transition

China is now undergoing a special stage in which theplanned product economy is being transformed into acommodity economy. This is a transitional stage duringwhich the old and new economic systems coexist. Therapid development of a commodity economy cries out forthe improvement of the workers' capabilities, which has inturn increased the need to develop technical and vocationaleducation. As a result, the technical and vocational educa-tion system faces many new challenges. For example, inthe past, students from technical and vocational schoolsused to take their practice courses in a factory. All the ex-penditures and losses the factory incurred therefrom werecovered by the state. Therefore, factories did not complainabout students' on-the-job training. Now, however, sinceenterprises have begun to adopt the contract responsibilitysystem, business accounting has been directly connectedwith the income of the workers. Thus, many enterprisesrefuse to let students practice in their factories. In factthere are at present no national laws requiring enterprisesto take on such a responsibility.

1.2 Industrial enterprises

China is a vast country with a very unevenly balancedeconomy. From the viewpoint of regional development,every county along the eastern coast in the five provincesof Shandong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian, Anhui, and thecity of Shanghai, has an average of 200 enterprises with anoutput value of over 100 million yuan (3.75 yuan~ 1 US $). But in the north-western provinces of Xinjiang,Gansu, Shaanxi, Ningxia, and Qinghai, a county averagesonly 80 enterprises with an output value of merely fourmillion yuan.Levels of technical equipment also vary greatly rangingfrom the very advanced to the rather backward. Accordingto an investigation made on the equipment used for produc-tion in 8,285 enterprises of large or medium size, equip-ment produced in the 1980s accounts for 33 %, thatproduced in the 1970s makes up 44 %, that produced in the1960s 13 %, that made in the 1950s 9 %, and that madebefore 1949, the year of the founding of the People'sRepublic of China, comprises 1 %. A 1986 survey ofChina's major industrial enterprises shows that equipmenton par with international levels constitutes 13 %, thatmeasuring up to advanced domestic levels makes for 22 %,that reaching average domestic levels accounts for 47 %,and that reaching only poor domestic levels makes up18 %. It is thus evident that the extent of training neededto be attained by trainees and the amount of training theycould possibly receive varies considerably in differentcircumstances in technical and vocational education.

1.3 The role of agriculture

Since the majority of Chinese people live in rural areas,technical and vocational education for the farmers is espe-cially significant. At present, farmers constitute themajority, about 63 %, of the total number of people in em-ployment, but the commodity rate of their crops andsideline products is only 58 %. The amount of grain thatcan be purchased by the state is only 34.4 % of the total

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production. After deducting the grain that has be to soldback to rural areas, the commodity rate of grain is less than25 %. It is true that China's grain production numbers firstin the world, but the grain per capita is only 365 kilograms.The grain shortage problem is becoming more seriousowing to the incessant growth in Population. AlthoughThere Has Been A Continuous Increase in farmers' incomeand a great improvement in their lives with the reform ofthe economic system in rural districts, there are still 70million people living in poverty, i.e. they survive only atthe lowest possible standard of living. In 1987, the averageannual per capita income in China's rural areas was only463 yuan.With the rapid development of township enterprises, theiroutput value in 1987 reached 50.8 % of the total value ofoutput in rural areas. For the first time in history the outputof enterprises surpassed that of agricultural products.Every year about seven million peasants join the workforce of township enterprises. Yet there is a generalshortage of technical personnel. Even in culturally andeconomically more developed coastal provinces, tech-nicians and higher technical personnel make up no morethan two out of thousand of all staff in enterprises. Techni-cal and vocational education in the rural areas must helpfree peasants from poverty, because only by increasingtheir income will such an education be welcomed by thepeasants.

1.4 Structure of the work force

There is a great potential demand for technical and voca-tional education from the whole of Chinese society. At themoment, there are about 19.3 million primary schoolgraduates a year throughout the country, among whom70 % can go on to junior middle school; there are about11.5 million junior middle school graduates and 37 % ofthem can go on to senior middle school. Those who can goup from senior middle school to receive a higher educationare less than 25 %. All these young people who are unableto go to an institute of higher education will enter the worldof work and join those who need to receive technical andvocational education. This number is amazing.Compounding the problem of students' lack of technicalskills is the fact that the technical expertise of employeesalready working in the enterprises is far below standard. Interms of the current eight-grade system for workers, amongthe workers in state-owned enterprises, 71 % are on theelementary level (i.e. from the first to the third grade);26 % are on the middle level (i.e. from the fourth to thesixth grade); and only 3 % are on the advanced level (fromthe seventh to the eighth grade). In order to improve pro-fessionally, a large number of elementary- and middle-level workers also need to receive technical and vocationaleducation. But such an education, so far as its scope of de-velopment is concerned, is wholly inadequate to meet thetremendous demand. What should be considered is how togive the roles of the schools and enterprises full play in thisaspect so as to narrow the gap as tightly as possible. It isimportant here to try to open more channels of funds forthis education and to increase the economic benefits oftraining. Because the Chinese government will have a verytight budget for a fairly long period of time, it is impossibleto largely increase its investment on technical and voca-tional education.

