Future Day in Lower Saxony: Young talents discover professional worlds!

Future Day in Lower Saxony: Young talents discover professional worlds!

On March 18, 2025, many young people will be faced with the crucial challenge of actively shaping their professional future. This particularly affects students who are enrolled in full-time, but not vocational, courses at vocational schools. Despite making choices about certain majors, it is not uncommon for these students to be unsure about their choices. Dr. Janika Grunau from the University of Osnabrück emphasizes that a comprehensive overview of possible career prospects is often missing. It is only through practical experience that many students realize that the career they are aiming for does not correspond to their own expectations.

These insecurities are further reinforced by unconscious gender stereotypes, which make it difficult to get a clear overview of potential training careers. The handout “Career Orientation at Vocational Schools” was therefore created on behalf of the Lower Saxony Ministry of Culture. The Lower Saxony Business Education Center and the University of Osnabrück, Department of Vocational and Business Education, were involved in the development. This document offers practical and scientifically evaluated modules for professional orientation and also contains recommendations for the sustainable implementation of these programs.

Support through handouts

The handout was presented on November 27, 2024 as part of a specialist conference at the BBS Multimedia in Hanover. In the initial phase, 18 vocational schools in Lower Saxony with over 2,000 students took part in testing and evaluating the modules. The results of the accompanying research show encouraging progress: Many students report that they were able to gain security in their career choice through these new modules, which underlines the helpfulness of this content. Dr. Katharina Wehking emphasizes the support that schools and extracurricular partners receive in the career search process.

In Lower Saxony, professional orientation is promoted early and systematically. The upcoming nationwide one Future day April 3, 2025 is a key date to give students an understanding of the diversity of the professional world. The day of action is aimed at children from the 5th grade and offers them the opportunity to experience careers in which either women or men are underrepresented.

Experience the diversity of the professional world

Education Minister Julia Willie Hamburg recommends that students use the Future Day to gain practical insights into various industries. This not only promotes individual career choice, but also appeals to companies to attract committed young people to their areas. Registrations for companies and institutions are still possible.

Another goal of Future Day is to enable career and study choices that are free of gender stereotypes. Female students are encouraged to try out traditionally male-dominated areas such as technology, IT and crafts. At the same time, boys should be given the opportunity to get a taste of careers that have a social, educational or nursing nature.

The initiative of BMBF for career orientation aims to prepare young people in a targeted manner for entry into professional life. Programs such as the career orientation program or VerOnika up! offer numerous contact points and support to combat the shortage of skilled workers in the long term. These measures begin in the 7th grade with potential analyzes in order to promote the young people's talents and interests.

Through the combination of school offerings and extracurricular initiatives, career orientation is comprehensive and meets the needs of the students. For example, with the Career choice pass or that career choice app important documents are collected in a structured manner. All of this promotes young people's opportunities on the training market and helps them find their individual professional path.