The OECD report “Education at a Glance 2022”, published last autumn, asked both about young people’s higher education and about vocational education and training and opportunities for advancement, e.g. to master craftsman, technician, educator or the like. What are the findings for Germany? Where does this country need to catch up? Dr Jens Brandenburg, Parliamentary State Secretary in the Ministry of Education, talks to the Diplomatisches Magazin.
DM: Dr Brandenburg, the OECD report “Education at a Glance 2022” shows: Germany needs more vocational and academic specialists. What are the concepts the Ministry of Education has developed in response to this?
Dr Jens Brandenburg: Almost two million positions are currently unfilled in Germany. That is more than ever before. That is why the Federal Government has adopted the new skilled labour strategy. We want to support companies and businesses in attracting and retaining skilled workers. The strategy bundles the joint activities of politics, business and society to secure skilled labour.
A key component is the Excellence Initiative for Vocational Education and Training. With this initiative, we, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, want to give vocational orientation a significant boost and promote the strengthening of vocational orientation in Germany. We are placing a new focus on expanding career guidance at grammar schools as well.
In addition, we have further developed the National Continuing Education Strategy in cooperation with our partners. We want to simplify the pathways to continuing education and make better use of digital opportunities. For this reason, we are launching a new innovation competition, InnoVET Plus, to further expand the promotion of innovation in vocational education and training.
DM: The share of low-skilled young adults in Germany has risen, with one in seven people between the ages of 25 and 34 having no qualified training nowadays. That is a lot of lost potential for society. What measures have been put in place to change this?
Dr Jens Brandenburg: Let me give you three examples: The validation of non-formally and informally acquired vocational competences is an important concern for me. It helps to integrate people without formal vocational qualifications into the education and employment system. With the ValiKom initiative, people with work experience but without a formal vocational qualification can have their acquired competences determined and certified against the benchmark of a dual training occupation at 32 locations and in almost 40 occupations. Even up to the point of proving that they have the same competen-ces as a trained specialist. We want to enshrine the validation procedure in law during this legislative period.
We have also made it easier to obtain a vocational qualification. Here, the instrument of partial qualifications oriented towards vocational qualifications offers the possibility of gradually obtaining a qualification up to the level of a vocational qualification. In addition, there are numerous measures offered by the Federal Employment Agency. We want to enable each and every individual to take the path to vocational qualification. On this issue, we are working closely with the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs.
DM: OECD and PISA have shown for years that educational success in Germany is still dependent on the social background of the children. What answers does the Ministry of Education have to this deplorable state of affairs?
Dr Jens Brandenburg: Educational opportunities must not depend on social background. With the best education, we want to create more opportunities for advancement – regardless of parental home or place of residence. Basic skills in reading, writing and arithmetic are declining. The months of school closures during the pandemic have exacerbated this. In addition, there are psychological and social consequences. These were serious mistakes, the consequences of which will be felt for a long time.
With the Startchancen programme, we want to help children and young people who receive little or no support at home. We are putting an end to the scattergun approach and want to provide targeted support where the challenges are greatest. At about 4,000 schools with a high proportion of socially disadvantaged pupils, we want to invest together with the Länder (federal states, editor’s note) in an attractive infrastructure, in additional staff and in teaching and school development. We owe this to the young generation.
DM: In academia, the proportion of women is 40%, which is below the OECD average. How can the proportion of women be increased?
Dr Jens Brandenburg: In the field of science, the proportion of women decreases with each step on the career ladder after graduation. Only one in four professorships in Germany is held by women and only one in five universities is headed by female rectors or presidents. We want to change that. Gender and social prejudices must not be allowed to become an obstacle in careers and quality in science. The Federal Ministry of Education and Research is contributing to this with a series of measures, for example through the Female Professors Programme 2030, with which we are promoting female-occupied chairs, or with projects in the funding guideline ‘Innovative Women in Focus’, which aims to make female researchers in all disciplines more visible to the public. We need visible role models who inspire young women and girls for science. The tenure-track programme for the promotion of young researchers aims to improve equal opportunities and the compatibility of career and family. At almost 48 per cent, the proportion of women in these occupations is gratifyingly high.
Interview Marie Wildermann