The ‘duality’ of VET in Austria: institutional competition between school and apprenticeship

Abstract

This article analyses the structure and development of Austrian apprenticeship in the context of the country’s wider vocational education and training (VET) system. In doing so, it draws on official data and survey results as well as the available, related literature on historical institutionalism. It begins with an analysis of the basic structure of the VET system and shows that the modernising element in VET in Austria has always been situated in the schooling sector, whereas the structure of the apprenticeship system has changed little, remaining primarily in the traditional sectors of employment. It goes on to analyse recent developments in the apprenticeship system, revealing signs of a ‘crisis’ that is being resolved by establishing more institutional forms of apprenticeship. Finally, the developments in Austria are analysed with regard to more basic questions relating to the strengths and weaknesses of the apprenticeship model, indicating some quite paradoxical features and unresolved puzzles.

Keywords:

• vocational education and training
• policy issues
• workplace learning
• VET and the labour market
• history of education

Notes

1. See for an overview http://www.statistik.at/web_en/statistics/education_culture/index.html.

2. See for an overview http://www.ams.at/ueber_ams/14172.html.

3. See also Graf, Lassnigg, and Powell (forthcoming) for a more extended description of the methodology.

4. This development was led and strongly promoted by Armand Dumreicher, a liberal reformer who also travelled to France and other countries to find ‘good examples’ for the creation and development of a VET system (cf. Schermaier 2001).

5. Apprenticeship and BMS last two to four years, BHS lasts five years. Full-time schooling was extended by one year in the 1960s, leaving apprenticeships and BMS somewhat underestimated in this picture. However, this does not counter the overall argument.

6. Apprenticeships are regulated by the apprenticeship contract, which stipulates compulsory school attendance for apprentices. It does not extend to young people who are not enrolled in an apprenticeship or full-time school. Unqualified youth employment has repeatedly been a matter of political concern: in the twentieth century, the Social Democrats demanded compulsory school attendance for this group and subsequently made its inclusion in the apprenticeship system one of their main policies.

7. The administration of apprenticeships has been delegated to offices which form part of the regional Chambers of Commerce (Lehrlingsstellen).

8. About 70% of an age cohort (the figures are higher in rural areas and lower in urban regions) opt for the Hauptschule, where they are streamed according to ability.

9. About 5–10% of pupils opt to terminate their formal education at the end of compulsory schooling.

10. In the process establishing a National Qualification Framework (NQF), the main tendency is to allocate all apprenticeship occupations together with BMS to levels 3 or 4 and BHS to level 5 (of eight levels that are conceived to be parallel to the European Qualification Framework (EQF) levels; BMUKK and BMWF 2008, 27). The PISA results indicate wide competence levels among apprenticeship beginners, but a considerable proportion of apprentices figure in the lowest levels. In PISA 2000, about 32% of male and 27% of female apprentices scored below level 2 in reading, compared to about 15% of BMS pupils (cf. Schneeberger and Petanovitsch 2004; see also the PISA 2000 results for Austria: http://www.bifie.at/pisa-2000-uebersicht-ergebnisse). To a considerable degree, apprenticeship has been a kind of ‘gathering place’ for young people who have failed in the other parts of their schooling.

11. The classifications ‘industry’ (Industrie) and ‘craft’ (Gewerbe) used in the counting of apprenticeships bear a strong resemblance to the institutional demarcation lines, where ‘industry’ refers to the large manufacturing enterprises and to the SMEs often active in the same trade categories.

12. If we take the information in Table 1 and calculate the costs of the system based on constant average institutional per-student inputs, the actual resources needed from public funds are about 20% higher than a fictional sum based on a constant distribution of students from 1973.

13. There are indications that the demand for apprenticeships has increasingly concentrated on specific trades in traditional apprenticeship sectors. High training enterprise rates are found in the construction (32%), manufacturing (28%), retail and services (15%) and tourism (12%) sectors. Detailed studies in the late 1990s show that the weight of apprenticeship has increased in the traditional sectors, yet decreased overall. Current forecasts expect development to be stable, with a slight decrease in the number of active enterprises in construction and manufacturing and a slight increase in the services sector.

14. The Austrian trainer platform publishes a text in German on its website which translates as follows: ‘It’s very easy to become a trainer! All you have to do is get yourself the necessary qualification. You can do so by sitting a trainer exam or successfully completing a trainer course. You might even already have the qualifications because many exams also serve as a substitute’ (http://www.ausbilder.at/ausbilder_at/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5&Itemid=20; see also the instructions on how to become a trainer at http://www.ausbilder.at/ausbilder_at/images/stories/ausbilder/suchen/wie_ausbilder.pdf)

15. The overall proportion of simple tasks decreases from over one third in year one to about one fifth in year four of an apprenticeship. The proportion of complex tasks increases from less than 10% in year one to more than one third in year four; in year three the proportion of time spent on simple and complex tasks is roughly even at about 25%.