PREFACE

PREFACE

The current urgent need for qualifi ed workforce has caused that many fi rms 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 scientifi c monograph is based around the currents trend in the above fi eld with an accent placed on the issues of the lack of qualifi ed 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 signifi cant 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 fi rst chapter of the monograph, basic terminology in the fi eld 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 fi eld 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 qualifi ed 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 fi fth chapter of the publication, a summary of the fi ndings and results of a scientifi c research carried out by the authors is provided and is discussed. In the fi nal 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 fi rms - 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 fi eld of (qualifi ed) workforce based on available data as well as

mapping the current situation, and, subsequently, to characterize the dual system of education and training in more details. The aim of the empirical part is to analyse the current situation in a selected organization, to carry out a semi-structured interview with the person responsible for the realization of dual training in this organization and, by means of analysis, draw conclusions and recommendations for practice for both the participating organization and the wider context of the system of dual education and training.

In the presented scientifi c monograph, for the purpose of theoretical elaboration of the theme, the authors applied traditional desk research methods. The authors reviewed available resources where, for fulfi lling the set goals, they applied a qualitative approach and used analysis as another method of scientifi c work in addressing both key issues – (qualifi ed) workforce and the dual system of education and training. Synthesis was applied for linking knowledge by means of analytic cognitive processes and, inductive-deductive reasoning was used for the purpose of generalization, as well as in the process of data evaluation based on previous fi ndings. The method of comparison was applied to compare the authors’ presumptions with the results by other authors. In the empirical part, the authors used the method of questioning, more specifi cally a semi-structured interview.