German Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DIHK) Recommendations:

• Companies rely on solid school education based on the standards set by the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs for lower secondary education. This foundational education ensures competence readiness for starting training, particularly in vocational education.
• For a successful educational pathway, companies advocate the binding implementation and continuous monitoring of nationwide learning objectives and competencies as outlined in the educational standards of the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs.
• Schools require conditions that enable this effectively—specifically, through sufficient well-trained and continuously trained staff, contemporary facilities for imparting knowledge and skills, embedding readiness for vocational competence and starting training as a mandate in school laws, and fixed capacities for imparting skills outlined in curricula.

DIHK Recommendations:

• Companies require school graduates who are well-educated for their future roles as apprentices and students.
• To ensure comparability and transparency of performance requirements and school qualifications, companies advocate for binding, nationwide educational standards that are consistently implemented, along with ongoing reviews of school learning objectives and performance standards.
• Companies focus on their primary responsibility of workplace training. Increasing demand for remedial lessons should not detract from essential training content. Companies must avoid becoming repair workshops.
• Schools must invest in adequate training and education of teachers and school staff, for example by strengthening the "Quality Initiative for Teacher Education" and adopting flexible models for qualified lateral entry into teaching to address teacher shortages and associated teaching disruptions.
• Companies and schools need to enhance collaboration between learning locations to clarify their respective requirements and synchronize them as needed.

The German Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DIHK) emphasizes early and practical vocational orientation to assist youth in navigating over 300 training professions and approximately 20,000 various study programs.

Recommendations from the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry:

• The economy advocates for greater importance of STEM in education.
• Schools need frameworks to provide regular, practical STEM lessons ranging from primary school to advanced levels (resources, educators, upskilling opportunities, and partnerships with external organizations).
• Companies and schools require more initiatives and learning formats that promote girls' interest in STEM subjects and careers. STEM-focused future themes, such as the energy and mobility transition or the expansion of digital infrastructure, offer enormous opportunities. Companies can show young people how their work makes a practical contribution to solving significant social challenges.

DIHK Recommendations:

• To impart digital and media competencies, general education schools across regions and according to their needs require state-of-the-art digital equipment, functional infrastructure and reliable support.
• Companies advocate continuing and expanding the digital capabilities of schools that were accelerated during the pandemic and Digital Pact 2.0. It is crucial to evaluate the "Digital Pact for Schools" with an eye on future education investments to promote the digitalisation of schools and digital competencies of pupils – tomorrow’s apprentices.
• Businesses and schools need didactic concepts, digital teaching and learning materials, and media, which connect digital and analogue teaching and learning methods meaningfully, allowing pupils to experience and acquire digital and media competencies.
• These didactic concepts for digital teaching and learning should, from an economic perspective, become integral elements of teacher training and continuing education, such as within teacher training competence centres.

DIHK recommendations:

• From the business perspective, it makes sense to establish requirements to impart a basic understanding of economics and entrepreneurial thinking and actions, for example, by incorporating economic education content into appropriate school subjects for all secondary schools in all federal states.
• Businesses advocate for more offerings in the school context to promote entrepreneurship, such as student companies and startup competitions.
• Promotion of mobility: Stays abroad during school education or training increase intercultural competence, foreign language skills, and the self-confidence of young people. Back at school or at the company, students often benefit from their broadened horizons and have gained new (language-related) skills and competencies – an important plus point for education and work in the company.
• Regarding the training start competency, it is important to integrate the concept of education for sustainable development into school education and to link it with school-based vocational orientation and specific job profiles.

Dihk Recommendations:

• From the perspective of businesses, a comprehensive systematic review of linguistic abilities and consequent compulsory language support programs in daycare facilities is essential to ensure linguistic competence for successful schooling and subsequent academic or vocational education.