Duality and Cooperation in VET

The fact that the acquisition of vocational skills requires reflected work experience and vocational education is one of the scientific findings on which vocational and occupational education is based. Every occupation must therefore be learned practically, regardless of whether it is an academic or nonacademic occupation. “Duality” therefore refers to a basic form of any vocational education. This insight provides the rationale for the cooperation postulate that underlies the cooperation between training companies and vocational schools or trainers and teachers in dual vocational education and training. The vocational education and training policy discussion in the 1980s showed a controversial discussion about the form of the relationship between the two places of learning. The concept of integrated VET plans was developed as the basis for the dual-cooperative VET model. This model is based on the guiding idea of design competence anchored in the KMK agreements on vocational schools (1991). Whether it will also positively change the reality of learning location cooperation is the subject of investigations in the COMET projects. Perspectives on learning location cooperation: (1) Assessment of the content-related and structural quality of learning location cooperation: This presupposes that school-based learning is linked to the reflected work experiences of the trainees; (2) if the school climate is experienced as negative, this has a serious impact on the development of vocational competences; (3) the teachers and trainers involved in the training for a specific occupation take part in the training course conferences; and (4) participation of vocational schools in the final examinations.