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After a generation of dismissing vocational training and pushing toward knowledge-based economies of university graduates, education policy makers in Europe and the United states are starting to lament the lost era of master and apprentice. Over-crowded universities and a lack of skilled craftsmen in the the Czech Republic prompted Education Minister Josef Dobeš to call last week for increased support for apprentice and secondary vocational schools.
“Not every student can study at university,” the Minister told the Czech Press Agency June 10, adding that the vocational training schools in the country are “on the brink of collapse.”
The Minister’s view is not unique in Europe, where high unempolyment, even among graduates, has spurred an increased interest among politicians in bolstering practical skills in the labor force.
As part of the European Union’s education strategy for 2020, the Copenhagen Process aims to promote vocational training not only for the economic security it brings workers, but also as a tool of social cohesion.
In a report called Pathways to Prosperity released by the Harvard Graduate School of Education in February this year, experts say there are lessons to be learned from Europe’s renewed emphasis on vocational training. The report cited Germany and Switzerland as two countries with the most successful apprenticeship systems, which combine both in-class study in high school and paid training in the workplace.
Dobeš says as many as 70 percent of high school graduates attend university, a fact the tougher high school leaving exam implemented this year will no doubt remedy, he says.
The Czech Agricultural and Economic chambers have chimed in to say they’re feeling the lack of skilled vocational workers in their industries, but the National Economic Council (NERV) has said the country needs a flexible labor market rather than one focused on vocational jobs.
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