Dual System of Education and Training as a Pathway to the Labour Market

PREFACE The current urgent need for qualified workforce has caused that many firms in Slovakia focus on recruitment abroad (e.g. in EU member states, non-EU countries, but also in the so-called third countries), or they opt for recruiting employees among the migrants coming to the country.

The theme of the scientific monograph is based around the currents trend in the above field with an accent placed on the issues of the lack of qualified workforce and the perspectives of maintaining Slovak economy’s competitiveness in the context of social sciences.

In the globally competitive environment and with the era of the fourth industrial revolution with emerging automation, digitalization or optimization of processes, questions related to the potentially significant problem areas in training and development of human resources arise, i.e. whether and how they are linked with the needs and requirement of the labour market.

In the first chapter of the monograph, basic terminology in the field of vocational training in the system of dual education and training based on the requirements of the labour market is presented, and relevant key words from the field are discussed with the aim to create a terminological basis for the elaborated topic based on up-to-date knowledge presented in most recent resources. The issues of qualified workforce are dealt with in detail in the second chapter of the publication and the third chapter is focused on another key topic - education and training for the labour market. The dual system of education and training from the aspect of the current situation both in Slovakia and abroad is introduced in the fourth chapter of the monograph. In the fifth chapter of the publication, a summary of the findings and results of a scientific research carried out by the authors is provided and is discussed. In the final part of this chapter, the authors’s recommendations for practice - based on the theoretical elaboration of the topic presented in the monograph, as well as on a thorough analysis of relevant information gathered in firms - are presented. The recommendations are formulated to contribute to the improvement of the quality of the dual system of education and training in the particular enterprise and to increasing the quality of application of the dual system of education and training in a more global context.

The aim of the monograph is to provide a theoretical basis in the field of (qualified) workforce based on available data as well as