2 Some types of school-run enterprises

2.1 Factories attached to schoolsThe first type of school-run enterprise to be discussed isthat of factories attached to schools which aim at trainingskilled workers and technicians. While providing a placefor students to obtain practical training, such a factory hasregular professional workers and fixed kinds of products.It is run by the school to ensure the production activities inthe factory will match the curriculum activities of theschool. The factory, just as other regular factories, canreceive both investments and loans. In order to supportsuch a school-run enterprise, the government has a specialpreferential tax policy for these factories, namely, a tax cutof 50 %, on the condition that the school must guaranteethat no less than 60 % of the profit will be used to expandand improve its teaching facilities.

The Xianyang Machine Tool Technical School in theShaanxi province is an example of such a factory. This is asecondary technical school aimed at training technicians.The students, numbering 1,500 in all, must be graduatesfrom junior middle school and study at this technicalschool for four years. In addition to various kinds of labo-ratories necessary to facilitate theoretical teaching, theschool has a factory that produces universal and toolgrinding machines. With a regular staff of 574, the factoryoccupies an area of 18,800 square meters and possesses500 major machines for production. Its annual output is200 grinding machines, some of which are even exportedabroad. In 1988, the factory made a profit of 464,000yuan.

According to the curriculum of the school, every studentmust have 20 weeks of practice during four years. Sometraining in basic skills, such as that for a fitter, is conductedin special practice workshops. Most of the operation prac-tice is taken by students during the production processunder the guidance of experienced workers. In this waythe training of students is not just a consumption. Duringthe training, the students can also finish part of the produc-tion work. Of course the skills of the students cannot reachthe requirements for an experienced worker, so they canonly work on something the quality of which theyguarantee. For instance, when a student learns to be aturner and works on a workpiece, he can only process theworkpiece to a certain degree, and the final polishing workstill has to be done by an experienced regular worker inorder to reach the precision prescribed by the blueprint.

Another example is the Yantai Skilled Workers TrainingSchool in Shandong province. The school has a factorywhich produces transmission gear-boxes to be used fortractors. Since many of the mechanical cutting processesare consistent with the requirements for training students tobe skilled workers in machine tools, students can bedelegated to join some of the production work. Under theguidance of their teachers, the second-year students beginto spend half of their school time doing some elementaryprocessing work, while reserving the other half of theirtime for classroom study. During the third year in school,students use one-third of their time for classroom study,one-third for technical training in the practice workshop,and another one-third for independent operation in thefactory during which the teacher makes inspection toursand gives occasional guidance. The graduates must pass aqualifying technical examination. Results show that in thisway about 84 % of the students can reach the fourth gradein the eight-grade system for workers. The profit of thisYantai school-run factory in 1988 was 3,530,000 yuan.

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2.2 Farms run by schools

Another type of school-run enterprise is that of farms runby technical and vocational schools which cater to theneeds of peasants. Such farms are used not only for stu-dents to gain practice, but also for peasants to learn anddisseminate advanced farming techniques. Usually duringthe period of studying at school and practising on the farm,the students may also manage their own small farms athome. The beneficial results brought about by the tech-niques spreading from such schools are immeasurable andfar exceed in value the actual goods produced by theschool-run farm itself. This is an effective way to helppeasants master practical techniques so as to improve pro-duction, and so it has been warmly welcomed by thepeasants.

The Baofengsi Secondary Forestry School in themountainous areas of Zhuolu county, Hebei province, isanother typical example of a school-run enterprise. It hasan orchard of mostly apricot trees because almonds are thespecial product of that area. Unfortunately, the annualyield of almonds in this region is very low, owing to ageneral lack of scientific management among the peasants.The school recruits local young people with a middleschool education. While teaching the students certain sci-entific theories, the school has arranged for the students topractise in the school-run orchard, to learn some basicgrafting and pruning skills, and to attain some biologicaland chemical knowledge in order to prevent and eradicateplant disease and insect pests. Since most of the studentshave some fruit trees around their homes, they can quicklyapply the techniques learned from school to their smallfamily orchards. Meanwhile, they can bring to school theproblems they come across in family orchard managementand consult with the teachers and experienced workers.The students are thus at the same time both students andmanagers. For those who do not have a small orchard athome, the school can also provide them with loans to helpthem set up an orchard. The combination of study andmanagement brings quick economic benefits to most of thestudents during their three years of study. The amount ofalmonds produced by their orchards is generally one tothree times higher than that produced by local farmers. Asthe school becomes more popular among the local farmers,students come not only from local areas but also from othermountainous regions as well. Since those whose homesare far away cannot travel home frequently to take care oftheir orchards, the school has adopted a principle of blockrelease of study and work, i.e. allowing students to study atschool for a period of time (usually over a month) and thenallowing them to go back home for a period of time tomanage their orchards, after which they then return tostudy again. This is a way of "sandwich learning", awholly indigenous teaching method. Up until now theschool has provided technical service to 17 villages in theneighbourhood.

