Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to discuss the potential contribution of cross-border vocational education and training (VET) exchange partnerships within the context of tandem exchanges between VET institutions in the Rhine-Waal Euregio region in the Netherlands and Germany. These tandem exchanges offer learners and teachers in VET the…

While an increasing number of studies postulate that vocational education and training (VET) activities have a positive impact on the innovative capacity of training companies, empirical evidence on the topic remains contradictory. This study exploits establishment data from a representative survey of German companies to estimate the relationship…

There is considerable international interest in transitions from school to work. This article approaches the issue as part of the debate around 'vocational maturity' ("Ausbildungsreife") in Germany and 'employability' in the United Kingdom. Vocational education and training systems in these two countries differ significantly, so the…

This article focuses on the question of what strategies general education graduates can use to improve their chances of entering an attractive vocational education and training (VET) programme in Germany. We look, in particular, at grades in the school-leaving certificate and the additional acquisition of a higher qualification at a vocational…

Preparing youth for the transition from school to work is a key labor market challenge in many countries. Across Europe, there are many educational programs to improve youth's school-to-work transitions. In Germany, youth with difficulties in their school-to-work transitions are channeled into prevocational programs to help them to enter…

The logistics sector plays a pivotal role in driving economic growth while addressing environmental sustainability challenges. As the industry transitions towards greener practices, the integration of 'green skills' into logistics vocational education and training becomes crucial for equipping the workforce with the competencies needed for…

Context: Unlike education policy for general education, technical and vocational education and training (TVET) policy often focuses on societal needs, ignoring the attitudes and subsequent behaviors of learners. As a result, the impact of TVET policies is not what was expected and sometimes even counterproductive. Starting from this, we use…

This article explores how critical making - or a combination of critical thinking and making - could enhance and future-proof technical and vocational education and training (TVET). The article reports from a series of multi-stakeholder participatory workshops with educators, caretakers, pupils, and makers. The workshops themselves represent an…

The Digital Education Accelerator supported 21 digital education solutions over three years, providing structured guidance, expert mentorship, testing, showcasing, and validation opportunities. As part of the European Digital Education Hub, the programme aimed to foster innovation by helping teams refine their solutions, scale their impact, and…

STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) education is pivotal in fostering innovation and promoting Germany's position in global industries and in several sectors. This paper explores selected cases of STEM education and STEM related VET in Germany, focusing on how learning outcomes are aligned with the evolving demands of a…

Context: The German vocational training and education (VET) system is designed to cope with change. Within this system, organizational VET trainers (OVETT) are the main persons of reference for apprentices in the organization, in most cases for the whole three-year training period. Whether training can help to realize or maintain decent work also…

Germany's VET system is highly gender-segregated and marked by high dropout rates. This article investigates the dropout behaviour of apprentices in gender-atypical training occupations. First, we investigate whether gender-atypical apprentices drop out at a higher rate than their majority peers. Second, we examine differences in the self-reported…

Education scholars have long debated the relative merits of vocational pathways in high school, weighing apparent employment benefits against the risk of foreclosing academic opportunities. Yet scholars are no closer to a consensus and the literature on vocational education has fragmented: economics, comparative political economy, sociology and…

This paper revisits and expands upon the findings of the 'Multi-country Partnership to Enhance the Education of Refugee and Asylum-seeking Youth in Europe (PERAE)' initiative, which was launched by the SIRIUS Network in 2016 to address the challenges of integrating refugee youth into European education systems. Amid the significant influx of…