Vocational training is an effective tool against unemployment and skills shortages and is also an important prerequisite for the competitiveness of companies. What does vocational training look like in the USA?
In the USA, as in many other countries, there is a shortage of well-trained skilled labour. Although vocational courses are offered at both high schools and colleges, most graduates leave these institutions without having completed any specific vocational training. These courses are often used to earn credit points that do not necessarily lead to a vocational degree. When vocational training is carried out in our sense of the word, 90% of it takes place in the company sponsoring the training and 10% in the co-operating college. The training therefore lacks general validity and the final certificate is usually only relevant locally. In addition, these apprenticeships, which are similar to the training programmes we know from Germany, are mostly aimed at people with professional experience. In contrast in Germany they usually aim at young people just entering the labour market. There are huge regional and local differences between apprenticeships, and even within individual professions there are no uniform standards. One exception to this are professions where people’s lives and health are at stake, such as in the caring professions.
How did WiSoUSA come about and what goals are being pursued as part of the HWK Südthüringen sub-project?
The cooperation between the South Thuringia Chamber of Skilled Crafts (HWK) and Walters State Community College (WSCC) is part of the “WiSoUSA” project funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research under the WiSoVET funding guideline. Other project partners are the Chicago, New York and Atlanta Chambers of Commerce Abroad (AHKs). The project aims to make a contribution to bilateral vocational education and training cooperation during the project duration from July 2021 to July 2024. During the development phase, the SCIVET coordination centre established contact between the WSCC and the HWK Südthüringen as well as the AHKs involved in the project and supported the project development.
Within the framework of WiSoUSA, the HWK Südthüringen is working together with the WSCC in Tennessee, USA, employer organisations, the Tennessee Department of Labour and the AHK Atlanta on the introduction of specific job profiles in the fields of plumbing, heating, air conditioning (SHK) and butchery. The project application originally envisaged 5 job profiles, but in the course of the project these were concentrated on a plumbing training programme and a butchery training programme. The HWK Südthüringen supported the conceptualisation and implementation of these occupational profiles. During a study visit to the training campus of the South Thuringia Chamber of Crafts and Trades the American partners were encouraged to transfer the concepts of inter-company vocational training centres and inter-company training in a regionally and nationally adapted form.
Screenshot from the kick-off of the project in 2021.
What are the most important results of the project so far?
The WSCC has been able to introduce the planned courses in the areas of plumbing, heating and air conditioning as well as butchery. The experts at the HWK Südthüringen provide support both in the development of the programmes and with the further training of the trainers.
How is the cooperation with the chambers of commerce abroad organised in this project? How do the HWK and AHK benefit from the cooperation?
WiSoUSA has resulted in fruitful cooperation with all the AHKs involved in the project. Especially with the AHK Pittsburgh Chapter, a co-operation developed outside the project framework in the field of automotive/high-voltage technology. There is a pilot project with the AHK Atlanta regarding joint certification of the butcher training programme and an adapted training course for trainers. Regular active participation in the Apprenticeship Conferences organised by the AHKs, in which our project partner WSCC has also participated since 2022, also contributed to the success of the project in Tennessee. Here we were able to benefit from many years of apprenticeship work by the AHKs in the prior to the project.
Group picture of the WiSoUSA project team, taken in November 2021.
What hurdles have you already overcome as part of the project work and what challenges do you still face?
Our project work initially faced challenges due to the travel restrictions in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. Travelling between Europe and the USA was initially not possible. In this situation, we created regular digital project meetings and a shared digital platform, which proved its worth over the course of the project work. It was always all the more rewarding when we were able to travel and continue the work in person. Our first Apprenticeship Conference in November 2021 took place on the second day after the official lifting of the travel ban, which had severely restricted travel to the USA for a year and a half. A few weeks later, a joint public event was organised in which companies also actively participated.
The delegation trip of our American partners originally planned for spring 2022 was also postponed several times due to the war in Ukraine. From an American perspective, Ukraine and southern Thuringia are very close to each other. After we were finally able to welcome our American project partners in spring 2023, the project was further revitalised and we are looking forward to continuing the collaboration after the project is completed in July 2024.
Another hurdle was that we had to rely on the preliminary work of our project partners. The needs analysis at the beginning of the project showed an increasing demand from local SMEs for five qualifications in the areas of SHK and butchery, which is why the WSCC wanted to expand its offer to include these five programmes. In the course of the project, it turned out that the needs of local companies were actually somewhat different than we had originally assumed, especially in the area of SHK. For this reason, our activities focussed only on the plumbing profession. In addition, the butchery trainees refused to include the slaughtering of animals in the training programme. This also had an impact on the scope of the project work.
Arrival at Washington Delles Airport in November 2021.
Environmental protection and social and economic sustainability are important issues for the skilled crafts sector. What role do environmental protection and sustainability play in the project?
Craftsmanship is sustainable by definition due to its focus on customised production, small series, repair and maintenance. In this project, there was no special focus on these topics. However, the project contributed to increased sustainability particularly in the butchery sector, due to the improved utilisation of animals through new meat cuts.
Practical training in meat cutting during an internship in Germany in 2023.
How could the current project develop further and how could the collaboration be organised in the future?
During the course of the project, we succeeded in establishing a sustainable educational partnership. For example, the idea for the culinary internship programme in Thuringia was born during the course of the project. Further follow-up projects are being planned.
Visit to the historical Wartburg Castle in Eisenach in 2023.
What interests does your organisation have in this collaboration? What benefits do you derive from it?
The training centre in Rohr has been able to expand its portfolio of courses to include a barbecue course for butchers. This means that barbecue in the US style can now also be enjoyed in southern Thuringia.
What experiences have you had with the SCIVET instruments in the project?
The SCIVET tools provide a good structure for exporting training in the skilled crafts sector. We use the SCIVET tools both for training new colleagues in training export and for quality control of our own work.