Another example is the Secondary Vocational School ofNangong County, Hebei province, which was originally anordinary middle school. In the beginning, the school set upa mushroom species breeding base and a mushroomcultivating base. These bases not only provide mushroomspecies to the local farmers but also teach them mushroomcultivating techniques in short-term courses. In addition, aschool-run factory producing canned mushrooms was builtup through loans. The raw mushrooms are purchased fromlocal farmers and, after being processed in the factory, aresold in the market. Thus the training bases have beenextended in a way from school to farmers' houses, forming

a chain of production from school to farmers and fromfarmers to the market. Since the canned-mushroom factorywas built in 1987, the school has paid back most of theloans. The profit the farmers have obtained even in thefirst year is much more than what is gained by those whohave not joined this chain of production. The students aregraduates from junior middle school. During their three-year study at the vocational school, half of the time isdevoted to learning the courses required in an ordinarysenior middle school.

The two examples given above are about proprietaryschool-run enterprises. The following two types of enter-prises we are going to discuss are of a non-profit nature.

2.3 Nursery school branches in hospitals

China is in great need of nurses. At present, the pro-portion between doctors and nurses is upside down: Forevery four patients, there are 1.2 doctors, but only 0.5nurses. Calculated according to the number of beds avail-able in hospitals, there is a shortage of 200,000 nurses inChina. Yet only 30,000 nurses can graduate a year fromthe present nursing schools throughout the country.Taking the natural depletion of nurses into consideration,the annual increase of nurses in fact is only 10,000. Inorder to solve this problem, measures toward cooperativemanagement by the nursing schools and the hospitalshave been taken in a number of cities. Usually a nursingschool with fairly good facilities and teaching faculties isthe central school which has several branch schools in anumber of neighbouring hospitals. Part of the training,mostly normal middle school courses and basic profes-sional courses, is conducted in the central school. An-other part of the professional courses and practical train-ing is taken in branch schools in various hospitals ac-cording to the overall plan and requirement of the centralschool. The teaching work there is mainly done bydoctors and experienced nurses in hospital. The examina-tions, for the setting of whose standards the central schoolis responsible, are taken in branch schools in thehospitals. This type of school management has not onlyenlarged the number of students in the nursing schools,but, by way of practical training in hospitals, has alsoalleviated to a certain degree the problem of the shortageof nurses. The hospitals responsible for the school's train-ing have first priority to employ their own nursing schoolgraduates. The regular expenditures for running thebranch schools in hospitals are covered by the govern-ment. As this type of school management has beenproved feasible and effective, the Ministry of PublicHealth and the State Education Commission jointly issueda state regulation in 1987 to ensure the quality of such co-operatively run vocational schools.

2.4 A school-run restaurant

For some professions which require high skills of oper-ation, the vocational schools generally adopt a method oftraining which may be regarded as an improved apprenticesystem. The students acquire the tricks of a professionthrough a technical training which is more scientifically or-ganized than the old apprentice system. For instance,Chinese cooking makes great demands on the skills of thechefs. The students in the cooking class of Jinsong Voca-tional Senior Middle School in Beijing must be juniormiddle school graduates. During their three years inschool, the students will learn Chinese cooking theories inaddition to the general courses of senior middle school.Half of their school time is taken up by learning various

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skills from cutting to cooking, and the longer they havepractised, the higher their skill. There is a cooking labo-ratory in school for students to start in laboratory classunder the guidance of the teachers. As might be expected,the dishes the students have made are usually not verysatisfactory to the taste, so they are either eaten by studentsor sold to them and their teachers at a discount. The schoolruns a public restaurant for profit. After being trained inthe school's cooking laboratory, the third-year students areexpected to cook in the restaurant in turns. As therestaurant does not have any hired professional cooks, thecooking work is done entirely by students under thesupervision of their teachers. This is a higher level oftraining for students which enables them to take up a jobimmediately upon graduation. Since there is a constantchange of chefs in the restaurant and the quality of dishesis not always stable, the prices there are generally lowerthan those in other restaurants of similar levels. Generallyspeaking, however, the service in the restaurant is good, soit is still well patronized. This kind of school-run enter-prise is half for profit because the profits it makes aremostly used to cover the expenses of the students' practicecourses. Since the government grant for the school is verylimited each year, the gap between budget and needs forprofessional training has to be filled in this way.

3 Conclusions

For as vast a developing country as China, it is a fairlypractical way to develop technical and vocational educa-tion by means of cooperation between schools and enter-prises. In China, there is neither a fully developed labourmarket nor abundant funds to provide all the training fa-cilities for students in the vocational schools. The jointstrength of school and enterprise, either in the form of aschool-run enterprise or in the form of cooperativemanagement between school and enterprise, enables thestudents to acquire both the necessary professional skillsand a certain degree of theoretical knowledge. Before thereform of the economic system in 1978, most of the sec-ondary technical schools, which relied wholly on stateinvestment, emphasized learning at school. They provid-ed very few programmes involving cooperation betweenschools and enterprises or any type of school-run enter-prises. During the reform of the economic system, theschools were required to meet the demands of enterprisesat large with newly designed skill training programmes.Therefore schools have turned to school-run enterprisesor cooperative management with enterprises. In 1988,among the 2,957 secondary technical schools throughoutthe country, there were 479 schools who owned their ownfactory or farm for production. The most rapidly devel-oped vocational schools, however, are those newly builtor those transformed from ordinary middle schools. Mostof them started by setting up school-run enterprises or es-tablishing cooperative relations with enterprises. Of the8,954 secondary vocational schools in 1988, there were6,479 schools that had either a farm or a factory, forotherwise, if the schools had relied solely upon the stateeducation investment, they could hardly have survived.This is also called the three-in-one school system of"teaching, technical service and production".

