Skills assessment (national and international)

An efficient vocational training system requires continuous monitoring to ensure that all education policy debates also focus on output-related issues. In this context, the BMBF has launched a wide range of different activities that aim to promote national and international research on the subject of skills assessment.

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At national level, two studies have been commissioned to determine the reliability and vailidity of computer-based skills assessment on the basis of occupation-specific simulations. These studies were carried out in two training occupations: motor vehicle mechatronics technician and industrial business management assistant.The final reports on the pre-tests for motor vehicle mechatronics technicians and industrial business management assistants are available in pdf format. This summary gives an overview of the results of both studies. At international level, the BMBF discussed a concept for an international large-scale comparative assessment in vocational education and training (VET-LSA) with seven European countries until the end of 2009. VET-LSA was not intended as a general benchmark of national vocational training systems, but as a tool for comparing the performance of training systems with different structures. This was supposed to enable countries to learn from each other's vocational training systems. Details can be found in the following strategy document. Unfortunately, VET-LSA cannot be realized as planned due to unforeseen developments in some countries that were involved in the coordination process. However, other countries have expressed their willingness to cooperate on a smaller scale, so the BMBF is planning to carry out a research initiative on skills assessment in vocational training with a national and international research focus.