QB
Status and perspectives for Qualification Counselling (QB) at the National Employment Agency
Project lead
Prof. Dr. Thomas Freiling
Project staff
Ruth Moritz, M.A
Project duration
June 2022 – December 2023
Project partners
Prof. Dr. Tim Stanik (University of Münster)
Prof. Dr. Bernd Käpplinger, Dr. Martin Reuter, Caroline Dietz (University of Gießen)
Project Description
Qualification Counselling as a service for employers at the National Employment Agency (BA) is the focus of this project. This organisation-based service is there to serve as a support and provide advice for small and medium-sized companies (SMEs) in particular on processing strategic Human Resources issues on qualification and further training for their employees, especially with regard to current developments such as the lack of skilled workers and digital transformation in demographically changing times.
Before a backdrop of national further training strategy, which also includes the established and increasing need for qualification and counselling in companies, questions are asked about the detectability, utilisation, quality guarantee and profiling of this form of counselling within the services the BA offers. The aim of the project is an empirical siting of qualification counselling, focusing on investigating the instrumental and detrimental factors of this service at the BA.
With the help of a mixed-methodsapproach, qualitative surveys of qualification counsellors from different regional agencies are seen in context with a quantitative company survey. Using the assistance of expert interviews, the perspectives of those strategically responsible for this form of counselling at the BA in terms of goal setting and developments are also taken into consideration.
The results show that qualification counselling is seen as an important service from many perspectives, although regional differences can be observed. Some of the central development potentials to evolve are, in particular, profile clarity, public perception, the further professionalisation of counsellors as well as guaranteeing quality; although the corresponding organisational conditions also have to be taken into account for qualification counselling to be a success.
Findings will be published mid 2024 by the wbv-Verlag and made accessible through open access .