But in running this type of vocational school, there aresome points that deserve special attention:

• The training of students must be given priority in themanagement of school-run enterprises. This is aprinciple that should be closely observed. In normalcircumstances the school-run enterprises would gain

some profit, which is good in itself. Yet if the pursuitof profit is taken as the major purpose of such enter-prises, as is the case in other enterprises, it wouldinterfere with the fundamental goal of training stu-dents.

• It is very important for industrial enterprises run by vo-cational schools to choose the right product. Thewhole production process should meet the require-ments of the student-training programme, and at thesame time, the operations should not be too hard forstudents to handle. Though not easy to choose, oncethe right decision is made, it would greatly facilitateboth production and teaching, of course not withoutconstant coordination in the course of production.

• In the current Chinese system of technical and voca-tional education, there is a general problem ofoveremphasizing theory, in the light of both quantityand depth, and of inadequate training of students' prac-tical abilities. The practice courses in school-run enter-prises should help to solve this problem. Yet it shouldalso be noted that the practice students can possiblygain in school-run enterprises is usually limited invariety and scope. In the present age of rapidly devel-oping technology and swiftly changing society, wecannot imagine it would be enough just to teach stu-dents certain skills for only one particular employmentposition. We have to take into consideration the needfor the development of young people to face the chal-lenges of the future.

The German-Singapore Institute -A Centre for Multifunctional Transferof Training and Technologyby Klaus KRÜGER

1 Supporting Agency and Organizational Form

The German-Singapore Institute (GSI), a training institu-tion of the Singapore Economic Development Board(EDB), offers technical and vocational education in thefield of production engineering and modern technologies.

As EDB considers that industrial development in the longterm requires a sufficient number of qualified workers,EDB's manpower division is also involved in technicaland vocational education of qualified staff for industry.

The Institute was founded in 1981 as a joint venture be-tween the Federal Republic of Germany and the Republicof Singapore. It is to provide technical and vocationaleducation above all for the technical staff at middlemanagement level (technicians) in the metal industry.

In addition, the Institute is to be a centre for modern tech-nologies which supports the Singapore industry in the in-troduction of new technologies and systems. For thatpurpose it organizes information events, offers continuingeducation courses for participants from industry, andprovides advice on new technologies, while at the sametime supporting small and medium-sized enterprises bysupplying them with technical solutions to hardware andsoftware problems.

With regard to both its organizational structure and itssupporting agency, the Institute is a technology transferinstitution with training functions rather than a school inthe usual sense of the word. The instructors working forthe Institute are not qualified teachers but engineers, tech-

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nicians and master craftsmen with additional teachingqualifications.

The Institute's organizational structure is geared toindustry's needs. The teaching/ learning hours are thesame as those in industry. Like workers in industry,teachers and students at the Institute are required to attendfor 44 hours per week.

At the Institute there are no prolonged vacation periods likethose at public schools and higher education institutions;instead there are industrial-type vacations. The teachersand instructors are not public servants; they are employeeswho have concluded a regular work contract with thesupporting agency. The salaries are linked to performance.

2 Integration of the German-Singapore Instituteinto Singapore's existing system of technical andvocational education

In contrast to the Federal Republic of Germany, wherethere is a long tradition of technical and vocational educa-tion regulated by the government and organized jointly byindustry and government (dual system), Singapore does nothave universal, government-controlled vocational educa-tion. In Singapore, vocational qualifications are obtainedeither through on-the-job training or through attendingpublic or private technical schools, polytechnics or univer-sities.

Therefore, the number of workers in Singapore's industrywith no or only limited qualifications was very high in thepast (compared with the situation in the Federal Republicof Germany or other European industrialized countries).

3 The German-Singapore Institute

3.1 History of the Institute

The GSI was founded in 1981 and accepted its first stu-dents in 1982 after a construction phase of only one year.

Under the intergovernmental agreement, the FederalRepublic of Germany was to establish a training institutionin Singapore for production engineers at the middlemanagement level. Furthermore the Institute was toprovide training for technical instructors as well as con-tinuing technical and vocational education for industrialstaff.

I should like to emphasize that the supporting agency is theEconomic Development Board and not the educationministry, as one would have expected.

The German funding share is contributed by the FederalMinistry for Economic Cooperation. Planning and imple-mentation on the German side are the task of the DeutscheGesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ).

3.2 Initial situation and goal of the GSI project

As industrialization progressed in Singapore in the 1980s,it became obvious that the local metal industry sufferedfrom a great shortage of experienced technical staff atmiddle management level. Even the large number ofgraduates from the two polytechnics could not remedy thesituation, because polytechnics training was notsufficiently oriented to industrial practice. In contrast totechnician training in the Federal Republic of Germany,which requires a skilled worker qualification followed by aperiod of work for admission, polytechnics training doesnot usually include laboratory training and practical workexperience.

The newly founded German-Singapore Institute is toremedy this situation. Both qualified workers, some ofthem with several years of industrial experience, and high-school graduates without any vocational education as wellas secondary school-leavers with O-level certificates areadmitted to the GSI's two-year and three-year full-timecourses. After completion of these courses, they are thento fill up the ranks of the technical middle management ofthe metal industry.

