Search Results

This study draws attention to how German transplants in China respond to localized shortages of skilled workers in a conurbation of German manufacturing enterprises near Shanghai, China. Deficiencies in the vocational education and training (VET) system and poaching of skilled workers by other enterprises are the two major challenges in the local labour market of this area. The focus of this study is to examine the innovative coping strategies of different types of enterprises that are applied in order to achieve these challenges.

Methodologically, the study design is based on case study research conducted by elements of on-site expert interviews, documentary analysis and inspection of the shop-floors. Cultural historical activity theory by Engestrom is used to analyse the innovative approaches detected in the research field. The findings of this study show a range of innovative approaches within German enterprises. Depending on the needs and types of enterprises, we find linkages between the companies internal and the local external labour market as well as engagements with local institutions and forms of cooperations to meet their market-oriented requirements.

Published abstract.

The volume from which this paper is taken is available in VOCEDplus at TD/TNC 136.651. Show less

On the macro level (federal level) and exo level (state or regional level), the German Dual Apprenticeship System shows a high degree of institutionalised collaboration. However, in this keynote address the author proposes that the companies and vocational schools on the meso level (institutional level and level of the actors), in contrast, are just loosely coupled with a dominant partner (i.e., companies) and a subordinate partner (i.e., schools). The term 'Dual System' was invented in the 1960s, and the intention was to emphasise equal responsibilities, partnership of equals, lively encounters and close collaboration between companies and schools. This vision is not yet a reality, as the presented empirical survey demonstrates. A majority of companies do not or rather seldom cooperate with 'their' vocational schools. The term 'Parallel Systems' seems to be more appropriate to characterise the actual situation on the meso level than the term Dual System.

Edited published abstract.

The volume from which this paper is taken is available in VOCEDplus at TD/TNC 131.484. Show less

This volume presents selected results from the initiative 'Research on the Internationalization of Vocational Education and Training', funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research. The articles show how the projects of the funding program contribute to strengthening and expanding institutionalized vocational education and training research as well as international vocational education and training cooperation. The chapters outline and discuss research findings as well as innovative models and ideas for development perspectives.

Edited excerpt from publisher's website.

The chapters are as follows: Research on the internationalization of vocational education and training: program evaluation and its implications / Carla Olivier, Olga Zlatkin-Troitschanskaia, and Miriam Toepper; Networks in international vocational education and training research: a contribution to best practices / Sandra Bohlinger, Ianina Scheuch, Hoang Long Nguyen, Anne Biess, and Alina Praun; Professional development of doctoral researchers in vocational education and training: a cross-national study in times of uncertainty / Anja-Christina Greppmair and Michael Gessler; Implementation of competence-based approach in Chinese and Russian commercial vocational education and training / Anastasia Goncharova, Pujun Chen, Dietmar Frommberger, Matthias Pilz, and Junmin Li; Quality development of vocational education and training in India: supporting and restraining factors / Julia Regel, Jakob Schulte, Muthuveeran Ramasamy, and Matthias Pilz; Multi-sided evaluation of needs of TVET students in problem-solving skills in South Africa / Jelena Zascerinska, Jacqueline Scheepers, and Martin Kuhn; Ownership by local actors: the case of dual vocational education in Mexico / Natascha Rohrer, Beke Vogelsang, Matthias Pilz, and Martina Fuchs; German VET providers' international business models and the critical factors for entering foreign markets / Gunnar Kassberg and Utz Dornberger; Social representations of TVET and non-academic work in Mexico from the perspective of employers and youth in the Mexican tourism industries / Claudia Hunink and Lydia Raesfeld; Vocational teacher education and vocational education research in Costa Rica: status quo and perspectives / Irina Rommel, Anastasia Goncharova, and Dietmar Frommberger; ProWoThai: progressing work-based learning in Thailand's TVET system: design-oriented and participatory action research in international TVET research cooperation / Thomas Schroder, Siriphorn Schlattmann, Julia Gulich, and Barbara Hupfer; Vocational education in Georgia: conception and implementation of a PhD programme / Marcel Martsch, Tamara Hennige, and Hannes Tegelbeckers. Show less