Evaluation ‘Early Complete – Management of qualifications’

The “Early Complete/Qualification Management” service, which exits since 2013, is a support service for Viennese apprentices whose successful completion of an apprenticeship training is in question and who are running the risk of breaking off their apprenticeship, failing to take the final apprenticeship examination or failing to pass it. In addition to a corresponding individual needs assessment, the service also includes an allocation or implementation of suitable support services in form of additional offers for apprentice coaching which is provided by the project sponsor KUS on behalf of WAFF (‘Wiener ArbeitnehmerInnen Förderungsfond’).

The evaluation focused on the question of the extent to which the services support apprentices in achieving a positive apprenticeship qualification, entering the labour market, changing to a more suitable training programme or obtaining a positive school leaving certificate. In addition to the analysis of the achievement of objectives, the questions of functionality and interface management also were important evaluation aspects.

A number of methodological instruments were used to analyse these evaluation fields:

• survey of (former) participants
• focus groups with (former) participants
• qualitative expert discussions with project managers, KUS staff, vocational school teachers and project staff from cooperation institutions
• secondary data analysis

One focus of all applied methods was on the areas of need for reform, opportunities for improvement and wishes for change, i.e. all the survey instruments also gave appropriate space to this topic. On the basis of the evaluation results, options for the further development of the service were worked out, which concerned both concrete implementation and cooperation with relevant interfaces/players.