Transfer of Concepts and Practices of Vocational Education and Training from the Center to the Peripheries: The case of Germany

Using the example of Germany, this article examines how a center for vocational education and training (VET) is created, what reasons exist for being a center, and which factors determine the center-periphery relation. Taking a historical-systematical analysis as basis, the contribution will depict the formation and development of modern German vocational education and will explore the influences and effects this development has on the policies and concepts of the national development aid in the field of vocational education assistance. The analyses makes clear the close connection between support programs and features and structures of the German vocational education system, in particular its concentration on a dual organized apprenticeship system, on technical and industrial training occupations, and on gender-based characteristics. It also illustrates how national notions of vocational education determine the level of development assistance in this field. One of the conclusions drawn is that due to the fact of the strong historical, societal and cultural embeddedness of vocational education, the transnational transfer of vocational education systems or components thereof seems rather impossible, whether the transfer be to another developed country or to a developing country.