The recording and certification of vocationally-relevant competences is particularly important when it comes to improving the chances for every single individual. The Federal Ministry of Education and Research (Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung – BMBF) also set up the study group “Validation of non-formal and informal learning” in 2013 in the light of the recommendation of the EU Council from December 2012 on the validation of non-formal and informal learning. The study group, which has discontinued its work in 2018, was made up of all relevant partners from the Federation and Länder, of employer and employee organisations as well as further experts.
The pilot project ValiKom, launched in 2015 by the BMBF with the Association of German Chambers of Industry and Commerce (Deutscher Industrie- und Handelstag – DIHK) and the German Confederation of Skilled Crafts (Zentralverband des Deutschen Handwerks – ZDH), developed and tested a standardised procedure for recording, assessing and certifying vocational competences for selected occupations with eight chambers from industry, commerce and skilled crafts. The result of the validation procedure is a standardised national certificate from the competent bodies on the (partial) equivalence that has been established. Since 1 November 2018, further locations have been established in ValiKom-Transfer. By October 2024, 13 Chambers of Skilled Crafts, 17 Chambers of Industry and Commerce and two Chambers of Agriculture will offer validation procedures for more than 30 professions in the project network.
The validation procedure is aimed at people who are at least 25 years old and who, irrespective of their current employment status, have acquired relevant vocational competences at home and abroad, but cannot prove these with a corresponding vocational qualification.
On the basis of the results of the transfer initiative, possibilities and variants of a legal anchoring of a validation procedure are to be examined in accordance with the agreements in the National Continuing Education Strategy.