The Company as a Place of Learning for Vocational Education and Training

Nearly one-third of the population of developed industrialized countries is constantly in an educational institution or educational program. The employment system now also has the quality of an “education system.” The company as an “educational institution” comprises three functions: (1) initial in-company training within the framework of dual vocational training; (2) in-company continuing education and training; and (3) “education” as a dimension of the work process. With the system of dual training for skilled workers and subsequent training for master craftsmen and technicians, Germany and Switzerland have vocational training systems that are special in their quality. Two findings are of importance for in-company initial vocational training: (1) The dual vocational training system, with its combination of theoretical and experiential learning according to stable occupational profiles, is an essential determinant for the competitiveness of companies; (2) since vocational education and training is a relatively independent variable in the interrelationship between technological development, work organization, and qualification, there is a need to move away from the concept of adaptation qualification and to establish design-oriented vocational education and training. It is characteristic of in-company continuing and further training that it is not tied to regulatory means (like initial training). The differential implementation of open systems of continuing education and training and the differential design of work are challenges that in-company training will be increasingly confronted with. This development can only be successfully pursued in connection with design-oriented and project-oriented in-company initial, continuing, and further training.