Further education counseling: Variations in the implementation of a new service by the Federal Employment Agency

Abstract

"A need for lifelong learning with continuous qualification and further education and training arises in the context of a knowledge-based society. As a reaction, the German Federal Employment Agency (BA) initiated a pilot project, a service of 'counselling on further education and training' (Weiterbildungsberatung), from April 2015 until April 2016 in 15 regions. Both exogenous factors as well as endogenous factors varied in the pilot phase. This paper examines the process of implementing this new service and the arising subsequent heterogeneity in its practice in two contrasting regions. In one case, counselling is interpreted as instrumental to a regional balancing of labor market supply and demand. The counselling offered in the other region in turn emphasizes counselling as an open process focusing on the customer's inclinations and wishes. The differences in the implementation occur because the supply of counselling has to fit the economic situation and the organizational context of the respective region and organization. However, if a specialized and open counselling service directed at any person interested is to be established, an emphasis on the (institutional) aim of labor market integration can be regarded as potentially problematic. This holds true if the focus on labor market integration is achieved at the expense of an orientation towards customers' needs, thus leading to a more directive approach to counselling." (Author's abstract, © W. Bertelsmann Verlag) ((en))

Cite article

Fuchs, P., Fuchs, S. & Hamann, S. (2017): Weiterbildungsberatung: Variationen in der Umsetzung eines neuen Dienstleistungsangebots der Bundesagentur für Arbeit. In: Zeitschrift für Weiterbildungsforschung, Vol. 40, No. 3, p. 321-338. DOI:10.1007/s40955-017-0096-y