- 2022Implementation
- 2023Implementation
- 2024Implementation
Background
Since the digital transformation is progressing particularly rapidly in companies and they cannot close themselves off from digital or technical innovations for reasons of competition, it is essential that apprenticeship training keeps pace with these developments. Digital change is also noticeable in the environment of the part-time vocational school, which complements in-company training. The preventive measures against the COVID-19 pandemic have accelerated this even more in the part-time vocational schools.
Apprentices should come into contact with digitalisation in a variety of ways during their training: it should be increasingly incorporated into the methodological-didactic design of training: At the same time, processes and procedures within the framework of training should become more efficient and resource-saving for training companies.
In addition to training design, training administration should also be increasingly digitalised. This includes the entire spectrum of activities, from registering the apprentice and recording the apprenticeship contract to registering for the apprenticeship-leaving exam and processing the company apprenticeship subsidy.
Objectives
- Digitisation of processes of the design of training in the company; of support materials for training companies and processes of the administrative handling of apprenticeship training, including the company-based apprenticeship funding scheme.
- Introduction of digital tools for teaching content in the company-based part of training.
Description
Within the framework of the Education of the economy initiative of the Austrian Economic Chamber, various activities and measures have been implemented since 2018, partly in cooperation with the Ministry of Economy, to advance digitisation in apprenticeship training both in terms of content and administration.
This includes increased consideration of digitalisation in content-related modernisation and new establishment of apprenticeship occupations, support of in-company training and trainers with digital tools, and simplification of administrative processes through digital application and digital examination management.
Specifically, the following sub-projects are planned as part of the initiative and are already partly under way.
- Implementation of an online tool to support apprenticeship design and documentation. The online tool Training roadmap is currently available for five apprenticeship occupations. Registration is required for use.
- Training guidelines and training documentation: written training guidelines are already available for several apprenticeship occupations, which support trainers in implementing the training regulations. These are to be supplemented by digital training documentation.
- Examples of good training practice: a separate web platform already provides extensive good-practice examples from company practice of how training can be designed. One focus is on providing a toolbox with many suggestions on...
Within the framework of the Education of the economy initiative of the Austrian Economic Chamber, various activities and measures have been implemented since 2018, partly in cooperation with the Ministry of Economy, to advance digitisation in apprenticeship training both in terms of content and administration.
This includes increased consideration of digitalisation in content-related modernisation and new establishment of apprenticeship occupations, support of in-company training and trainers with digital tools, and simplification of administrative processes through digital application and digital examination management.
Specifically, the following sub-projects are planned as part of the initiative and are already partly under way.
- Implementation of an online tool to support apprenticeship design and documentation. The online tool Training roadmap is currently available for five apprenticeship occupations. Registration is required for use.
- Training guidelines and training documentation: written training guidelines are already available for several apprenticeship occupations, which support trainers in implementing the training regulations. These are to be supplemented by digital training documentation.
- Examples of good training practice: a separate web platform already provides extensive good-practice examples from company practice of how training can be designed. One focus is on providing a toolbox with many suggestions on the topic of 'digital learning and training', which is continuously supplemented and updated.
- Within the framework of the in-company apprenticeship funding programme 'Funding apprenticeship', a funding focus is placed on the topic of 'digitalisation and innovation'. In this funding priority, projects are supported that aim at an innovative further development of dual training. The first projects under this funding priority have already been implemented and are currently being tested.
- Implementation and expansion of LOS, an online service for company-based apprenticeship funding. This is intended to digitalise the application and processing of subsidies fully.
- Application for process handling: since 2021, work has been underway on a digital application that will handle all processes in the area of dual training throughout Austria.
- With the digital examination management, administrative processes (registration of apprenticeship contracts, registration for the examination, etc.) are to be digitalised; organisation and handling of the examination is also to be optimised with the help of digital tools (virtual reality, AI).
The related activities are part of both the National implementation plan (NIP) and the Economic Chamber initiative 'We educate the economy', which has been running since 2018.
While some sub-projects were still in a conceptual phase as part of the overall measure in 2022, others had been started in previous years.
For example, the trainers' platform 'ausbilder.at' and the training guidelines had been operational for several years and are continuously being expanded and optimised. As of the end of 2022, training guides are available for 78 apprenticeship occupations.
