Renewal of the Joint Declaration of Intent on German-Portuguese cooperation in vocational education and training

Germany and Portugal have once again extended their cooperation in vocational education and training. The Joint Declaration of Intent on VET cooperation between the two countries, which dates back to 2012, was renewed for the second time in Lisbon on 7th February 2019. The continuation of the agreement underlines the fact that the VET partnership between Germany and Portugal has deepened over the years.

The new Joint Declaration of Intent was signed at the Goethe Institute in Lisbon by Parliamentary State Secretary Thomas Rachel and State Secretaries João Costa (Ministry of Education) and Miguel Cabrita (Ministry of Labour, Solidarity and Social Security).

The Memorandum of Understanding essentially focuses on the continued pursuit of lines of work and activity that have already been established. Acting on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), GOVET and BIBB have been successfully supporting these tasks. The tried-and tested-bilateral activities that have been taking place include academic research networking on VET systems and instruments, and collaboration in the training of teaching staff, trainers and tutors. Exchanges between pupils and trainees are well established, and such arrangements have also been instigated for training staff and for representatives of companies and institutions. Two new thematic focuses are pluralism and inclusion in initial and continuing vocational education and training systems and the fostering of language skills.

Two workshops on the development of standards in IT occupations are planned in Lisbon within the scope of the lines of activity supported by GOVET. Shortly, a study tour in Germany is going to take place, during which the main emphasis will be on digitalisation of the world of work and integration of the social partners into vocational education and training. Representatives of Portuguese employers and employees from the IT sector will be networking with German stakeholders in order to continue learning from one another.