In April 2025, the Standing Scientific Commission (Ständige Wissenschaftliche Kommission - SWK) of the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs of the Länder in the Federal Republic of Germanypublished a report on skills for the successful transition from secondary level 1 to vocational education and training . The report formulates subject-specific and interdisciplinary goals that young people should achieve at the end of secondary level 1 so that they are well prepared for the transition to initial vocational education and training. They relate to: Basic and functional competencies for further learning at school (German, mathematics, science, English and digital literacy), self-regulated learning, identity development and career orientation. In order to achieve these goals, the report makes a total of 29 recommendations to enable young people to make the transition to vocational training:

Educational language skills

• Recommendation 1: Identify basic and essential functional skills for German as a language of education
• Recommendation 2: Further develop German lessons in a targeted manner to achieve a broader range of basic and essential functional skills
• Recommendation 3: Strengthen transparency regarding the attainment of basic and essential functional educational language skills
• Recommendation 4: Professionalization for the effective teaching of basic and essential functional educational language skills

Mathematical skills

• Recommendation 5: Identify essential functional skills and basic skills as prerequisites for mathematics
• Recommendation 6: Develop mathematics teaching in a targeted way to achieve the basic and essential functional competences more broadly
• Recommendation 7: Strengthen transparency regarding the achievement of basic and essential functional mathematical competencies
• Recommendation 8: Professionalize all stakeholder groups for the effective teaching of basic and essential functional mathematical competencies

Scientific competencies

• Recommendation 9: Identify essential functional scientific competencies
• Recommendation 10: Further develop science teaching in a targeted manner to achieve the essential functional skills more broadly
• Recommendation 11: Professionalization for the effective teaching of essential functional scientific competences

English skills

• Recommendation 12: Identify essential functional skills for English as a foreign language
• Recommendation 13: Continue to teach English specifically to achieve the essential functional competences
• Recommendation 14: Strengthen the focus on achieving essential functional English skills
• Recommendation 15: Professionalize all relevant stakeholder groups to effectively teach essential functional English skills

Digital literacy

• Recommendation 16: Define and identify essential functional skills for digital literacy
• Recommendation 17: Further develop both computer science and the teaching of all subjects in a targeted manner to achieve the essential functional digital skills more broadly
• Recommendation 18: Strengthen transparency about achieved digital literacy
• Recommendation 19: Professionalize all stakeholder groups for the effective teaching of essential functional skills for digital literacy

Self-regulated learning

• Recommendation 20: Create opportunities to acquire learning strategies in the classroom
• Recommendation 21: Implement self-regulated learning, cognitive and metacognitive learning strategies as mandatory topics in the first and second phases of teacher training

Identity development

• Recommendation 22: Initiate or systematically develop internal school development that creates a framework for the promotion of positive, school-related and cross-group identities
• Recommendation 23: Firmly anchor the developmental and socio-psychological foundations of identity formation in the educational science courses offered in the first and second phases of teacher training

Vocational orientation

• Recommendation 24: Expand support structures for schools to develop quality-assured careers guidance
• Recommendation 25: Establish careers guidance measures as an integral part of school and quality development at all levels (organization, teaching, personnel)
• Recommendation 26: Professionalize teachers and school administrators in career guidance

Professional and interdisciplinary skills in the transition sector

• Recommendation 27: Structural development of transition management and transition sector services
• Recommendation 28: Strengthen the acquisition of basic and functional mathematical, linguistic and other fundamental vocational skills
• Recommendation 29: Develop meaningful indicators of success in the transition sector, set up corresponding reporting systems to manage school education work in the transition sector