Abstract:
2004 in the triangle of conflicting priorities between economic changes, social conditions and the claim to advance youths as junior employees with regard to their development. Practical experience is part of Voith-AG and its scope of observation included the curriculum of commercial and technical professions and also areas dealing with preliminary vocational measures for disadvantaged youths at the company’s site in Heidenheim. The aims of the day-to-day organisation of the practical training is geared towards the promotion of individuality and the youth’s capacity to act, at the ability to convey specialised core qualifications and at creating a social atmosphere which should encourage an active participation in structuring a creative vocational community.
The author questions the present concepts of practical training, which above all became a topic of discussion as a result of the described global changes and which demanded changes to the structure, conceptual design and contents due to the requirements of an increased orientation towards education and the personal development of the individual. In his subsequent comments the author develops consistent alternatives and options to reorganise the work carried out within vocational training as an “experiment field” of business, which assumes each individual’s ability to form a community spirit, which questions hierarchical structures and which is founded on the principles of voluntariness, dialogue and the cooperation of all those involved in the organisation of the processes.
In addition to the development of organisational structures, this requires a fundamental rethinking of the perceived role as a specialised trainer. Therefore, right from the beginning, attention was directed to these persons in their capacities as tutors and teachers. They play a key role in the vocational training of the future in their ability to personally show a good example and in being a partner to youths and colleagues, in organising the relevant conditions for living and learning, in offering mutual inspiration and reflection for the individual learning stages.