The German dual vocational training system : the origin of the current architecture

Abstract

Today’s dual vocational training system in Germany is not the result of conscious planning and development, but rather arose within a complex historical process to form a connected whole” (Greinert 1995, p. 19). The current functionality can thus only be understood against the backdrop of its historical development. This history is the focus of the article. It will trace the establishment of central steering components in light of the respective societal context. The focus of this articles is: (1) The role of guilds (in german “Zunft”) in the Middle Ages and the development of a cultural value system; (2) The role of the state in the bourgeois-capitalist society of the 18th and 19th centuries and the development of corporatist steering.