Introduction: Rediscovering Apprenticeship

Abstract

At its first conference in Bremen in 2006, the International Network on Innovative Apprenticeship (INAP) summarized the results of the presentations and discussions in the thesis that the tradition of apprenticeship is currently being rediscovered throughout the world. This hypothesis, at that time tentative, was developed with increased confidence in the proceedings of the second conference in February 2008 in Vienna. Researchers from 13 countries participated in the latter conference and delivered almost 30 contributions, all of which confirmed the assumption that the new interest in dual vocational education and training is stimulating more and more national and international research and development projects as well as policy initiatives towards the re-establishment of dual vocational education. For example, a recent reform initiative of the House of Lords in the UK is a further step in a series of attempts to revive the flagging apprenticeship tradition in the UK. The ‘Apprenticeship Programme in the Mediterranean Region’ coordinated by the European Training Foundation is a remarkable sign of the attractiveness that dual vocational education has for VET policy in a growing range of countries.