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Vocational Education and Training
The German education system has been praised for its ability to provide
quality general education combined with excellent specific training for
a profession or a skilled occupation. In 1992 about 65 percent of the
country's workforce had been trained through vocational education. In
the same year, 2.3 million young people were enrolled in vocational or
trade schools.
Building upon the junior secondary program, the Berufsschulen
are two- and three-year vocational schools that prepare young people for
a profession. In the 1992-93 academic year, there were 1.8 million enrolled
in these schools. About 264,000 individuals attended Berufsfachschulen,
also called intermediate technical schools (ITS). These schools usually
offer full-time vocation-specific programs. They are attended by students
who want to train for a specialty or those already in the workforce who
want to earn the equivalent of an intermediate school certificate from
a Realschule. Full-time programs take between twelve and eighteen
months, and part-time programs take between three and three-and-one-half
years. Other types of schools designed to prepare students for different
kinds of vocational careers are the higher technical school (HTS), the
Fachoberschule, attended by about 75,000 persons in 1992-93,
and the advanced vocational school (AVS), the Berufsaufbauschule,
attended by about 6,500 persons in the same year. Students can choose
to attend one of these three kinds of schools after graduating with an
intermediate school certificate from a Realschule or an equivalent
school.
The method of teaching used in vocational schools is called the dual
system because it combines classroom study with a work-related apprenticeship
system. The length of schooling/training depends on prior vocational experience
and may entail one year of full-time instruction or up to three years
of part-time training.
Students can earn the Fachhochschulreife after successfully
completing vocational education and passing a qualifying entrance examination.
The Fachhochschulreife entitles a student to enter a Fachhochschule,
or a training college, and to continue postsecondary occupational or professional
training in engineering or technical fields. Such programs last from six
months to three years (full-time instruction) or six to eight years (part-time
instruction). Some students with many years of practical experience or
those with special skills may also attend a Fachhochschule.
Vocational education and training is a joint government-industry program.
The federal government and the Laender share in the financing
of vocational education in public vocational schools, with the federal
government bearing a slightly higher share (58 percent in 1991) than the
Laender. On-the-job vocational training, whose cost is entirely
borne by companies and businesses, is more costly to provide than vocational
education. In the early 1990s, companies and businesses annually spent
2 percent of their payrolls on training.
- Elementary
Education
- Junior Education
- Senior Education
- Vocational
Education
- Higher Education
- Geography (lands and
capitals, climate)
- Society (population, religion,
marriage, urbanization, social structure, immigration)
- Education (elementary,
junior, senior, vocational, higher)
- Economy (the Economic
Miracle, financial system, Bundesbank, business culture)
- Politics (government,
the Chancellor, the President, parties, Bundestag)
- Mass Media (newspapers,
radio and TV)
- Armed Forces (army,
navy, air forces, police)
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