We attended two fantastically organized vocational school visits today. The first visit was to a school that offers theoretical and practical training to students 16 years of age and older. These students could attend this school from any of the secondary schools offered in Rhineland-Palatinate. The school is home to 3715 students in 187 classes with 165 teachers. Students typically attend the school for 2-3.5 years and can receive a number of certificates upon completion. Most students take on an apprenticeship, and a number of the co-operative programs are international. The school specializes in economics, health/social care, and technology. After an introduction to vocational education and certification in Rhineland-Palatinate and Germany in general, we broke up into groups of 2-4 teachers and a student took us around to two different classroom observations. The first observation for my group was of an English class, and the second was of a network programming class. The instructor in the last classroom asked a student to speak with us about the coursework the students were doing, but we found that many of the students spoke English very proficiently and were very open and willing to speak with us. Two students we spoke to had successfully completed the Abitur, but then decided to attend technical training even after working through several years at University. One student explained to us that even though each student had taken a different route to get to this program, that he did not think better or less of any of them. The students also confirmed that although IT work pays very well in the US, it does not pay nearly as well Germany.
The candid conversations we experienced here with both staff and students has been unparalleled thus far. The school was very welcoming and had clearly made a lot of preparations in order to make our visit interesting, informative, and enjoyable. Of course our favorite part of the program was the homemade meal that was prepared, in part, by students at the school. The creamy cucumber soup was one of the best things I have tasted in Germany! And the homemade ice cream, prepared with raspberries from the chef's garden, was just "fantastisch!" Not even pictures will do this meal justice, but here they are anyway!
After our visit to the technical school, we attended a tour and talk at a school that students attend in conjunction with their internship. The school is run more like a corporation, as companies can own shares of the co-operative, while others are considered customers. Either way, companies, trainees and professional instructors all seem very invested in the practical programs available at this school. Instead of each company training their interns individually, customers can send their trainees here. The advantages of this system are varied, but one of the best reasons to run trainings like this is that company machines are then not taken up by interns. Instead, machines available at companies can be used for production. The school offers training for 300 professions, and they serve both young students and employees needing updated training in their fields. Additionally, the school has a partnership with a university in Bingen and can now offer a BA in engineering. Most importantly, the school feels trainees must gain social, specialized and methodical skills before leaving the program. The new director of the school was very clear that social and communication skills are incredibly important in industry, and they cultivate these skills in their students. This school, while very well funded by corporations, amazingly is still a part of the public school system.
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