We are currently facing a change of the vocational education system in Germany. The number of apprenticeships in the so called dual system (which refers to two locations of education: company and vocational school) declines, while the number of apprenticeships in the service sector increases. According to Baethge et al. (2007) this development depends on fundamental changes in the employment sector which is characterized by soaring globally distribution of production processes, the increase of the tertiary sector and a structural change of the labour force in many professions, branches, and companies. This paper pursues the research question: what are the consequences of the changing skill formation for equal opportunities of participation in the vocational education system concerning gender, social class and ethnicity? The analysis of the vocational education system is based on the theoretical framework of the new political economy of skill formations outlined by Brown (2001). Thus, social inequality in skill formation is socially constructed and experienced within social institutions. The assumption of social construction means that within capitalist economies there are variations in the development of institutions. Following Thelen (2004) the institutions of skill formation differ between countries. The specific German way of skill formation and current changes in the vocational education system affecting equal opportunity are analysed in a comparative perspective based the typology of different welfare state models (Esping-Andersen 1990) and the discussion on “varieties of capitalism” (Hall/Soskice 2001). While a dominant part of this discussion is concerned with questions on comparative economic advantages, the objective of this paper consists mainly in the exploration of the social dimension of the transformation of skill formations. Hence, the focus lays on the changing skill needs and effects on participation rates of trainees with different gender, social and ethnic backgrounds.

The paper’s method consists in collecting and describing already existing empirical data on participation rates of female and male trainees with different social and ethnic backgrounds. In order to illustrate current changes special consideration will be paid to data on the development of the dual system and apprenticeships in the service sector. Data sources are the Federal Statistic Office, OECD, and several organizational sources such as the Federal Institute for Vocational Education (Bundesinstitut für Berufsbildung). In addition to empirical data a theoretical argumentation of the consequences of the transforming skill formation for equal opportunities based on the examination of the international literature of the current international debate (Thelen/Busemeyer 2008, Estebez-Abe/Iversen/Soskice 2001, Gottschall/Shire 2008, Solga 2008) will be provided.

Findings indicate that people of lower social classes without or with lower school degrees and ethnic minorities are being suppressed by middle class people with higher school degrees in competition of fewer apprenticeships. Female advance in education goes along with deterioration of male success in education but is not converted into female success in employment. Furthermore, the decline of the dual system, traditionally overrepresented by men, threatens more men than women. This paper’s conclusions connote that school degrees are becoming increasingly important for further participation in vocational education; thus the relationship between general and vocational education changes and this alteration enforces social inequality. Vocational education in Germany looses its former status as alternative to general education providing transitions into employment and therefore certain social security for many people. For the future it seems crucial to analyse the social dimension of EU’s policies on vocational education modularization and qualifications framework.