The online tool for the training roadmap clearly presents the contents of apprenticeship training and is used by companies, trainers and apprentices. It was piloted for five occupations and will be tested in 2022 to be expanded to other occupations.
The funding priority on digitalisation and innovation has also been running for several years. The first implementation results have been available since 2022 with the learning tool Competent in the office, a virtual training scenario with interactive tasks and gamification elements. In the Apprenticeship cloud project, SMEs, start-ups and part-time vocational schools in electrical engineering are testing the format of training alliances and carrying out job rotations.
The online service for company apprenticeship promotion (LOS) is also operational in 2022.
In 2023, the training guidelines, training documentations, and examples of good training practice were moved from the platform 'ausbilder.at' to 'qualitaet-lehre.at'. This service platform offers information and tools for groups involved in apprenticeship training (e.g. apprentices, training companies, trainers, examiners). Training guidelines and training documentations for around ten additional apprenticeship occupations were added.
Moreover, the Ministry of Labour and Economy and the Austrian Economic Chamber launched a new funding programme for dual training. The 'Digi-Scheck' provides funding for training measures that promote future skills in areas such as digitalisation, sustainability, and internationalisation. Thereby, it helps training companies to integrate the relevant content into dual training. The programme is scheduled to fund activities completed in 2023 and 2024.
In 2024, training guidelines and training documentations for about a dozen more apprenticeship occupations were added. The online tool Training roadmap was discontinued.
Bodies responsible
- Austrian Federal Economic Chamber (WKO)
- Federal Ministry of Labour and Economy (BMAW)
Target groups
Learners
- Learners in upper secondary, including apprentices
Education professionals
- Trainers
Entities providing VET
- Companies
- Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)
- VET providers (all kinds)
Thematic categories
Governance of VET and lifelong learning
This thematic category looks at existing legal frameworks providing for strategic, operational – including quality assurance – and financing arrangements for VET and lifelong learning (LLL). It examines how VET and LLL-related policies are placed in broad national socioeconomic contexts and coordinate with other strategies and policies, such as economic, social and employment, growth and innovation, recovery and resilience.
This thematic category covers partnerships and collaboration networks of VET stakeholders – especially the social partners – to shape and implement VET in a country, including looking at how their roles and responsibilities for VET at national, regional and local levels are shared and distributed, ensuring an appropriate degree of autonomy for VET providers to adapt their offer.
The thematic category also includes efforts to create national, regional and sectoral skills intelligence systems (skills anticipation and graduate tracking) and using skills intelligence for making decisions about VET and LLL on quality, inclusiveness and flexibility.
This thematic sub-category refers to the ways VET is funded at the system level. Policies include optimisation of VET provider funding that allows them to adapt their offer to changing skill needs, green and digital transitions, the social agenda and economic cycles, e.g. increasing the funding for VET or for specific programmes. They can also concern changing the mechanism of how the funding is allocated to VET schools (per capita vs based on achievement or other criteria). Using EU funds and financial instruments for development of VET and skills also falls into this sub-category.
This thematic sub-category refers both to formal mechanisms of stakeholder engagement in VET governance and to informal cooperation among stakeholders, which motivate shared responsibility for quality VET. Formal engagement is usually based on legally established institutional procedures that clearly define the role and responsibilities for relevant stakeholders in designing, implementing and improving VET. It also refers to establishing and increasing the degree of autonomy of VET providers for agile and flexible VET provision.
In terms of informal cooperation, the sub-category covers targeted actions by different stakeholders to promote or implement VET. This cooperation often leads to creating sustainable partnerships and making commitments for targeted actions, in line with the national context and regulation, e.g. national alliances for apprenticeships, pacts for youth or partnerships between schools and employers. It can also include initiatives and projects run by the social partners or sectoral organisations or networks of voluntary experts and executives, retired or on sabbatical, to support their peers in the fields of VET and apprenticeships, as part of the EAfA.
Modernising VET infrastructure
This thematic category looks at how VET schools and companies providing VET are supported to update and upgrade their physical infrastructure for teaching and learning, including digital and green technologies, so that learners in all VET programmes and specialities have access to state-of-the-art equipment and are able to acquire relevant and up-to-date vocational and technical skills and competences. Modernising infrastructure in remote and rural areas increases the inclusiveness of VET and LLL.
