Abstract:

An urgent need for qualified workforce in the Slovak labour market and a decreasing interest of young people in apprenticeship brought the need for changes in the national education policy and lead to the introduction of the dual system of vocational education and training in the Slovak Republic in 2015. The aim of this model’s application is to enhance young people’s motivation to take part in vocational education and training, to develop their occupational skills, and to increase their employability and competitiveness in the labour market by providing students with practical professional work experience in a company during their studies.
In the first part of the presented paper, the authors deal with this currently widely discussed topic among the Slovak professional public from the historical perspective, as apprenticeship has a long tradition in Slovakia. Subsequently, special attention is paid to the recent changes in the Slovak legislation having a significant impact on the dual system of vocational education and training. For the elaboration of the theoretical framework of the study, traditional desk research methods, together with the methods of description, comparison, generalisation, and idealisation were used.
In the second part of the study, the results of a research on the experiences with the introduction of the dual system of vocational education and training are introduced. For the purpose of data collection, the authors opted for the method of semi-structured interviews. As the dual system of vocational education and training in Slovakia based on the German model has been introduced just recently, its results cannot be measured, but vocational schools, training centres (companies), as well as students themselves have highlighted the benefits of this system. On the other hand, as being a new model, it has several shortcomings, which are focused on by the authors of the study.
In the final part of the paper, examples of good practice are introduced and the experiences of organizations providing in-company training with the dual system of education and training are described. Based on the obtained research results, the authors present their recommendations for practice.

Keywords:

Dual system of vocational education and training, apprenticeship, labour market, Slovak legislation.