Elke Büdenbender hat als nationale Botschafterin für Deutschland an der European Vocational Skills Week online teilgenommen, die von der Europäischen Kommission ausgerichtet wird und 2020 in Berlin hätte stattfinden sollen.

Am 13. November hat sie bei der Abschlussveranstaltung eine Ansprache gehalten, die zuvor als Video aufgezeichnet wurde.

Ansprache von Elke Büdenbender:

Wouldn’t it be wonderful to welcome you all to Berlin today for the Closing Event of this year’s VET-Week – also on behalf of my husband, Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier? That was actually one of the highlights in 2020 I was looking forward to very much!

Due to the pandemic, this year has been different and very demanding to all of us. And a lot of appointments and events have to be cancelled or are held online.

Schools, vocational training schools and universities have been faced with COVID-19 and its impact on long established systems and methods of learning and also teaching. Some countries like Finland already had been very advanced with the digitalization of their educational systems – others, and I think actually the majority, were rather inexperienced.

And we are not only confronted with those challenging impacts of the pandemic on education. There is also the issue of economic recession, the threat of unemployment and the need for re-skilling and up-skilling.

Therefore, I thank you for the opportunity to give you an insight in my work as German Ambassador of the VET Week. Not only because my country is hosting this year. But also because Vocational Educational Training and the future of Europe’s young people are more than important.

When I was invited to become Germany’s VET Week Ambassador by the European Commission for the first time in 2018, I felt very honored. Let me explain why.

If someone had told me many years ago: Elke, one day you will be the First Lady of Germany, I would most likely have answered: No way, never. And here I am – and it is a great chance to be a First Lady. My working day now is completely different to the one I had when working as a judge. Although I must admit that I do miss it once in a while, I now have a lot of great possibilities to help set topics in our society and give them a stronger voice.

One of those topics I really fight for from the bottom of my heart is vocational training and how to promote its reputation and its value.

In general, education is very important to make our youth confident and let them look towards their future with courage – even more so in times that are full of insecurities.

However, education does not stop with graduation.

To be able to assert oneself in the world of work and jobs, young people need further skills and training. For some the academic way of attending university is the right path – for others that path is vocational training. To me it is very important that both ways lead to the finish line: a good and fulfilling life and future. One path is as good as the other – none is inferior or superior! To be able to promote this not only in Germany, but also on a European level is not only a great chance but for me as a proud European Citizen more than an honor!

We can learn so much from each other. My role as VET Week Ambassador has led me to Austria in 2018 and to Finland in 2019. In Vienna, together with my Austrian colleague, Doris Schmidauer – the wife of Federal President Alexander van der Bellen –, I visited a vocational training school with students from the age of 16 to over 50. The focus on my visit in Helsinki last October was more on digitalization. I had the impressive opportunity to visit the Hive Helsinki Coding School, a new kind of coding school that prepares the students to launch a future-proof career through collaborative, project-based learning.

Also, on official visits together with my husband, the Federal President, I had the privilege to get an insight in vocational training schools in Spain and in Croatia. And it is so wonderful that, even if things may be organized in different ways, we can benefit so much from each other – there is one strong component that unites us: we are all Europeans and, in the end, think alike and share the same values!

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen, if you have the opportunity to visit a vocational training school in your country or in another Member State, or to spend a day in a company that trains apprentices – take it and, more importantly, talk about it and make public what great chances vocational training offers young people. Especially in these very demanding and insecure times it might help young people to find new perspectives.

Thank you – and stay healthy and safe!