In the summer of 2018, the Federal Ministry for Digital and Economic Affairs (BMDW) is introducing seven new apprenticeship programmes, covering a wide range of fields from construction engineering assistant (Bautechnische Assistenz) and glass process engineering to E-commerce merchant (E-Commerce-Kaufmann/-frau). The training contents of eight existing occupations will also be modernised. A joint feature of the new and updated training programmes is the inclusion of digital skills in the training contents, proving that digitisation as a concept has finally reached the apprenticeship training system.

This development will increase the number of different training pathways in the apprenticeship training system to over 200 and also continue the trend of continually updating the existing training range to meet labour market needs. More concretely, the need of digital technologies skills in specific occupations – from monitoring and controlling automated production processes to handling IT applications in everyday office routine – is taken into account to an extent similar to the topic of data protection. The introduction of the apprenticeship programme E-commerce merchant, will ensure that trading companies can cover their demand for online trading staff. Modernisation of the training of media experts specialising in web development and online marketing also testifies to the increasing importance of internet and social media applications.

Other modernisations are currently being prepared for training programmes in information technology and are planned to take effect as early as this autumn. Application development and coding will receive special attention.

The development of new training programmes and the modernisation of existing ones do not only meet the demand of companies for a secure pool of future skilled workers in these fields; the digital orientation of many programmes will also enhance the attractiveness of apprenticeship training for young people.

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