Study on a comprehensive overview on traineeship arrangements in Member States

Final Synthesis Report

The main objective of this study was to provide an overview of traineeship arrangements in all 27 Member States and to collect the most up-to-date information about different forms of traineeships across the EU.

Traineeships are seen as an effective mechanism which allows young people to familiarise themselves with the world of work, thus facilitating their transition from education (or a period of inactivity or unemployment) to employment. However, there are also growing concerns across the EU about the quality and fairness of traineeships as well as their effectiveness as a school-to-work transition mechanism. The availability and quality of information on traineeships is rather uneven across the EU.

This study is a response to the need for a comprehensive EU-wide robust traineeship-related evidence base. It was conducted by a consortium involving the Institute for Employment Studies (IES, UK) as the lead co-ordinator, the Istituto per la Ricerca Sociale (IRS, Italy) and the Bundesinstitut für Berufsbildung (BIBB, Germany) as key partners as well as a network of regional and national experts.

The study’s methodological approach combined a range of qualitative methodologies, which included stakeholder interviews at both EU and national levels; a quasi-systematic literature review; a comparative mapping exercise based on information collected in each Member State; and case studies.

For the purposes of this study the following five types of traineeships were examined:

• traineeships which form optional or compulsory part of academic and/or vocational curricula (i.e. traineeships during education).
• traineeships in the open market which, after completion of studies, provide graduates with work-related experience before they find stable employment
• traineeships as part of active labour market policies (ALMPs) for unemployed young people with the explicit aim to facilitate their labour market transition
• traineeships which form part of mandatory professional training, e.g. law, medicine, teaching, architecture, accounting, etc.
• transnational traineeships.