The part-time education model
Do you want to develop professionally or start a new training path, but don’t have the time for various reasons? Then the model of part-time vocational training could be a good alternative. People who were unable to start full-time training due to family commitments have been able to use this model since 2005, and since 2020 this path has been open to a large number of people.
However, there is no legal right to part-time training, as the lawyer Anette Fischer-Peters explains in an interview with n-tv. This means that the employer can decide whether the trainee will be trained part-time or full-time.
Depending on the agreement with the training company, the working hours may be reduced by 50 percent. “It is assumed that during this time, trainees will be able to familiarize themselves with the essential operational processes in a reasonable amount of time,” writes the employment agency on its own website. If you work less per day or week than discussed in advance, the duration of the training will be extended accordingly.
“Overall, it can be a maximum of one and a half times the regular training period,” according to the employment agency. According to this, the duration of the training will not double, even if you only work in the company for 50 percent of the regular time.
A training concept for young parents
The target group of part-time education are people who have other commitments and do not have time for regular education – for example young parents or people caring for their parents/relatives. However, trainees with physical and health limitations can also opt for part-time training, and the same applies to competitive athletes.
All those who do not fall into these categories will usually not be able to complete part-time training or only indirectly.
If a regular training position is first taken up, but personal circumstances change during this period, there is the option of switching from full-time to part-time and vice versa. However, the company always has to play its part here.
Whether part-time or full-time, the completed training has the same value in both models. For future employers, it should therefore not matter in which period the training was completed, because the qualification is ultimately the same.
Time and financial planning
For prospective part-time trainees, it must be taken into account when planning the time that the teaching hours at the vocational school will not be shortened and that they will take place at fixed times. Only the working hours in the company can be shortened and adapted to the needs of the trainee.
“Apprentices who have to look after a child, for example, should take this into account in their planning,” explains Alessia Gordienko, equal opportunities officer at the Spandau job center in Berlin, to n-tv.
Since the trainee will have less working hours in the company, a reduction in salary must also be expected. Although the company is free to pay the full training allowance, this will only be the case in a few companies. However, so that part-time trainees also have enough income to survive, an application for vocational training allowance can be submitted.
Henry Ely / Editor finanzen.net
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