The Dual System of Vocational Education in the Federal Republic of Germany: An Obsolescent Model?

Abstract

I should like to begin my discussion of the question raised in the title— whether the dual system of vocational education is an obsolescent model— with an illustration by way of comparison, from a talk given by Karl-Heinz Geissler (1991) on the situation and evolution of vocational education in the Federal Republic of Germany. Like Venice, the dual system once was the source of decisive impulses. The beginning of the modern era is inseparable from the achievements and the developments of the Republic of Venice. And—this is the analogy—the beginning of systematic industrialization, which we could call "modernized modern," is inseparable in our society from the dual system of vocational education. But—and here is the quintessence of the comparison—Venice, like the dual system, later lost its innovative functions. It is generally accepted that Venice has become a museum, and that the obsolescence of the dual system is glossed over by ever-newer campaigns about its attractiveness. But this alters nothing in the fact that the dual system has its future behind it.