Ein Espresso mit Enrica Rapolla

Enrica Rapolla, Direttore Tecnico del Centro Europe Direct LUPT, Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II

What do you think is the most important part of the dual vocational training system?
The most important aspects of DUAL VET are a strong focus on the practical side of training, the possibility to develop soft and transversal skills but also the coherence with the general educational path. The practical side of DUAL VET is the most tangible output of this kind of training, because of its professionalization effects on the trainees. This process should lead to the development of soft and transversal skills, which, notably, could come from institutionalized and informal education and training processes but which could also be actually deepened and implemented within working environments: skills such as communication, negotiation, interpersonal relations are key features in a continuously-changing professional environment and paths and they are permanent, so that they can be exploited independently from the specific job profile (and that’s very important in the current flexibility character of the current job market). Finally, coherence is central, too, because it avoids that the professional training becomes a mere list of technicalities without the possibility to contextualize them in a theoretical background, which is essential because it allows the single person to adapt in a more and more competitive job market, continuously driven by a flexibility-demand character. Coherence is also an important feature if referred to highly skilled school students, and in these cases VET programmes should take into account their more theoretical curriculum and the general need to go to the university to be employable.

What chances do you see in promoting the dual vocational training system? 

Dual Vocational Training System should be valorized. Its diffusion should be developed by improving its image among young people. The perceived image of this kind of education should be upgraded, because dual vocational training could be seen as a “B-series”, opposite to the university education. Actually, employment rates show that this perception is not true, so the diffusion of VET should be improved.