Today, the Institute provides training for about 250 stu-dents annually in the field of general production engineer-ing including plastics technology with the following threepriorities:

• cutting and CNC technology;

• tool, model and facility design as well as CAD/ CAMtechnology;

• industrial automation, assembly and robotics.

For the two-year course, about 100 applicants can enrolevery January and July; for the three-year course, 100 stu-dents are admitted once every year.

Admission requires two A-levels at high school or, in thecase of skilled workers, the O-levels together with theNTC-2 certificate of the EDB training centres. In addition,applicants are required to pass an entrance test of mathe-matics and science as well as of the English language.

Furthermore, the applicants have to prove above all theirverbal skills and personal qualification in an interview.

4 Organization of training and curriculum structure

4.1 Organizational structure of the Institute

The Institute's organizational structure is geared to industri-al requirements. For example, students and teachers areobliged to be present for 44 hours (five and a half days) perweek. There are only two weeks' leave between semesters.Each time the student enters or leaves the Institute he mustclock in or out. This is intended not so much as anattendance check than a means to familiarize students withtypical features of the industrial working environment.

In the tight two-year course, more than 50 % of instructiontakes place in workshops and in the numerous laboratories,which are usually equipped with machines and devicesused in industrial production.

We do not consider it a sensible approach to train the stu-dents on special "training machines" or laboratory equip-ment which are not related to the real working situation anddo not enable the student to learn everything he should.From our point of view, the best teaching aid is the ma-chine which the student will have to handle later in his in-dustrial working life.

This is particularly important in the developing countriesfor the following reasons: In recently industrialized coun-tries, most of the rapidly developing industries (unlikeindustry in Europe) do not have a sufficient number ofhighly qualified and experienced technical staff memberswho could familiarize school-leavers with the existing in-dustrial technology. Frequently it is exactly the other wayround: The recruitment of highly trained and practice-oriented technicians is a prerequisite for introducing newtechnologies into the enterprise.

The entire equipment of the GSI is therefore more similarto that of a modern industrial enterprise than to schoolequipment. The Institute has the same departments as anindustrial enterprise, for example

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• cutting,

• tool manufacture,

• thermal treatment,

• plastics processing,

• design,

• quality and materials testing, etc.

Therefore we like to call our institute a teaching factory.This means that, during training, students are acquaintedwith an environment largely identical with the one theywill be working in later on.

The major difference between the GSI and an industrialenterprise is, however, that we are doing production forlearning, a company is doing production for earning.

4.2 Structure of the two-year diploma course

Training at the GSI includes four phases and lasts foursemesters:

Phase 1: Basic training (basic course),six months, first semester;

Phase 2: Technical training (common core), six months,second semester;

Phase 3: Special training (elective course), nine months,third and fourth semester;

Phase 4: Project work (project phase), three months,fourth semester.

In addition to supervised work during the semester, thereis an examination at the end of each semester, the resultof which determines whether the student will pass on tothe next semester. In the middle of the fourth semester,there is a final examination concluding formal training.During the following three-month project phase the stu-dents form teams, each team working on a complex tech-nical project for industry or for the Institute. This projectwork which concludes the training is a particular featureof the GSI curriculum, which I shall describe more fullylater on.

4.3 Curriculum structure

Basic Course (1st semester)

On account of the students' different educationalbackground (A-level or NTC 2), basic training takes placein two separate groups with different learning contents.

The A-level holders' training includes three and a halfdays of practical training per week (i.e. two-thirds of theentire training time) in which they acquire basic metal-working skills, while theoretical instruction during thetwo remaining days deals with basic technical subjects.

NTC-2-holders are mainly taught basic science subjectssuch as mathematics, physics, chemistry and mechanics;they spend only a day and a half per week in the work-shop, carrying out, for example, production tasks for thefourth semester project-phase students.

Common Core (2nd semester)

In the second semester, the students of the A-level groupare mixed with NTC 2 and O-level students and aretrained together. The students are provided with bothbroad and thorough theoretical and practical trainingwhich introduces them to the different areas of productionengineering, quality control and design. I should like topoint out that in this semester, about 80 % of design

exercises take place at CAD workstations rather than atthe usual drawing boards.

In addition to its two design rooms equipped with draw-ing boards, the Institute has three large CAD laboratorieswith more than 120 CAD workstations for two-dimensional and three-dimensional design.

The Common Core furthermore includes an introductionto control technology (pneumatics and hydraulics) as wellas to the fundamentals of electronic data processing inorder to improve the students' computer-handling andprogramming (Basic or Pascal) skills.

More than half of the entire phase 2 training takes place inthe different workshops and laboratories, which areequipped with the latest technological devices. This labo-ratory and workshop training is aimed not only at provid-ing the students with theoretical knowledge, but above allat enabling them to use in practice what they have learned.

Elective Course (3rd and 4th semester)

At the end of the second semester, the students mustchoose one of the following special subject areas:

• automation and robotics,

• cutting and CNC technology,

• design technology and CAD/ CAM.

Admission to the subject areas depends on the student'sperformance in the individual subjects during the first andsecond semesters. In the case of NTC 2 students, previousvocational education is also taken into account.

