Bilateral cooperation with Portugal is extended

On 23 July 2015, almost three years following the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in November 2012 for the bilateral collaboration between Germany and Portugal, both Ministries of Education renewed their statement of intent to intensify their joint efforts in the area of vocational education and training. On her two-day visit to Lisbon, Federal Minister Johanna Wanka agreed with her counterpart Education Minister, Nuno Crato, to again initiate joint projects in the next three years, in order to offer young people better education and training opportunities and thus also better prospects for the future. Youth unemployment in Portugal has fallen by 4.2 percentage points since 2014, but still remains significantly above the EU average at 31.2 percent (EU-28: 20.7 percent).

To BMBF reporting

Conference on vocational education and training of the Lisbon Foreign Chamber of Commerce

On the day the MoU was signed, the Education Minister also spoke at a vocational education and training conference organised by the Lisbon Foreign Chamber of Commerce. Together with Minister Nuno Crato and the Minister for Solidarity, Work and Social Insurance, Pedro Mota Soares, she reflected in her speech on the link between the relevance of adequate education, training and qualifications for young people and economic prosperity.

Minister Wanka expressed her admiration for the course of reform being taken by the Portuguese government and emphasised her willingness to support this. The objective of the vocational education and training conference was to provide a platform to openly discuss the individual elements of the dual vocational education and training system in Portuguese public life. All participants agreed that the point was not to transfer the system in its entirety from Germany. Under the motto “Vocational education and training: competitiveness - economic prosperity” the entire spectrum of the dual system of vocation education and training in Germany was addressed in its complexity. Over 200 participants from politics, business and the Portuguese community as well as invited guests from Germany followed the stimulating podium discussion and introductory presentations.

Professor Reinhold Weiss, Deputy President and Head of Research of the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB), began with an introductory presentation in the series of topics related to cooperation between the state and business. In this speech he made the case for the involvement of all relevant stakeholders in vocational education and training being an essential element of effective vocational education and training. “It is precisely the experts in the businesses - the competent individuals in practice - who are in the best place to judge which qualifications are needed, which challenges are being faced in which occupations, or how they can best be implemented in training regulations and testing requirements” commented Reinhold Weiss. In Germany the state acts as moderator of the framework conditions and assists the process of defining the occupations; a process for which it relies on the knowledge from practice. The involvement of the parties concerned and those benefiting from vocational education and training, i.e. of representatives from associations, businesses and trade unions from the different industries, ensures that the different interests are brought to bear and are taken into account in the compromise which is ultimately reached. This ensures the necessary broad acceptance of the solutions found, which is particularly important for the agreement of the relevant stakeholders.
Weiss emphasized however, that the nature of the involvement of business organisations and trade unions will be different for each country and must be balanced according to the traditions and core values of the stakeholders. A look at the dual systems in the neighbouring countries of Austria and Switzerland shows that there are a variety of successful models. In these countries the governance models are very different from the German method.

Bilateral working group

The signing of the memorandum of understanding (MoU) on 23/06/2015 is the basis for the continued work of the bilateral working group in the coming three years. Under the umbrella of the bilateral working group, a qualification measure for company trainers, so-called tutors, has been developed on the statutory basis of 35 hours for annual advanced training. Key individuals were trained in the pilot project. The result is the availability of work material for the training which has been adapted to the Portuguese requirements and the reality of business conditions. On the Portuguese side, the cooperation partners were the Education Ministry (MEC), the Institute for Employment (IEFP) and the Qualification Authority (ANQEP). The project was financed locally by the Chamber of Foreign Trade and the BMBF. The overall coordination rested with the GOVET and scientific support with the BIBB.

In the bilateral working group, which now meets and is chaired by the adviser to the Portuguese Education Minister Isabel Hormigo and by Susanne Burger, Deputy Director of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF); representatives on the German side from the BMBF, GOVET, BIBB, the Federation of German trade unions (DGB), the Lisbon Goethe Institute, the Federal Employment Agency and the Chamber of Foreign Trade discussed the working plans for the next three years with their Portuguese colleagues from Trade Union Associations (CGTP and UGT), the Employers' Association (CIP), the National Agency ANPROALV, the Qualification Authority (ANQEP), the Employment Agency (IEFP), the Association of Vocational Education and Training schools (ANESPO) and various occupational associations. This has resulted in two permanent work groups being set up in Portugal to deal with the implementation and evaluation of the tutor project and the issues of “raising quality” and “mechanisms for making vocational education and training more attractive for businesses and young people”. This is also expected to involve the matter of the qualification of coordinators in the school as a link to the training companies. The next workshop is planned for September.