Philipp Gonon - Swiss Vocational and Professional Education and Training (VPET)

With his work and school obligations Lukas Signer has little time left for learning, especially when he helps his brother and parents on the farm at the weekend. The learners can send their vocational instruction teacher questions by SMS at any time, and he answers these right away. He also seems to know that people achieve nothing without hard work.

VET has become highly differentiated since the 1970s. There is a growing number of VET programmes for less able youths and, depending on the area and level, there are also very different options for talented youths. The Federal Vocational and Professional Education and Training Act or VPETA (Berufsbildungsgesetz or BBG; VPETA, 2002, Art. 18) refers to less able learners (cf. Chapter 1.8, p. 53) but also indicates the possibility of shortening the programme duration for particularly competent youths or those with prior qualifications. For talented youths, there are further possibilities, for example switching to a more demanding level of basic education, mobility programmes and bilingual instruction. A few local pilot projects even offer the opportunity to complete VET courses in English (cf. Grassi et al., 2014).

A high level of performance can have completely different facets: it can refer to academic performance, but it can also manifest itself in vocational skills. The very choice of the profession of florist, goldsmith (three specialisations) and many handicraft occupations may be an expression of a specific high level of performance – and brilliant ideas can often already be implemented during the apprenticeship. Finally, excellence can also refer to particular artistic, musical or sporting abilities.[5]

A high level of performance is generally based on particular talents – and these should also be used for VET. To mobilise reserves of talent for VET, specific types of learning opportunities are, therefore, required and parents and young people need to be made aware of these.[6]

High-performing youths can be found in all types of VET, and trainers should cater to them, including an enrichment of the requirements and tasks in work-based training (Stamm, Müller & Niederhauser, 2006, p. 67). VET is particularly suited for promoting youths who are highly motivated to face challenges and who have a particular talent for implementing ideas. This can often be observed in the host company. Some companies respond with particular measures in which they promote the independence of learners in “junior enterprises” (Juniorunternehmen). Individual departments may be headed by learners, for example, and entire operating units are managed by them. Here, learners do not only acquire the corresponding skills required for management, they can also explore, discover and try out innovations.

In connection with a high performance level of vocational skills, the apprentice and vocational skills competitions must also be mentioned. These offer a particular incentive for learners but also for companies to develop their level of performance (cf. DBK, 1999) and to demonstrate this outside the daily business in the company.

Art in Wood – carpentry apprentice competitions in the canton of Lucerne – example of a regional competition

The Verband Luzerner Schreiner (Lucerne Carpenters’ Association) organises annual apprentice competitions under a certain motto and which are based on work done by the learners in their free time. First of all, a sketch is submitted, then – if there is positive feedback from the jury – there is the possibility of making a product on the machines of the host company. A specialist jury and a design jury award prizes for the pieces of work and hand out an innovation prize, for example. Then the products are exhibited.

For the 2013 competition, 61 apprentice carpenters from the canton of Lucerne created pieces of furniture based on their own ideas, and these were assessed by the jurors (Verband Luzerner Schreiner, 2013).

The vocational skills competitions, which have been established internationally for a long time, are particularly prestigious. Since back in the 1950s, talented representatives of various job categories have been competing against each other and measuring their specialist knowledge and skills in the individual job categories of crafts and trades, industry and services. Switzerland regularly finishes in the top positions at these events and has been the most successful European country for years. The medals which are won are not only seen as top performances of individuals but also, in the opinion of many observers, reflect the performance level of the VET system of a country in general.

At the 43rd World Skills Competitions in 2015 in São Paulo, there were 40 young Swiss professionals who, measured by Swiss standards, did not do as well as usual. With their 4th position in the national ranking they did not belong – for the first time since 2001 – to the first three winners, even if they still finished first among the European nations (Schmid E., 2013b).

For young people with a high level of performance at school, there are additional optional courses or support courses available for up to half a day a week at vocational schools if the performance level of the learner at school and in the company otherwise corresponds with expectations (cf. Chapter 5.2, p. 222). The courses comprise creative or sport programmes but supplementary specialist knowledge and subject-specific skills and, in particular, foreign language skills are also taught. The offer varies considerably from canton to canton though.

Since the 1970s, there have also been the vocational upper-secondary schools, which teach more general education. The idea of the founders (Sommerhalder, 1989), according to which many young people wish to acquire a broader general education, applied only to a limited extent at first, however. This school type did not begin to grow until the start of the 1990s when the Federal Vocational Baccalaureate was created and identified as a requirement for entry into the universities of applied sciences, which were newly established at the time.

In VET, like at upper-secondary level baccalaureate schools, there are models which enable talented athletes and, for example, also ballet dancers to obtain an upper-secondary qualification alongside their intensive training. There are often individual regulations here, for dance there is a specific VET programme to become a Dancer, Federal VET Diploma (Bühnentänzer/in EFZ).

The United School of Sports, located in Zurich and St. Gallen, offers a parallel programme in the commercial sector to promote sports and VET. The learners are trained for two years in a company after fulfilling the greatest part of the training requirements at school beforehand. Other agreements are made between the school and the company which also require a certain commitment from the company.

Apart from this option, which is basically open to all professions and all learners if corresponding requirements are met at school, there are other institutions which exclusively promote particular talents. These are usually privately organised or non-profit academies or special schools, for example a music school for jazz or a clown/circus arts school.

Not all young people meet the requirements for completing a two-year VET programme with Federal VET Certificate (EBA) or a three or four-year VET programme with Federal VET Diploma (EFZ) – at least not under regular conditions. Various programmes are available for these young people.