The elective course focuses on the handling and use ofmodern technologies such as numerically controlled ma-chine tools and processing facilities, CAD/ CAM androbots, the application of modern control techniques, flexi-ble handling and automation as well as computer-aidedproduction planning and control.

In the middle of the fourth semester, there is a finaltheoretical examination which concludes formal trainingand is followed by the three-month or six-month projectphase.

Project Phase

On the one hand, the project phase is to provide for a"smooth transition" of the students from training at theInstitute to real working life in industry. On the otherhand, the teamwork situation is to increase the students'ability to learn and cooperate in a group towards a commongoal.

The project teams, usually consisting of four studentsassisted by two coordinators, work on projects such as theindependent design, construction and manufacturing of acomplex technical system from the field of appliedautomation (e.g. a unit for the automatic assembly of elec-trical components, a packaging machine etc.). Additionalwork to be performed by the teams includes scheduling andorganization of production, purchasing of supplies as wellas cost calculation.

The results of the project work are documented in a com-prehensive project report and form part of the final exami-nation. At the end of the semester, the project is thenpresented to an examination board which evaluates andmarks the performance according to fixed criteria.

The students' performance, the results, and their workattitude and social behaviour in the team prove that this

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project-oriented phase of learning is a suitable trainingmethod.

4.4 Compact course

All students take part not only in language education butalso in a one-week compact course which introducesthem to the fundamentals of labour education and com-munications technology so that, later on during theirworking life, they will be better able to process and passon information.

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List of Participants

1 ParticipantsM. Abdelhafid KOUARAInspecteur de l'enseignement secondaire technique

Ministère de l'Education et de la FormationInspection Générale de Pedagogie14, rue BondjaatitKouaAlgeria

Prof. Guimarâes Roberto BOCLINDirector

SENAIDepartamento Regional do Estado do Rio de JaneiroRua Marise Barros, 678-7ºRio de Janeiro, RJCEP 20270Brazil

Mr. MENG Guang-PingSenior Supervisor

Technical and Vocational DepartmentState Education Commission37 Damucang HutungXidanBeijing 100816China

Prof. Dr. Abdel Razek ABDEL FATTAHFormer President

University of Helwan53 El-Hegaz St., HeliopolisCairoEgypt

M. André BRUYÈREInspecteur Général de l'Education Nationale honoraire

Commission française pour l'Unesco42 Avenue Raymond PoincaréF-75116 ParisFrance

Dr. Michael GUDERDeputy Director

Zentralinstitut für Berufsbildung/Central Institute for Vocational EducationReinhold-Huhn-Str. 5DDR-1086 BerlinGerman Democratic Republic

Prof. Dr. h. c. Günter WIEMANN Universität HannoverInstitut für BerufspädagogikWunstorfer Straße 14D-3000 HannoverFederal Republic of Germany

Dr. Pèter FARKASWissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter

Pädagogisches ZentralinstitutH-1078 BudapestBerzesenyi n. 6Hungary

Mr. Yashwant SINGHDirector of Apprenticeship Training

Directorate General of Employment and TrainingMinistry of LabourGovernment of IndiaShram Shakti BhawanNew Dehli - 110001India

Dr. Antonio Gago HUGUETGeneral Director of Higher Education

Higher Education DirectorateMinistry of Public EducationSan Fernando Nº 1TlalpanMexico

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Dr. Olu AINAAssociate Professor

Department of Vocational and Technical EducationAhmadu Bello UniversityZariaNigeria

Dr. Lennart NILSSONDocent, researcher

University of GothenburgInstitute of EducationBox 1010S-43126 MölndalSweden

2 Observers

2.1 International OrganisationsMr. Eckhart CHROSCIELVocational Training Specialist

International Labour Office (ILO)Vocational Training BranchCH-1211 Geneva 22Switzerland

Prof. Dr. Fritz KATH International Society for Engineering EducationKlagenfurtAustria

Dr. Horst BIERMANNPrivatdozent

Sonnenberg International CentreUniversität HannoverInstitut für BerufspädagogikWunstorfer Str. 14D-3000 Hannover 91Federal Republic of Germany

Mr. Peter GROTHEOberstudiendirektor

World Confederation of Organisations of theOrganisations of the Teaching Profession (WCOTP)MorgesSwitzerland

2.2 Federal Republic of GermanyMr. Karl KÖHLERVortragender Legationsrat

Auswärtiges Amt/Ministry of Foreign AffairsD-5300 Bonn 1Federal Republic of Germany

Dr. Hanfried FLIEDNERMinisterialrat

Bundesministerium für Wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit/Federal Ministry for Economic CooperationD-5300 BonnFederal Republic of Germany

Mr. Günther BLOMOberschulrat

Behörde für Schule, Jugend und Berufsbildung/Ministry for School, Youth and Vocational EducationHamburger Str. 131D-2000 Hamburg 76Federal Republic of Germany

Mr. Dierk STELMASZEWSKIDipl.-Verwaltungswirt

Behörde für Schule, Jugend und Berufsbildung/Ministry for School, Youth and Vocational EducationHamburger Str. 31D-2000 Hamburg 76Federal Republic of Germany

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Mr. THOMÉMinisterialrat

Bayerisches Staatsministerium für Unterricht und Kultus/Bavarian State Ministry for Education and Cultural AffairsD-8000 MünchenFederal Republic of Germany

Mr. Hans KRÖNNERDipl.-Ing.

