Still a perfect model? The gender impact of vocational training in Germany

Abstract

Reconstructing the parallel structure of 'dual' and 'school-based' vocational routes reveals the close connection between the German vocational training system and the segmentation of the labour market by gender. The example of jobs in childcare and pre-primary education shows that the legacy of semi-professionalism in these occupations is not just rooted in the nature of training and working conditions, but complexly interlinks with the prevalence of the male breadwinner model sustained by social policy regulations and the German taxation system. In France, by contrast, the central state takes responsibility for the provision of childcare from zero to six years of age to support female labour force participation and dual-earner couples. This has also fostered professionalisation in the respective occupations. Whilst this may not necessarily induce a degendering process at the level of horizontal segregation of vocational qualifications, it facilitates gender equality in terms of vertical mobility and the professional status of women. IntroductionWithin the OECD countries, the German system of vocational education and training (VET) remains central to economic prosperity and social mobility. Even under conditions of globalisation, welfare state restructuring and the recent economic crisis, the dual apprenticeship system 1 upholds a model function, mainly because it can be directly linked to low rates of youth unemployment (OECD 2013a) and the sustainable production of skilled labour. In a comparative perspective, these advantages persist despite demographic shifts and related possible future staff shortages.The dominant assessment of the German VET system, however, obscures its gendered structure and dynamics, which continue to impact on female labour force participation and the reproduction of gendered professions (see Jørgensen 2015, and Taylor, Hamm, and Raykov 2015, on gendered systems of VET and employment elsewhere in Europe and North America). Alongside the dominant apprenticeship training for skill formation in manufacturing, industry and the commercial fields, a school-based vocational track covers skill formation for the social, educational, care and some medical professions. Heterogeneity and lack of skills protection result in profiling the school-based routes as semi-professional. Furthermore, these

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