Apprenticeship supply in the EU - Findings from a comparative survey -

Christiane WestphalEuropean CommissionDG Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion

Meeting of the Advisory Committee for Vocational TrainingBrussels 29 June 2012

Policy context: youth unemployment crisis

EU youth unemployment over 22 %= 5.5 million unemployed aged under 25

Nearly 1/3 of low skilled youth on the labour market are unemployed

Over 7.5 million young people 15-24 not in education or training or employment (NEET)

EU Youth Opportunities Initiative

• Priorities:

• - preventing early-school leaving

- developing skills that are relevant to the labour market

- helping gain first work experience/training apprenticeships and traineeships

- helping access the labour market and get a job

Delivery:

European Semester, Structural Funds, EU actions

Good arguments for apprenticeships…

• Combine theory imparted at schools with practical training in real work situations (enterprises)

• Facilitate rapid school-work transitions for young people

• Also used (by individuals or enterprises) as a tool for LLL

• Facilitate identification of skill shortages and influence of companies on the VET training supply => linkage between productive system and training system

• Provide “recruitment”, “productive” and “new Knowledge” benefits for enterprises

Where do we stand?

VET often not regarded as valuable option, but: increasing importance attributed to workplace-based training

• Constant definition dilemma

• Strong differences in apprenticeship-type schemes • Different intensity of workplace training• Different roles and relationships amongst parties involved

Some aggregate figures (2009)

• EU-27: approximately a total of 3.7 million students in apprenticeship in the strict sense

• Another 5.7 million students attend other apprenticeship-type schemes (i.e. mainly school-based VET training with compulsory work-based training)

• Together, EU businesses supplied company training positions for a total of 9.4 million students

• = apprenticeship-type students represent approximately 85.2% of total secondary VET students and 40.5% of total secondary students in the EU-27.

Insufficient vocational pathways

Variety of systems

• All MS: schemes at upper secondary level where workplace training plays a significant role => apprenticeship-type schemes

• In 24/27 MS: VET schemes which can be labeled as mainly company based (i.e. > 50% of training in companies) -> apprenticeship system in a strict sense.

• In 18/24 MS, company based apprenticeship coexists with other mainly school-based training schemes

Country %work-based

training% School based training and time distribution

Denmark66%-90% 10%-35% By blocks of 5-10 weeks

Estonia66% 33% Flexible arrangements

France66% 33%

2-3 weeks company/ 1 week VT centre

Germany60% 40% 1-2 days/week

Poland 4-6 summer weeks

4-6 weeks Whole academic year

Slovak Republic>=60% <=40% 1-2 days/week

Spain20%-30% 70%-80% At the beginning of training cycle

The Netherlands >=60% <=40% 1-2 days/week

United Kingdom<=70% >=30% 1 day/week

Are all actors involved?

Actors involved DK SK FR DE PO SL ES NL UK

State at central level

Regional/municipal authorities

Social Partners

Vocational schools

Who decides company participation ?Denmark: Trade committee of respective branch

Estonia: Vocational schools

France: Chambers

Germany: Special bipartite VT committee

Poland: Vocational schools

Slovakia: Vocational Training Institutions

Spain: Training centre

Netherlands: 17 sector VET knowledge centres

United Kingdom: Very few requisites for employers

Student/Company relationship

Critical factors:

•Parties involved

•Contents

•Remuneration

•Exams and degrees

Some crisis effects

More students interested in pursuing VET in some countries

Downward trend in the amount of apprenticeships and in-company training placements offered by enterprises

Reduced public resources for promoting apprenticeship-type schemes

Use of apprenticeship students as a kind of cheap labour

Increasing share of experienced unemployed professionals who try to find a job through an apprenticeship

Wide range of challenges…

System design

Access and Provision

Inclusion

Further information

• http://bookshop.europa.eu/en/apprenticeship-supply-in-the-member-states-of-the-european-union--pbKE3012434/

• http://ec.europa.eu/social/yoi