Quality Assurance in Continuing Vocational Training
How is the quality of continuing vocational training ensured in Germany? What standards and initiatives exist in this field? These and other questions are addressed in the study ‘Quality Assurance in Continuing Vocational Training’ by the German Reference Centre for Quality Assurance.
Continuing vocational training is becoming increasingly important in the face of digital, environmental and demographic change. It helps employees and companies keep pace with new requirements, changing job profiles and societal developments. This makes reliable quality assurance all the more important.
In Germany, continuing vocational training is organised in a variety of ways. The procedures and instruments of quality assurance are correspondingly diverse. At national level, the legal framework is provided by, amongst other things, further training regulations, the Accreditation and Approval Ordinance for Employment Promotion (AZAV), the Upgrading Training Assistance Act (AFBG) and regulations of the federal states. In addition, there are voluntary quality initiatives from industry and umbrella organisations, further training institutions and other stakeholders.
This diversity makes it difficult to gain an overview. This is where the ‘Series of Studies on Quality Assurance in Vocational Further Education’, implemented by DEQA-VET as part of an Erasmus+-funded project running from 2023 to 2026, comes in. The aim is to create greater transparency regarding quality assurance structures, regulations and initiatives in Germany.
Building on earlier studies of federal regulations, DEQA-VET expanded the stocktake to include the regulations of the federal states. In addition, DEQA-VET recorded and systematised voluntary quality initiatives – whether organised privately or publicly – according to their objectives, themes, procedures and tools. In doing so, links to the European Quality Assurance Reference Framework for Vocational Education and Training (EQAVET) were also taken into account.
The results are presented in tabular overviews of the current situation, accompanied by supplementary texts. In the future, they are intended to serve as the technical basis for a brochure that provides a comprehensive overview of the structures and approaches to quality assurance.
