It is the type of lace on which apprentices generally begin learning the craft.
In days gone by, this meant a formalized schooling system in which apprentices spent some seven years learning a manual craft.
Germany's much-admired dual education system (in which apprentices are trained jointly by employers and at specialist vocational schools) has grown in Upper Bavaria, not because it was seen as the more responsible thing to do, but because companies, unable to "buy in" a fully trained-up workforce, often had to mould the workers they needed themselves.
In apprenticeship, masters never intentionally nor explicitly teach their skill to their apprentice, which apprentices have to actively make efforts to discover and to give the meaning from their own perspectives in observing experts demonstrating skills.
From an IT perspective, a well-developed computer-based test in VET should include typical work situations in which apprentices perform typical tasks from their everyday work lives.
First, the activities in which apprentices are engaged, can be seen as authentic tasks that are in line with the phase of production.
Tanggaard (2005) uses the term 'symmetrical instruction' to describe situations in which apprentices with nearly the same level of competence guide and instruct each other.
To this end, in this study, we report in detail on an investigation into the extent to which apprentices in Switzerland and Germany need the same competence to be prepared for the commercial workforce.
The target group in Switzerland for measuring 'commercial competence' was commercial apprentices, in which apprentices combine a common formal education in a vocational school (one to two days) with on-the-job training at the company (three to four days),16 and specific branch courses during their working time at the company.
Moreover, given the heterogeneity of workplaces in which apprentices do their training, having apprentices confront their experiences represents a good opportunity for teachers to engage them at school in reflecting together on professional skills and specific procedures conducted in different professional contexts.