Bundesinstitut für Berufsbildung/ Federal Institute forVocational TrainingFehrbelliner Platz 3D-1000 Berlin 31

Mr. Ewald GOLDDipl.-Ing.; Seniorfachplaner

Dr. H. RychetskyAbteilungsleiter

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit(GTZ)/ German Society for Technical CooperationDag-Hammarskjöld-Weg 1-2D-6236 Eschborn/Ts.Federal Republic of Germany

3 UnescoDr. S. R. SAMADYDirector

Division of Science, Technical and Environmental EducationUnescoPlace FontenoyF-75700 ParisFrance

Dr. Ravindra DAVÉDirector

Unesco Institute for EducationFeldbrunnenstraße 58D-2000 Hamburg 13Federal Republic of Germany

Ms. Susan DAVIDOFF Division of Science, Technical and Environmental EducationUnescoPlace FontenoyF-75700 ParisFrance

4 Federal Ministry of Education and ScienceDr. Alfred HARDENACKEMinisterialdirigent; Abteilungsleiter

Abteilung III(Berufliche Bildung)Bundesministerium für Bildung und WissenschaftHeinemannstraße 2D-5300 Bonn 2Federal Republic of Germany

Dr. Hermann MÜLLER-SOLGERRegierungsdirektor; Referatsleiter

Referat I B 1(Multilaterale Zusammenarbeit)Bundesministerium für Bildung und WissenschaftHeinemannstraße 2D-5300 Bonn 2Federal Republic of Germany

Dr. Willi MASLANKOWSKIRegierungsdirektor

Referat III A 4(Bereich Internationale Aspekte der beruflichen Bildung)Bundesministerium für Bildung und WissenschaftHeinemannstraße 2D-5300 Bonn 2Federal Republic of Germany

Ms. Sabine EHMKERegierungsrätin z. A.

Referat I B 1(Multilaterale Zusammenarbeit)Bundesministerium für Bildung und WissenschaftHeinemannstraße 2D-5300 Bonn 2Federal Republic of Germany

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5 ExpertsMr. Harald BONGARDDipl.-Ing.

Volkswagenwerk AGZentrales BildungswesenD-3180 WolfsburgFederal Republic of Germany

Prof. Dr. Walter GEORG Fernuniversität HagenGesamthochschuleFachbereich Erziehungs- und SozialwissenschaftenPostfach 940D-5600 HagenFederal Republic of Germany

Prof. Dr. Wolf-Dietrich GREINERT Technische Universität BerlinInstitut für BerufspädagogikFranklinstraße 28/29D-1000 Berlin 10

Mr. Klaus KRÜGERDipl.-Ing.; Director

German-Singapore Institute10, Science Centre RoadSingapore 2260

Mr. Rune AXELSSONUniversity teacher; Researcher

Department of EducationUppsala UniversityBox 2109S-UppsalaSweden

Mr. Reinaldo J. G. KIRCH-HEIMAdvisor

SENAIRua Maris e Barros, 678Rio de JaneiroBrazil

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Index

General Index.........................................................................page 58

Individuals..............................................................................page 59

Countries ................................................................................page 60

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General Indexagriculture ................................................................................................................................... 7, 18, 46

artificial systems of learning...................................................................................................... 13, 35-36

baccalauréat professionnel (France)...................................................................................................... 45

baccalauréat technologique (France) .................................................................................................... 46

Berufsbildungsförderungsgesetz (Federal Republic of Germany)........................................................ 19

Berufsbildungsgesetz (Federal Republic of Germany) ................................................................... 17, 18

Betriebsakademien (German Democratic Republic) ............................................................................ 26

Betriebsberufsschule (German Democratic Republic).......................................................................... 26

brevet de technicien supérieur (France) ................................................................................................ 46

bureaucratic model.................................................................................................................... 11, 16, 22

collège (France) .................................................................................................................................... 45

company model....................................................................................................................................... 4

cooperative model........................................................................................................... 4, 11, 12, 25, 31

course instruction..............................................................................................4, 5, 13-14, 34-37, 40, 45

didactic models ...............................................................................................................12-13, 33, 34-40

German-Singapore Institute (GSI) ....................................................................................... 14, 49-52, 56

government-controlled market model........................................................................................ 11, 16-17

instructional units (ILO) ................................................................................................................. 42, 43

International Labour Organization (ILO)........................................................................ 8, 13, 14, 41, 54

job analysis ............................................................................................................................... 13, 31, 32

job-modular reference charts (ILO) ...................................................................................................... 41

Kommunale Berufsschule (German Democratic Republic).................................................................. 26

learning elements (ILO)...................................................................................................... 13, 41, 42, 43

learning package (ILO) ......................................................................................................................... 43

lycées professionnels (France) .............................................................................................................. 45

macrosystems of technical and vocational education .................................................4, 11-12, 15-19, 46

market model ............................................................................................................. 4, 11, 16-19, 20, 22

microsystems of technical and vocational education ............................................................. 4, 12, 33-40

modular units (ILO) ......................................................................................................................... 41-43

