Vocational education and training in Germany: trends and issues

This article provides a detailed and accessible account of the contemporary structure of the German system for vocational education and training and of some of the main issues and concerns causing current stresses within it. First, we outline the so-called dual system for initial vocational training and the manner in which it is underpinned by the general education system. A number of difficulties threaten the continuation f the dual system in its present form, the most important of which are increasing pressures for the differentiation of, and for greater flexibility in, training provision, and also for restructuring of the system's costs and funding. Secondly, this article describes the much less regulated and discussed field of provision for continuing vocational training and identifies further current troubles affecting this sphere, such as imperfect knowledge and quality, access problems, and – again – the funding of such training.