2025
There were no reforms in the area of vocational education and training and adult learning during the reporting period.
2024
Vocational Training Validation and Digitalisation Act
The Vocational Training Validation and Digitisation Act (Berufsbildungsvalidierungs- und -digitalisierungsgesetz – BVaDiG) came into force on 1 August 2024. With the newly introduced assessment procedure, people without a formal vocational qualification but with professional experience have been entitled, for the first time, to have their professional skills assessed and certified against the standard of a dual training occupation since 1 January 2025.
The assessment procedure is aimed at people over the age of 25. If the assessment procedure is successfully completed, a certificate of full comparability is issued, which opens up access to further training and trainer aptitude.
In addition, the BVaDiG consistently enables digital documents and digital (administrative) processes in vocational education and training that are free of media discontinuity.
2023
Citizen's Income Act
With the Citizens‘ Income Act (Bürgergeld-Gesetz), the further training opportunities for the unemployed and for employees receiving citizens’ income were strengthened as of 21 July 2023. The aim is to enable the low-skilled to find sustainable employment through training, retraining or further education, for a life without additional state benefits. On the one hand, financial incentives to participate in further training have been expanded: the further training grant for successful intermediate and final examinations in the case of qualification-oriented further training has been made permanent and an additional monthly further training allowance of 150 euros has been introduced. On the other hand, access to funding opportunities has been simplified so that more people can benefit from them. To this end, the possibility of funding full retraining courses and access to funded acquisition of basic skills (e.g. reading, mathematics, IT) has been made more flexible.
Unemployment insurance cover during continuing vocational training has been improved by a longer minimum residual entitlement period after the end of the training. The measure “Participation in the labour market“ under Section 16i of the German Social Security Code II, through which people who are particularly distant from the labour market can find employment subject to social security contributions and receive further training, was made permanent and holistic support (coaching under Section 16k of the German Social Security Code II) was introduced as a new regulatory instrument. It can also be provided on an outreach basis, alongside training or employment.
Act to strengthen the promotion of training and further education
The Act to Strengthen the Promotion of Training and Continuing Education (Gesetz zur Stärkung der Aus- und Weiterbildungsförderung), which was passed in the summer of 2023, further developed the labour market policy funding instruments for those seeking training and those already in employment, and added new funding options. A training guarantee was introduced to give all young people without vocational qualifications access to vocational training that leads to full qualification, preferably in a company. The training guarantee uses a variety of approaches: It strengthens vocational orientation and supports regional mobility. And if all efforts to find a company-based training place are unsuccessful, it enables extra-company training in the regions where there are too few training places. This broad approach is designed to compensate for existing regional and vocational disparities as far as possible and thus avoid so-called fit problems becoming entrenched in the training market. In addition, the law opened up financial support for further training to all companies and their employees and increased it for small and medium-sized companies in particular. The introduction of a qualification allowance has expanded support for employees. Since 1 April 2024, the qualification allowance can be claimed for employees whose jobs are threatened by structural change but who can be given future-proof employment in the same company through further training.
2022
Excellence Initiative Vocational Education and Training
The Federal Government's Initiative for Excellence in Vocational Education and Training (Exzellenzinitiative Berufliche Bildung) was launched in December 2022. The Excellence Initiative contributes to the skilled labour strategy and combines vocational education and training policy projects into an overarching agenda: It aims to make vocational education and training more modern and attractive. The focus is particularly on young people who can choose between different qualification paths (dual training, technical college, university). Within the framework of the Excellence Initiative, measures will be implemented in three central fields of action until 2026:
- excellence through better promotion of opportunities for individuals
- excellence through innovative and attractive vocational training programmes
- excellence through international orientation
The measures include comprehensive career guidance and digital orientation programmes, improved support structures through the Upgrading Training Assistance Act (Aufstiegsfortbildungsförderungsgesetz – AFBG), expanded support through scholarship programmes (field of action 1) as well as the development and testing of attractive (digital) qualification offers for initial and continuing education and training, including for training and examiner personnel, the further development of the National Continuing Education Strategy (Nationale Weiterbildungsstrategie) and the inter-company training centres (ÜBS) as centres of excellence of the dual system (field of action 2). In addition, international mobility in VET, recognition grants to support the immigration of skilled workers and the internationalisation of VET are promoted (field of action 3).
National Skills Strategy
In June 2019, the Federal Government, the Länder, the social partners and the Federal Employment Agency (Bundesagentur für Arbeit – BA) adopted a National Skills Strategy (Nationale Weiterbildungsstrategie - NWS). The strategy, which focuses on continuing vocational education and training (CVET), is intended to make a significant contribution to enabling both individuals and society to successfully cope with structural change and new challenges (e.g. automation, digitalisation). Continuing education offers and funding opportunities are to be made more transparent and accessible to all, in order to provide targeted support to groups of people with below-average participation in continuing education or small and medium-sized enterprises without large human resources departments. A first report on the results was published in June 2021.
In September 2022, the partners of the National Skills Strategy decided to continue and further develop the strategy. Tried and tested instruments and concepts are to find broad application and innovative ideas are to be discussed with representatives from practice and science. Labour market and education policy instruments will be more closely interlinked, and general continuing education will be integrated, particularly with a view to future competences. In addition, concrete measures and activities for the further development of the continuing education system and for strengthening the culture of continuing education are to be agreed. Labor market and education policy instruments will be more closely interlinked, and general continuing education will be integrated, particularly with a view to future skills. The first National Conference on Continuing Education took place in November 2023, with the second planned for November 2025. An implementation report on the NWS was published in March 2025.
In addition, a Federal-Länder Committee (BLA) was established in 2019 as part of the implementation of the National Skills Strategy. The overarching aim of the format is to coordinate early on and improve the coherence of federal and state funding for continuing vocational education and training. Since 2019, this has enabled the coordination of federal and Länder funding and advisory measures in continuing education as well as the exchange of transfer and experience.
Within the framework of the EU 2020 Strategy, Germany has set itself the goal of increasing participation in continuing education to 65 percent. This goal is supported by the partners of the National Skills Strategy. Common goals are, for example, the more targeted or addressee-appropriate support of heterogeneous target groups and the development of digital competences.
To implement these goals, the partners want to:
- Facilitate access to counselling, promotion and further training offers, taking into account the financial and temporal framework conditions;
- intensify cooperation in regions and sectors;
- Further develop concepts for competences of the future, qualification planning in the company as well as company and collective agreement approaches to strengthen continuing education;
- Strengthen digital CET with more transparency and innovative learning offers.