apprenticeship supply in the eu - findings from a comparative survey - christiane westphal european...
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Apprenticeship supply in the EU - Findings from a comparative survey -
Christiane WestphalEuropean CommissionDG Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion
Meeting of the Advisory Committee for Vocational TrainingBrussels 29 June 2012
Policy context: youth unemployment crisis
EU youth unemployment over 22 %= 5.5 million unemployed aged under 25
Nearly 1/3 of low skilled youth on the labour market are unemployed
Over 7.5 million young people 15-24 not in education or training or employment (NEET)
EU Youth Opportunities Initiative
• Priorities:
• - preventing early-school leaving
- developing skills that are relevant to the labour market
- helping gain first work experience/training apprenticeships and traineeships
- helping access the labour market and get a job
Delivery:
European Semester, Structural Funds, EU actions
Good arguments for apprenticeships…
• Combine theory imparted at schools with practical training in real work situations (enterprises)
• Facilitate rapid school-work transitions for young people
• Also used (by individuals or enterprises) as a tool for LLL
• Facilitate identification of skill shortages and influence of companies on the VET training supply => linkage between productive system and training system
• Provide “recruitment”, “productive” and “new Knowledge” benefits for enterprises
Where do we stand?
VET often not regarded as valuable option, but: increasing importance attributed to workplace-based training
• Constant definition dilemma
• Strong differences in apprenticeship-type schemes • Different intensity of workplace training• Different roles and relationships amongst parties involved
Some aggregate figures (2009)
• EU-27: approximately a total of 3.7 million students in apprenticeship in the strict sense
• Another 5.7 million students attend other apprenticeship-type schemes (i.e. mainly school-based VET training with compulsory work-based training)
• Together, EU businesses supplied company training positions for a total of 9.4 million students
• = apprenticeship-type students represent approximately 85.2% of total secondary VET students and 40.5% of total secondary students in the EU-27.
Insufficient vocational pathways
Variety of systems
• All MS: schemes at upper secondary level where workplace training plays a significant role => apprenticeship-type schemes
• In 24/27 MS: VET schemes which can be labeled as mainly company based (i.e. > 50% of training in companies) -> apprenticeship system in a strict sense.
• In 18/24 MS, company based apprenticeship coexists with other mainly school-based training schemes
Country %work-based
training% School based training and time distribution
Denmark66%-90% 10%-35% By blocks of 5-10 weeks
Estonia66% 33% Flexible arrangements
France66% 33%
2-3 weeks company/ 1 week VT centre
Germany60% 40% 1-2 days/week
Poland 4-6 summer weeks
4-6 weeks Whole academic year
Slovak Republic>=60% <=40% 1-2 days/week
Spain20%-30% 70%-80% At the beginning of training cycle
The Netherlands >=60% <=40% 1-2 days/week
United Kingdom<=70% >=30% 1 day/week
Are all actors involved?
Actors involved DK SK FR DE PO SL ES NL UK
State at central level
Regional/municipal authorities
Social Partners
Vocational schools
Who decides company participation ?Denmark: Trade committee of respective branch
Estonia: Vocational schools
France: Chambers
Germany: Special bipartite VT committee
Poland: Vocational schools
Slovakia: Vocational Training Institutions
Spain: Training centre
Netherlands: 17 sector VET knowledge centres
United Kingdom: Very few requisites for employers
Student/Company relationship
Critical factors:
•Parties involved
•Contents
•Remuneration
•Exams and degrees
Some crisis effects
More students interested in pursuing VET in some countries
Downward trend in the amount of apprenticeships and in-company training placements offered by enterprises
Reduced public resources for promoting apprenticeship-type schemes
Use of apprenticeship students as a kind of cheap labour
Increasing share of experienced unemployed professionals who try to find a job through an apprenticeship
Wide range of challenges…
System design
Access and Provision
Inclusion
Further information
• http://bookshop.europa.eu/en/apprenticeship-supply-in-the-member-states-of-the-european-union--pbKE3012434/
• http://ec.europa.eu/social/yoi