Qualification money: This is what the German government's new continuing education strategy means

On Tuesday, 27.09.2022, Federal Minister of Labor Hubertus Heil (SPD) announced the federal government's new continuing education strategy. Among other things, it aims to strengthen digital training and provides for measures such as the introduction of training time and a qualification allowance. We explain what both mean in this article.

Even though there is no draft legislation for the initiative yet, implementation is set to begin as early as next year. One of the goals of the new strategy is to increase participation in continuing education by 65 percent, thus meeting the target set by the EU 2023 Strategy to comply.

The corresponding draft law is to be submitted by the end of the year. But what do the innovations mean for employees, companies and job seekers with a need for further training?

The most important in a nutshell

These are the key points of the new continuing education strategy.

• A new online continuing education platform (Now) is to be developed by 2024
• Employees have a right to educational leave or part-time educational leave
• A qualification allowance is to be introduced
• Digital training offerings gain importance for the German labor market
• Access to continuing vocational training is to be simplified
• Lifelong learning is to be promoted in order to support companies in the digital transformation and to counteract the shortage of skilled workers

What is the qualification money?

The qualification money, also Transformation short-time allowance is a subsidy based on the short-time working allowance. The qualification allowance serves to strengthen companies and employees affected by the (digital) transformation.

What is the educational time or the partial educational time?

The educational time or part-time educational time can be compared most closely with the Austrian educational leave be compared. In the future, it should be possible for this to be agreed between employer and employee, thus enabling employees to take publicly funded time off for their professional development.

This is what the continuing education strategy means for employees

Employees in particular can look forward to major benefits. Many companies are undergoing change. Accordingly, the desire of employees to further their education and to adapt their skills to new work and technological advances is also increasing. Already in 2019, "Continuing Education" led the List to expectations that employees have of their employers.

Employees are to be emancipated with an educational leave and part-time educational leave option as well as the qualification allowance. In this way, they can gain further qualifications or even prepare for a change of career. Example: If someone who previously worked in accounting now wants to work in business intelligence and is planning a career change, part-time training is a possibility.

The developments are intended to promote lifelong learning and support employees in adapting more flexibly to changing labor market conditions.

This is what the continuing education strategy means for companies

Many companies are affected by the digital transformation and also suffer from the immense shortage of skilled workers in non-digital areas. Especially in mechanical engineering or publishing, the activities and thus the requirements for employees are changing rapidly, which is why they are often subject to very special pressure to train their staff.

This supports the so-called qualification money and promotes qualification also in small and medium-sized companies. This enables them to prepare themselves for the future and crises. To ensure that employers do not suffer any financial losses in the process, they receive financial support from the state, as do employees. This enables employees to take time off in the form of part-time or educational leave.

This is what the training strategy means for job seekers

Jobseekers will also benefit from the planned innovations. The focus here is on the long-term unemployed and unskilled workers. By means of partial qualifications, they are to learn practical and job-related knowledge that will increase their chances of advancement in the long term.

Digital training plays a particularly important role here, as it makes it easier to obtain certificates and microcredentials, which can greatly enhance learners' CVs. The aim is also to improve access to funding programs and educational opportunities.

On the one hand, vocational training is to be modernized and, on the other hand, job seekers are to be better reached through innovative qualification concepts.

Online continuing education platform Now announced

It has been announced for 2024 and is a core element of the continuing education strategy. The National Online Continuing Education Platform Now is a project of the Federal Employment Agency (BA) and is funded by the Federal Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs.

Now is to become a comprehensive continuing education database that offers simplified access and opportunities for everyone to obtain information on their own. The cost of the project is estimated at 65 million euros.

The online continuing education platform is to offer various interfaces to country databases with different continuing education options and, with New Plan, also offer an online exploration tool for finding a profession in order to make the continuing education offering more transparent. In addition, a connection to the National Education Platform is also planned. However, this is not expected to be available until 2025.

Personal conclusion from the perspective of a training provider

As a provider of continuing education, we are very positive about these developments. In particular, the introduction of the National Continuing Education Platform Now is a forward-looking project. We have been working for several months on the Toolbox Data Competencewhich is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). We see promising integration opportunities here.

We are also pleased that access to further training opportunities is to be made easier. We find this project very supportable in an ever faster changing world of work that requires lifelong learning. At present, many companies and private individuals still shy away from the bureaucratic effort involved in promoting education.

The "continuing education booster," as Labor Minister Hubertus Heil called the qualification allowance and education (part) time, is reminiscent of Austria's educational leave. However, we are very positive about the fact that the focus seems to be particularly on those who are willing to accept and implement the digital transformation. Nevertheless, it remains to be seen how the "continuing education booster" will work out in practice.

We are looking forward to a corresponding draft law and an implementation of this in the coming year as well as the first National Continuing Education Conference in 2023. StackFuel and the Toolbox Data Competence look forward to participating and supporting this development.

For more on toolbox data literacy, check out our blog article: German data competence: the race to catch up has begun.

Sources

Federal Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs (2022): "Weiterbildung mit Strategie" [28.09.2022]

Tagesspiegel Background (2022): "Continuing Education Strategy: The Federal Government's Plans." [28.09.2022]

European Commission (2022): "EU Commission launches the European Year of Skills 2023". [18.10.2022]

Chamber of Labor: "Educational leave" [18.10.2022]

Handelsblatt (2022): "Sponsored education time should help employees in transition" [28.09.2022]

Bitkom Research (2019): "New Work: What Employees Expect from the Boss." [21.09.2022]