“We are concerned about the youth unemployment rates, as they have risen in the last year,” explains the deputy director of the Munich municipal technological school, Mona Brand. “We are currently at 3% youth unemployment and a year ago we were at 1.9%,” she continues. The stupefied face for any Spanish visitor who hears these figures is proportional to the gap between the Bavarian and the Iberian reality. In Spain, according to the latest data from the Active Population Survey (EPA), unemployment among those under 25 is 30.2%, 10 times more than in Munich. And one of those responsible for the abysmal difference between one territory and another is not the hours of sunshine or the type of gastronomy, but the quality and degree of implementation of dual vocational training.
At a time when Spain has begun to bet heavily on promoting what were once known as ‘professions’ – as evidenced by the record investment of 1,200 million euros announced this week by Pedro Sanchez-, the successful model of German VET stands as an example for beginners. Its establishment is as historic – the center that Brand directs has survived two world wars – as it is widespread. According to data from the Bertelsmann Foundation, for every 100 German students, 60 study vocational training and 40 go to university. And of those 60 FP, 40 learn through the dual (which gives greater weight to practical training). In Spain, this modality barely covers 4% of students.
60%
In Germany, there are more young people who choose vocational training than university. High employability, salary from the first day and guaranteed quality in educational centers explain the high demand for trades in the German territory.
From the BMW to a hotel of the Meliá chain, passing through a century-old brewery or a bakery. The dual FP model is transversal in the German economy and is based on a social consensus in which companies, chambers of commerce and administrations (at all levels) are involved to maintain an ecosystem in which apprentices work in the factory, workshop or reception from the first day and they receive, also from the first day, a salary for it.
“Maths” have always been good to me, but I have a practical spirit. I couldn’t see myself studying a university degree for four years. I like to know what I’m studying for and to be able to apply it quickly,” he explains. bianca, one of the 800 apprentices at the BMW factory in Munich, out of a workforce of 7,700 employees. At SEAT, out of a workforce of 10,000 factory employees, there are 180 dual VT students, this being one of the largest Spanish dual experiences.
bianca he is in his third year of VET, this being the last of his current degree. From the first year he alternates two weeks in the factory and one in the training center. He started earning 1,000 euros gross as an apprentice and today he receives 1,200 euros. Next year she, when BMW offers her an indefinite contract as a worker, she will earn between 2,400 and 3,000 euros gross per month.
7%
VET in Germany works. Companies appreciate it and it gives results. Youth unemployment in Germany is 7% and in cities like Munich it can drop to 3%.
German companies assume a greater economic effort and do not always keep the apprentices they train, but in exchange they ensure the profiles with the skills they need. In Spain there is a need -41.3% of job offers require a FP degree, above university degrees, according to Adecco-, but at the moment there is no such business or administration effort. In Catalonia, this course a total of 1,323 students were left without a FP place, although in the first instance up to 12,611 people were about to be unable to pursue studies of this type due to lack of government provision.
In the central European model -because the German is very similar to the Swiss, the Danish or the Austrian- the private sector is the one that pulls the cart. As an example: in Spain a student must take a test with the educational center to start studying a FP degree and then he already looks for which company he will do the internship with. In Germany it is the other way around. There the students go to the German SEPE, look for offers in different companies and apply for the one that most interests them. Then they go through the selection process that the company decides and once they pass it, they sign a three-year contract -which the company cannot retract- and then they look for the public training center -which must guarantee them a place- where they can pursue their education. more theoretical.
It is not only industrial, nor are only large companies involved, as explained by the person in charge of training at the Munich Chamber of Crafts, Dieter Vierlbeck. One of the classic arguments as to why dual VET has not worked so far in Spain is that this is a country of SMEs and they cannot bear the costs derived from such training. “The average workforce of companies that have taken on apprentices this year is 10 workers,” he says.
880 euros
It is the average salary received by a dual VET student in Germany. Industrial trades are better paid than services, but they all charge.
And it is that to help SMEs enter the chambers of commerce, which offer complementary training to go where the small business does not go. And, in turn, they certify the quality and variety of training, to ensure that a young person trained in one company is also valid for another. “SMEs are the backbone of German VET”, agrees the senior analyst at the Bertelsmann Foundation Clemens Wieland.
Akito Nakamura He is 32 years old and came to Bavaria for his bread. An exotic product in Japanese cuisine, dependent on rice, seduced this young man, who left his job in a nursing home to flour his hands at the centuries-old Traublinger bakery. “My parents supported me, but my grandparents still don’t get it,” he explains, between pretzels and half-baked loaves of bread. While Japan is not the main country of origin for foreign students in the Bavarian community, around 50% of students have roots outside of Germany, according to data from the Munich craft chamber.
1,200M
Spain wants to get its act together with FP and for this reason the Government has announced a record investment of 1,200 million euros to improve the quality and quantity of degrees.
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Anya he arrived from the Ukraine in the Bavarian capital five years ago, when a Russian invasion was still a long shot. There he had studied tourism, but in five years he had not interacted with more tourists than he had been able to find on the street. And although the Meliá chain appreciated his previous training, his career within the company began as an apprentice and went through all the departments, from reception to sales, passing through the breakfast service. “Here it is unthinkable to hire someone and not give them any kind of training. And then you have invested so much in them that it is worth it for them to stay,” explains the person in charge of him.
“With dual professional training, all parties win. Companies ensure that what is learned is practical and up-to-date at the dizzying pace at which they have to move today. And young people get well-paid jobs with a future that many times they don’t know”, says the director of the Bertelsmann Foundation, Clara Bassols.
A poisoned heritage and trades segregated by gender
“Money gives me autonomy, I can go out and spend it with my friends. But it is not only that, for me it is very important to combine the academy with work. And studying this does not close the door to anything, I am always on time to go to university, but first I wanted to work,” says Nil Guimera, a 20-year-old from Munich and the son of a Tarragona woman and a Barcelona man who came as young people to look for work, like so many other Spaniards, in Germany. Today his son is an apprentice at BMW and he would not hesitate to recommend it to his Catalan cousins. “My parents had a hard time accepting that I opted for a FP, they wanted them to go to university,” he admits.
This is one of the main problems of the German educational model, despite the great implantation that it has historically had. Just as in Spain until now the middle and higher vocational training degrees were seen as a ‘second class’ education by many, compared to university, in Germany if a father has studied vocational training it is very likely that his son will too. make. Another problem is that there is still a great deal of gender segregation. That is to say, in the car cycles almost all the students are men, while in the hotel or hairdressing industry almost all the apprentices are women. A bias that has hardly been reduced in recent years.