The skilled trades sector supports the Green Party's initiative to change career regulations in the public sector. (Photo: © Le Moa Olivier/123RF.com)
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1 November 2019
The Green Party is committed to changing career regulations in the public service. The middle and higher civil service should be opened to graduates of vocational training. The skilled trades sector supports the initiative.
The skilled trades sector has long complained about the obsession with academic qualifications in Germany and tirelessly demands the equal value of vocational and academic education . This trend toward academicization is putting the skilled trades under pressure. One result: a shortage of skilled workers. This shortage has now become a genuine obstacle to growth in the sector, because businesses can no longer accept all the orders they receive due to a lack of personnel. An initiative by the Green Party could at least give vocational training a small boost. They are calling for changes to career regulations in the public sector so that positions in the higher and senior civil service are also accessible to graduates of vocational training programs.
The Green Party believes that vocationally qualified individuals still have fewer career opportunities than university graduates. "The public sector should be a pioneer and role model for the equivalence of vocational and academic education," writes Kai Gehring, a member of the Green Party parliamentary group in the Bundestag , on Facebook. He therefore advocates making career path regulations and collective bargaining agreements more flexible so that equality is not just on paper, but also in practice . "When will Minister Karliczek also strive for these steps that bring permeability and equal opportunities?" he asks.
Gehring's proposal has received support from the skilled trades sector. "As the largest employer, the public sector must also be accessible to graduates of vocational training programs, even at the higher and senior levels ," said Hans Peter Wollseifer, President of the German Confederation of Skilled Crafts. He argued that the public sector must be opened to professionally qualified individuals at the higher and senior levels, even without an academic degree. "Only then will we see a change of heart among the older generation , encouraging their children to pursue vocational training and supporting them in this endeavor." The decisive factor, he emphasized, should be the equivalence of educational qualifications, not the specific educational system that led to them.
The Green Party parliamentary group argues in a parliamentary inquiry to the federal government that the debate about the appropriate ratio of vocationally and academically qualified individuals is one-sided and lacks factual basis . They ask about the number of managers without a university degree in private companies, public institutions, and government agencies. The government, they claim, lacks reliable data because there is no universally accepted definition of the term "manager." According to the Greens, managers without a university degree are particularly prevalent in the skilled trades , specifically referring to self-employed master craftsmen who have progressed to management positions through their dual vocational training.
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The government does not share the Green Party's view that career advancement without a university degree is virtually impossible. "Nevertheless, it advocates for strengthening dual vocational training to emphasize the equivalence of vocational and academic pathways." Entrepreneurial decisions are not subject to federal control . Professionally qualified individuals without a university degree have access to management positions within the federal civil service. However, according to career regulations, this is only possible in exceptional cases – partly because career-track applicants are given preference in hiring. For federal employees covered by collective bargaining agreements, there are already extensive opportunities to be employed appropriately even without the corresponding educational qualifications.
In their inquiry, the Green Party calls for the strengthening of the German Qualifications Framework to take a step towards the equivalence of vocational and academic education. President of the Austrian Confederation of Skilled Crafts, Wollseifer, proposes enshrining it in law, similar to the National Qualifications Framework in Austria. "This would give the equivalence of educational qualifications significantly greater importance." The introduction of internationally understandable advanced training level designations (Bachelor Professional and Master Professional) proposed in the current draft of the Vocational Training Modernization Act is an important first step towards strengthening vocational education, increasing its attractiveness, and achieving equal treatment of higher education and tertiary vocational training.
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