Modules of Employable Skills (MES) ....................................................................... 4, 13, 15, 35, 41-43

natural systems of learning ............................................................................................................. 13, 34

non-formal education........................................................................................................................ 8, 18

on-the-job learning..........................................................................................7, 13, 15-16, 32-40, 46, 50

planning competence ............................................................................................................................ 33

polytechnical school (German Democratic Republic) ..................................................................... 25-28

problem-solving approach .................................................................................................................... 33

process learning .............................................................................................................................. 33, 36

project instruction ...................................................................................................... 6, 13-14, 34, 37, 40

school-run enterprise..............................................................................................4, 13-14, 37-40, 46-49

selection charts (ILO) ........................................................................................................................... 42

SENAI (Brazil) .......................................................................................................... 7, 12, 28-32, 53, 56

skills passport (ILO) ............................................................................................................................. 43

social competence, social learning........................................................................................................ 33

technical competence............................................................................................................................ 33

terminology in technical and vocational education (Unesco) ....................................................... 7, 8, 18

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IndividualsBlom, Günther ...................................................................................................................................... 54

Abdel Fattah, Abdel Razek............................................................................................................... 7, 53

Aina, Olu........................................................................................................................................... 7, 54

Axelsson, Rune..................................................................................................................................... 56

Biermann, Horst.......................................................................................................................... 7, 11, 54

Blom, Günther ................................................................................................................................ 10, 54

Boclin, Guimarâes R............................................................................................................. 7, 12, 28, 53

Bongard, Harald.................................................................................................................... 7, 13, 43, 56

Bruyère, André ..................................................................................................................... 7, 12, 45, 53

Chrosciel, Eckhart................................................................................................................. 7, 13, 41, 54

Davé, Ravindra ............................................................................................................................... 10, 55

Davidoff, Susan .................................................................................................................................... 55

Ehmke, Sabine ................................................................................................................................ 10, 55

Farkas, Pèter ......................................................................................................................................... 53

Fliedner, Hanfried................................................................................................................................. 54

Georg, Walter ....................................................................................................................... 7, 11, 19, 56

Gold, Ewald .......................................................................................................................................... 55

Greinert, Wolf-Dietrich .......................................................................................7, 11, 12, 15, 19, 46, 56

Grothe, Peter ......................................................................................................................................... 54

Guder, Michael ..................................................................................................................... 7, 12, 25, 53

Hardenacke, Alfred..................................................................................................................... 8, 10, 55

Hegelheimer, Armin ............................................................................................................................. 15

Huguet, Antonio G................................................................................................................................ 53

Kath, Fritz ............................................................................................................................................. 54

Kirch-Heim, Reinaldo J. G. .................................................................................................................. 56

Köhler, Karl .......................................................................................................................................... 54

Kouara, Abdelhafid............................................................................................................................... 53

Krönner, Hans............................................................................................................................. 2, 10, 55

Krüger, Klaus........................................................................................................................ 7, 14, 49, 56

Lauterbach ............................................................................................................................................ 15

Maslankowski, Willi ....................................................................................................................... 15, 55

Meng, Guang-ping................................................................................................................ 7, 13, 46, 53

Möllemann, Jürgen W............................................................................................................................. 3

Müller-Solger, Hermann....................................................................................................................... 55

Nilsson, Lennart.................................................................................................................... 7, 11, 22, 54

Psacharopoulos ..................................................................................................................................... 10

Rychetsky, H......................................................................................................................................... 55

Samady, S. R............................................................................................................................... 8, 10, 55

Singh, Yashwant ............................................................................................................................... 7, 53

Stelmaszewski, Dierk............................................................................................................................ 54

Thomé, Mr. ........................................................................................................................................... 55

Wiemann, Günter.......................................................................................................7, 10, 12, 13, 33, 53

Zedler, Reinhard ................................................................................................................................... 15

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CountriesAlgeria ................................................................................................................... 7, 53

Austria........................................................................................................................17

Brazil.................................................................................................4, 7, 28-32, 53, 56

China...............................................................................................4, 10, 13, 46-49, 53

Colombia.................................................................................................................... 10

Costa Rica.................................................................................................................. 10

Egypt...................................................................................................................... 4, 53

France........................................................................................4, 16, 17, 45-46, 53, 55

German Democratic Republic............................................ 4, 7-9, 11-12, 16, 25-28, 53

Germany, Federal Republic of ....................... 4, 7-13, 16-19, 22, 38, 43, 49, 50, 53-56

Hungary ........................................................................................................... 7, 16, 53

India ................................................................................................................. 7, 10, 53

Japan .................................................................................................4, 7, 11, 16, 19-22

Koreans ...................................................................................................................... 20

Mexico ................................................................................................................... 7, 53

Netherlands ................................................................................................................ 10

Nigeria ............................................................................................................. 4, 10, 54

Poland .................................................................................................................. 10, 16

Singapore ..........................................................................................4, 7, 14, 49-52, 56

Sri Lanka.................................................................................................................... 10

Sweden......................................................................................4, 11, 16, 22-25, 54, 56

Switzerland ................................................................................................................ 17

Tanzania..................................................................................................................... 10

USA ..................................................................................................................... 10, 16

Venezuela................................................................................................................... 10

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