New training courses for young people in Austria

Citation

(1999), "New training courses for young people in Austria", Journal of European Industrial Training, Vol. 23 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/jeit.1999.00323cab.011

New training courses for young people in Austria

New training courses for young people in Austria

Keywords Austria, Vocational training, Young people

Young people in Austria are now able to train as bank clerks, computer technicians, computer clerks, waste disposal and recycling specialists, garden centre clerks, estate agents, sun protection technicians, civil engineers and land surveyors as a result of the National Action Plan for Jobs, whose top priority was to develop new training occupations. The action plan was developed by the federal government, particularly the Department of Trade and Industry, and co-ordinated with the social partners and representatives of specialist fields.

The plan has devised a new pre-apprenticeship (Vorlehre) to provide young people who have trouble in finding a job or a training place with an alternative to unskilled work. This new kind of initial training course lasts a maximum of two years and each trainee should finish with a qualification. This can be followed by an apprenticeship which honours pre-training course credits.

In view of expected shortages in apprenticeships, the Arbeitsmarktservice ...sterreich (Austrian Public Employment Service) will continue funding independent training institutions for the 1998/99 and 1999/2000 school years.

New full-time, practice-oriented courses have been set up at vocational schools to help young people who have been unable to find either an apprenticeship or a place at an independent training centre. These courses include practical training. The curriculum has been designed to allow trainees to transfer to in-company training at any time.

Finally, the intake of upper level and intermediate secondary schools will be increased so that no eligible candidate need be rejected in the future.