This study explores school-to-work transitions in Germany, aiming to achieve a richer understanding of the complexity of labour market entry trajectories while focusing on transition measures. The term transition measures refers to additional training courses that complement the regular vocational education and training system of firm-based or…

The concept of open educational resources (OER) is becoming increasingly prominent in education. However, research circles around defining OER, content and forms of OER, technological features of OER, and the importance of the issue or lack thereof. Vital aspects such as the notion of the adoption of OER by educational practitioners remain…

Open Educational Resources (OER) have become widespread, but constantly lack adoption. The various studies that address this lack predominantly focus on structural causes (e.g. lack of time, legal uncertainty) while omitting individual factors. However, the latter especially can yield insights into the 'black box' of individual drivers for OER…

Second chance education (SCE) has been established to offer adults the opportunity to catch up on higher qualifications, for instance the eligibility to study. SCE often suffers from high dropout rates, but little is known about the reasons. This article investigates whether dropout rates depend on family background and age, and if so, why. Data…

Apprenticeships for adults are one of the policy solutions to the need for supporting adults willing to train, while broadening the skills base of the working population across Europe. According to Cedefop estimates, there are around 128 million adults with potential for upskilling or reskilling in the European Union (EU). EU Member States have…

We use PIAAC data to study the relationship between parental education and educational success among adults from 23 advanced economies. We consider educational success in terms of both educational "attainment" (formal qualifications) and educational "achievement" (competencies) and in both "absolute" and…

Concise, clear and comprehensive snapshots of vocational education and training systems in EU, Iceland and Norway: this is what the Cedefop Spotlight on VET series offers. Building on individual country Spotlights, this publication provides an overview of VET systems with their distinctive qualities, such as main accession and progression routes…

This short description contributes to better understanding of vocational education and training (VET) in Germany by providing insight into its main features and highlighting system developments and current challenges. Learning on the job is traditional in German education. Work-based learning (WBL) features in most secondary and tertiary VET…

Vocational education and training (VET) in Germany is based on close cooperation between the State, companies and social partners. The Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) is responsible for general VET policy issues and has a coordinating role for all training occupations. The BMBF works closely with the Federal Institute for…

This report is the result of an explorative study, carried out at a time when interest in apprenticeship for adults was on the rise and research and evidence on the topic was scarce and fragmented. It has explored the topic from a conceptual and theoretical point of view, reviewing relevant existing research. It has also considered a practical…

In Germany about half of the adult learners who start second chance education drop out before graduation. In this paper we aim to contribute to an explanation for this low success rate. We focus on the normative expectations of learners: What are their expectations concerning teachers' attention to their personal abilities, teacher support and the…

This regional dossier aims to provide a concise, description and basic statistics about minority language education in a specific region of Europe. Aspects that are addressed include features of the education system, recent educational policies, main actors, legal arrangements, and support structures, as well as quantitative aspects, such as the…

The Education for All initiative concluded in 2015, but in many countries, and particularly in the developing countries, secondary education is still the preserve of the privileged few. This means that millions of adults and young people are denied the opportunity to complete their basic education, which in turns sees them trapped in a pattern of…

This article addresses the change in the transitional process from secondary school general education to gainful employment within the framework of societal modernisation processes in Germany. We analyse the relationship between the options for and restrictions upon individual educational mobility under the conditions imposed by the various…

Easing access to higher education (HE) for those engaging in lifelong learning has been a common policy objective across the European Union since the late 1990s. To reach this goal, the transition between vocational and academic routes must be simplified, but European countries are at different developmental stages. This article maps the…