In Germany, the government and employers bear proportionately the costs of a dual vocational training system. Not all businesses that are authorised to train workers actually do so. In some occupations, providing vocational training results in net income for the businesses involved.
Businesses benefit because vocational training programmes can serve as an investment in their recruitment strategies. For society financial involvement by companies helps keep government expenditure for vocational training at a relatively low level.
There are clear guidelines, with helpful warnings about some of the pitfalls, for other countries wanting to adopt a similarly coordinated approach to training, which countries as diverse as South Korea and Mexico have done.
In Germany, ministries at national and federal-state level, the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB), the employers’ associations and the trade unions are involved in the development of school and company curricula. The underlying consensus leads to a high level of acceptance of the standards among all stakeholders.
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