This thematic sub-category focuses on establishing and upgrading to state-of-the-art digital infrastructure, equipment and technology, such as computers, hardware, connectivity and good broadband speed that should ensure quality and inclusive VET provision, especially in blended and virtual modes. It also includes specific measures to remove the digital divide, e.g. supporting geographically remote or rural areas to ensure social inclusion through access to such infrastructure for learning and teaching. It also includes support measures for learners from socially disadvantaged backgrounds to acquire the necessary equipment.
Modernising VET offer and delivery
This thematic category looks at what and how individuals learn, how learning content and learning outcomes in initial and continuing VET are defined, adapted and updated. First and foremost, it examines how VET standards, curricula, programmes and training courses are updated and modernised or new ones created. Updated and renewed VET content ensures that learners acquire a balanced mix of competences that address modern demands, and are more closely aligned with the realities of the labour market, including key competences, digital competences and skills for green transition and sustainability, both sector-specific and across sectors. Using learning outcomes as a basis is important to facilitate this modernisation, including modularisation of VET programmes. Updating and developing teaching and learning materials to support the above is also part of the category.
The thematic category continues to focus on strengthening high-quality and inclusive apprenticeships and work-based learning in real-life work environments and in line with the European framework for quality and effective apprenticeships. It looks at expanding apprenticeship to continuing vocational training and at developing VET programmes at EQF levels 5-8 for better permeability and lifelong learning and to support the need for higher vocational skills.
This thematic category also focuses on VET delivery through a mix of open, digital and participative learning environments, including workplaces conducive to learning, which are flexible, more adaptable to the ways individuals learn, and provide more access and outreach to various groups of learners, diversifying modes of learning and exploiting the potential of digital learning solutions and blended learning to complement face-to-face learning.
Centres of vocational excellence that connect VET to innovation and skill ecosystems and facilitate stronger cooperation with business and research also fall into this category.
This thematic sub-category is about the way learners learn, how the learning is delivered to them, and by what means. Programmes become more accessible through a combination of adaptable and flexible formats (e.g. face-to-face, digital and/or blended learning), through digital learning platforms that allow better outreach, especially for vulnerable groups and for learners in geographically remote or rural areas.
This thematic sub-category focuses on developing and updating all kinds of learning resources and materials, both for learners and for teachers and trainers (e.g. teachers handbooks or manuals), to embrace current and evolving content and modes of learning. These activities target all kinds of formats: hard copy and digital publications, learning websites and platforms, tools for learner self-assessment of progress, ICT-based simulators, virtual and augmented reality, etc.
Teachers, trainers and school leaders competences
Competent and motivated VET teachers in schools and trainers in companies are crucial to VET becoming innovative and relevant, agile, resilient, flexible, inclusive and lifelong.
This thematic category comprises policies and practices of initial training and continuing professional development approaches in a systemic and systematic manner. It also looks at measures aiming to update (entry) requirements and make teaching and training careers attractive and bring more young and talented individuals and business professionals into teaching and training. Supporting VET educators by equipping them with adequate competences, skills and tools for the green transition and digital teaching and learning are addressed in separate thematic sub-categories.
The measures in this category target teachers and school leaders, company trainers and mentors, adult educators and guidance practitioners.
This thematic sub-category is in line with the EU policy focus on the digital transition, and refers to professional development and other measures to prepare and support teachers and trainers in teaching their learners digital skills and competences. It also covers measures and support for them to increase their own digital skills and competences, including for teaching in virtual environments, working with digital tools and applying digital pedagogies. Emergency measures taken during the COVID-19 pandemic also fall into this sub-category.
European priorities in VET
VET Recommendation
- VET as a driver for innovation and growth preparing for digital and green transitions and occupations in high demand
Osnabrück Declaration
- Resilience and excellence through quality, inclusive and flexible VET
- Establishing a new lifelong learning culture - relevance of continuing VET and digitalisation
Subsystem
Further reading
Country
Type of development
Cedefop, & ReferNet. (2025). Digitisation of training design and administration in dual VET: Austria. In Cedefop, & ReferNet. (2025). Timeline of VET policies in Europe (2024 update) [Online tool].
https://www.cedefop.europa.eu/lt/tools/timeline-vet-policies-europe/search/44482