On 26 January, Björn Böhning, State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, and Tang Tao, Vice Minister at the Chinese Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, opened a two-day virtual workshop on the subject of vocational education and training in times of structural change.
In Germany and all around the world, the Corona pandemic is accelerating structural change in the world of work. During the workshop, representatives of the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy and the Federal Employment Agency talked with their Chinese partners about the immense challenges posed by this change.
The opening statements of State Secretary Björn Böhning and Vice Minister Tang Tao made clear: Vocational training and continuing education is the key to influencing the course of this change, but it must become more individualised, more inclusive and make more use of digital technologies.
The subsequent discussions at expert level were lively and showed that despite many differences between the two countries, cooperation in the fields of vocational education and training and employment policy brings significant additional benefits.