School-to-work transitions in Germany for a long time were characterised by the dual system of standardised vocational training which combined company-based apprenticeship training with school-based vocational education. This model was attractive for school leavers because it provided them with secure non-academic career options as well as for employers-especially in manufacturing-for whom it meant a reliably skilled labour force. Thus, the dual system contributed to low rates of youth unemployment. However, in the past two decades, this model has been confronting considerable challenges as the supply of apprenticeship places has declined significantly while also young people's preferences have changed. In this situation, another specificity of the German transition system comes into play: the selective differentiation of secondary education which allocates students into different educational tracks after 4 years of primary school according to achievement and performance. As a consequence, more and more young people have remained without post-compulsory qualifications. Transition policies undertaken in this recent period are characterised by repairing rather than reforming with the result that the split between included and excluded trajectories is widening. The chapter commences with describing the fundamental institutional structures and historical development of the German transition system. Second, key problem areas are outlined and, third, respective policy trends and discourses are documented. In the fourth section, the current situation-which can be characterised as a tension between a transition model of industrial labour societies and post-industrial knowledge societies-is analysed in a comparative perspective. For this purpose, reference is made to a comparative model of transition regimes which has been developed in the context of EU-funded transition research. The final section refers to some pedagogical dilemmas emerging from this situation and draws some conclusions in this respect. © 2012 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht. All rights are reserved.
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