ABSTRACT
This chapter provides insight into the current state of human resource development (HRD) in the Germanic countries, more specifically: Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, and Switzerland. These four countries possess a well-developed public-private system for vocational education and training (VET) at the secondary level, by which youngsters are prepared to enter the labor market with a solid foundation of labor-oriented skills achieving a level 2 or higher on ISCED. In contrast, these countries achieve mediocre scores on the lifelong learning (LLL) scale (Desmedt et al., 2006; Nieuwenhuis et al., 2011 suggest the same relationship, but a hypothesis has yet to be proved). HRD in the Germanic countries appears to be limited to functioning as a vehicle for VET (except for Switzerland) as it prepares young people to enter the initial labor market. In this respect, we can say that VET covers the main core purposes of HRD: improving individual or group effectiveness and performance; improving organizational effectiveness and performance; developing knowledge, skills, and competencies; and enhancing human potential and personal growth (cf. Hamlin and Stewart, 2011).
