• Initial vocational training for young people with disabilities or other disadvantage.
• Individual Vocational Training as a fully-fledged extended apprenticeship (the extension may be for a maximum of 1 year, or, in exceptional cases, 2 years).
• Individual Vocational Training by providing partial qualifications of relevance to the labour market for a period of 1 to 3 years.
• Support and supervision by vocational training assistants.
• Pre-Vocational Year: A one-year course, representing the ninth year of education at the Pre-vocational School, PVS (Polytechnische Schule) or within Schools for pupils with special educational needs.

Pre-Vocational Year

The purpose of the Pre-Vocational Year that forms part of compulsory education is to enhance the opportunities within the labour market of young people with disabilities or other disadvantage. The Pre-Vocational Year is being implemented in Special Schools or at an inclusive Pre-vocational School (Polytechnische Schule) for pupils with special educational needs.

During an eight-week orientation stage at the start of the school year, pupils gain an insight into practical vocational areas that relate to their own career interests.  Furthermore, the Pre-Vocational Year is intended to build upon and extend the personal, theoretical and practical competences that the young people have already acquired. This should then make it easier for them to access the labour market and increase their chances of getting a suitable job and being able to handle the requirements this would place upon them.

Individual Vocational Training

For young people with disabilities and disadvantages, it is often very difficult to gain an initial foothold in the labour market. For that reason, a new form of initial vocational education has been developed that will fulfil the need that exists amongst young people with disabilities or disadvantages for a suitable form of vocational training, whilst at the same time responding to the need amongst businesses for suitably trained workers. Individual Vocational Training in accordance with §8b BAG (Vocational Training Act) enables tailor-made vocational training for disadvantaged young people.

Individual Vocational Training in accordance with §8b BAG is offered

• as apprenticeship training with an extended apprenticeship period (extension of one or two years) or
• in the form of a partial qualification in a skilled trade.

The offer of partial qualification opens up the possibility of tailor-made training that can be specifically addressed to individual skills and needs. Training locations are training companies or special independent training institutions as well as vocational schools (compulsory or right to attend vocational school).

The following persons can be trained in an extended apprenticeship period (extension by max. one year or in exceptional cases by two years) or in partial qualification:

• Persons with disabilities according to the Appointment of Disabled Persons Act (Behinderteneinstellungsgesetz)
• Persons with special educational needs who have completed their compulsory education
• People who have not completed their compulsory education, or have completed that type of education, but with a negative outcome
• Persons who are difficult to place for specific reasons

The programme of Individual Vocational Training will be supported by a vocational training assistant. The vocational training assistants will  support the young people and the workplaces providing the training in matters of a socio-educational or psychological nature, in order to guarantee the success of the training. This will be achieved by means of ongoing cooperation with the parents, companies and the vocational school (Berufsschule).

Companies that train young people in Individual Vocational Training can claim funding from the AMS.

The next step:

The opportunities available to young people who successfully complete the Pre-Vocational Year and the Individual Vocational Training include the following:

• Employment as a specialist worker in the training workplace or other workplace
• The Higher Education Entrance Examination can largely be completed during the apprenticeship (in line with the model "apprenticeship and Matura")
• Once a young person has passed the Higher Education Entrance Examination, he/she may attend a Post-secondary VET Course or take a course of study at a University of Applied Sciences, a University or a Teacher Training College.
• Attending further training courses or Upper Level Vocational Schools for Adults
• Attendance at a School for Industrial Master College, Building Craftsperson and Master Craftsperson Schools
• Taking an examination for the master craftsman's certificate or qualifying examination, followed by self-employment in a regulated trade
• Self-employment in an unregulated trade

Sources (in German)

Berufsschule
https://www.bmbwf.gv.at/Themen/schule/schulsystem/sa/bs.html

Lehre und Berufsausbildung
https://www.bmaw.gv.at/Themen/Lehre-und-Berufsausbildung/Lehrlingsausbildung-Duales-System.html

Berufsausbildung gem. § 8b Berufsausbildungsgesetz (BAG)
https://www.bmaw.gv.at/Themen/Lehre-und-Berufsausbildung/Lehrlingsausbildung-Duales-System/Integrative-Berufsausbildung-IBA.html

Teilqualifikation/Lehre in verlängerter Lehrzeit
https://www.oesterreich.gv.at/themen/bildung_und_ausbildung/lehre-und-berufsbildende-schulen/Seite.333906.html

Further information can be found on the internet (in German)

Austrian Federal Office for Social Affairs
www.sozialministeriumservice.at

Austrian Federal Office for Social Affairs - Vocational Training Assistance:
https://www.sozialministeriumservice.at/Jugendliche_und_junge_Erwachsene/NEBA/Berufsausbildungsassistenz/Berufsausbildungsassistenz.de.html#:~:text=Die%20Berufsausbildungsassistenz%20unterst%C3%BCtzt%20Jugendliche%20mit,als%20auch%20in%20der%20Schule.