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1.5 VET in a public trade school

Public trade schools are full-time vocational schools which provide entire VET programmes, i.e. both work-based training and classroom instruction. They offer classrooms and workshops and can, therefore, teach theory and practice seamlessly. The public trade schools are largely financed by public funds. Many of them make products which are sold on the market and whose proceeds cover a small part of the costs. In the Federal Vocational and Professional Education and Training Act, they are counted among the “school-based VET programmes” (cf. Chapter 1.4, p. 32).

1.5.1 Emergence of public trade schools in many occupations

Back in the 18th and 19th century, municipalities, associations and also the state founded publicly organised trade schools which guaranteed complete training, in particular in the watchmaking industry (Fallet & Simonin, 2010).

In Switzerland, training programmes for certain professions with high theoretical, technical and also practical requirements are often such full-time school-based programmes (cf. portrait of Maybe Simons, p. 42). In addition to the watchmaking schools mentioned above, which can look back on a long tradition, there are also commercial, crafts and trade and even agricultural establishments of this type in Switzerland. Likewise, there are many specific training programmes and handcraft-related training establishments organised in this way, for example the traditional workshops for dressmakers and the current Bespoke Tailors, Federal VET Diploma (Bekleidungsgestalter/innen EFZ) or the Schule für Holzbildhauerei (Woodcarving School) in Brienz.

1.5.2 Funding of public trade schools

Trade schools, like most school-based training programmes – with the exception of private professional schools – are largely financed from public funds, with money provided by the Confederation, cantons and municipalities. Only a small part of the costs is covered by sales of products made in the public trade school, although there are big differences here depending on the type. In some cases, the learners conclude an apprenticeship contract with the trade school and also receive a wage from the school, in other cases they receive only an allowance or even pay school fees. Accordingly, they are referred to as either learners or students.

1.5.3 Reasons for creating public trade schools

The main motives for establishing public trade schools in the 19th and also later in the 20th century can be identified as follows:

•promoting industrial development,

•developing an elite among professionals,

•maintaining the competitiveness of the trade,

•fostering local commercial/industrial production,

•reducing the shortage of qualified employees in particularly in-demand professions where there are hardly any training positions offered,

•guaranteeing training options in cost-intensive VET programmes,

•enabling VET for young people with good school grades who, at the same time, are aiming to obtain the Federal Vocational Baccalaureate,

•providing VET programmes for young people with special needs in training programmes which, for example, lead to a Federal VET Certificate (EBA).

These motives often occur in combination. The objective of developing specialised skilled workers still plays an important role today – especially in the development cooperation in countries which want to launch an industry or aim at promoting professionally qualified entrepreneurship.

1.5.4 The role of public trade schools in the foundation phase of Swiss VPET

In the years when Swiss VPET was founded at the end of the 19th century, there was the idea that a large part of VPET could be organised systematically in trade schools, i.e. full-time vocational schools including work-based training and classroom instruction (Gonon, 2002c). The aim was to train an elite of well-trained skilled workers and supervisors who were familiar with the requirements of modern production as the basis for founding new companies. This approach, developed above all in France, seemed to be in line with the requirements of the Industrial Age (Bücher, 1877). The French “ateliers publics” were also a model for many start-ups in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The trade schools of the City of Berne, the metalworkers’ school in Winterthur, and also the cabinetmakers’ school in Zurich were founded by craft and trade enterprises and were oriented towards such models.

In the 1970s, public trade schools, i.e. full-time vocational schools including work-based training and classroom instruction were, in turn, seen as an alternative to traditional apprenticeships because these were considered deficient, especially in comparison with upper-secondary level baccalaureate schools (Gonon & Müller, 1982). Particularly for demanding professions, for which there were too few training positions, the introduction of such an establishment seemed appropriate.

Cultural preferences also play a role in the organisation of VET: in French-speaking Switzerland, the participation rate in school-based training at upper-secondary level is higher in general so there are also more public trade schools than in German-speaking Switzerland (Wettstein & Amos, 2010, p. 11; cf. also Fig. 1-5).

1.5.5 Advantages and disadvantages of public trade schools

Trade schools (full-time vocational schools, including work-based training and classroom instruction) have advantages but also disadvantages compared with other training forms. Specific knowledge can be deepened and taught more systematically off the job when other purposes, like the production or simultaneous provision of a service, do not apply. On the other hand, it is often claimed that this form cannot cater as much for practical needs at companies and, in particular, that it is more cost-intensive. In recent years, dual-track VET forms have been increasingly promoted even in the watchmaking industry, for example, while the training places available in trade schools have stagnated or even fallen in number. However, this form of VET will continue to exist, in particular as a complement or particular specialisation which can be covered only in part by the usual form of dual-track VET. In their study “Schulisch organisierte berufliche Grundbildung” (School-based VET) Wettstein and Amos make the case for not overvaluing (and ideologising) the contrast between trade school, professional school and dual-track VET because many mixed forms have developed in the organisational practice of VET. Trade school does not so much represent competition within VPET but rather competition for general education schools (loc. cit., p. 36).

1.5.6 Example

Technische Fachschule Bern

On the initiative of local trade, at the end of the 1880s new trade schools were also established in Berne, initially for a total of 20 apprentices, to increase the quality and competitiveness of shoemakers, carpenters, metalworkers and plumbers, whose representatives felt threatened by foreign competition. The shoemaking industry was already in decline in the year of foundation in 1888, however, which meant that the vocational training at the “Lehrwerkstätten Bern (LWB)”, as the Technische Fachschule Bern (Berne Trade Schools) are still called today, had already stopped for shoemakers before the turn of the century and instead the LWB offered training for the upcoming profession of mechanic (Gerber, 2013, p. 17). Based on the French model, there was, in addition to the actual vocational training institution, a boarding house which accommodated external and needy apprentices up until 1905 (loc. cit., p. 30). Alongside the VET programmes, the master craftsman and engineer training gained in importance over the years before the LWB, in the most recent period, started to concentrate more on actual apprenticeship training again. The LWB are supported by public funds, in particular from the canton, and the proceeds from sold products also play a certain role for the funding. The sale of brass coffee pots, desks and special saws, to mention just a few historical big sellers, was viewed with some scepticism by local trade, however. The training, though, has always been greatly appreciated; many young people who attend the LWB also complete the Federal Vocational Baccalaureate today, and at the first international vocational competitions LWB graduates won medals.

Today, the LWB provide 170 full-time apprenticeship places per year – VET programmes to obtain the Federal VET Diploma in Mechanical Engineering, Electronics Engineering, Carpentry, Metalworking and Plumbing, and in addition also two-year VET programmes with a Federal VET Certificate. For the total of more than 450 learners, there has been greater focus on practical training again in recent years, which had continually become less significant over the course of history (loc. cit., p. 142).

Figure 1-5: VET in public trade schools (selection). Representation by the authors