The paper picks up "matching problems" related to current European education policy moves by referring to the German, the French and the Austrian VET system respectively. As we here refer to "dual systems" or "school-based systems" respectively, the pre-conditions for transforming European policy into national policies are very different. One…

This article explores some different ways of providing vocational qualifications, specifically for young people who do not go directly to university from school. The examples of Germany and Australia are discussed and show that historical, political, economic and social factors influence the preferred modes of training and their relative perceived…

The German education system has recently come under fire with the publication of various international studies on student performance (OECD 2000; 2003). And in the first national "Education Report" (Bildungsbericht) published in October 2003 (Avenarius et al. 2003), the German ministers of education point out serious deficiencies in the country's…