Der sichere Umgang mit fremden Sprachen und Kulturen stellt heute ...

ibw-Forschungsbericht 143 | Fremdsprachen für die Wirtschaft HEIDEMARIE HAIDER
1. Introduction and Background
1.1 Vocational Training – Apprenticeship – The Dual System
The dual system plays an important role within the Austrian vocational educational system, providing
students with initial vocational training. Currently, about 40% of Austrian teenagers opt
for apprenticeship training upon completion of compulsory education, most of them at the age
of 15. According to the statistics of the Austrian Federal Ministry of Economics and Labour
(2008) around 130,000 young people were trained within the dual system all over Austria in
2007.
The dual system consists of company-based training complemented by education in part-time
vocational schools for apprentices. There are 257 legally recognised apprenticeships (as of
December 2007) which comprise areas such as the building trades, chemistry, gardening, electrical
engineering, catering, graphic design, retailing and wholesaling, commerce and transport,
woodworking, metal and sheet metal processing, beauty care, textile industry, dental prosthetics
and many others. Apprentices spend most of their training (80%) at a company where they
learn basic skills on the job in an authentic working environment. Attendance of a part-time
vocational school for apprentices is compulsory from the moment an apprenticeship contract is
signed. Depending on how it is organised, students spend either one or two days a week (day
release) or between eight and ten weeks a year (block release) at a part-time vocational school.
Apprenticeships last between two and four years depending on the trade. Apprenticeship training
for sales assistants lasts three years. This period may be reduced for students holding
general higher education entrance qualifications.
1.2 Part-time Vocational School in St. Poelten
The part-time vocational school in St. Poelten is organised according to the block release
system. English is a compulsory subject. Approximately 400 sales assistants from various branches
attend the part-time vocational school in St. Poelten per school year.
Students attend the vocational school in St. Poelten for three ten-week-periods, apprentices
train at perfumeries or paint shops for two ten-week and one five-week period, spread over
three years. They spend the whole day at school; nine or ten lessons per day are common. All
in all, depending on the trade, they have 40 to 48 lessons per week, of which four lessons are
compulsory English classes. This means a total of 120 lessons of English, 40 lessons each year.
Teachers have to teach 23 lessons a week. On average, the class size for English lessons is 15
students, but by no means more than 19.
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