So, here we are. Less than two years after Damian Hinds returned from a trip to Germany full of praise for my native country, his successor, Gavin Williamson, has announced that the much-discussed FE White Paper, due to be published in the autumn, will build a “world-class Germany-style” further education system.

So, of course, born and raised in Germany and a product of its education system (although I never came anywhere near FE), I was keen to see what the education secretary might have in mind. It turns out, on closer inspection, that there is not a great amount of detail on what exactly “Germany-style” means.

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Higher-level technical skills

And interestingly, Germany came up only twice – once when he announced that this was the future and again when he highlighted the much higher proportion of adults in Germany with higher-level technical skills.

The tone of the speech, however, indicates what of the Germanic approach it is Gavin Williamson is keen to import. Much of its focus was on the value attached to further education in England. It had been the forgotten sector, said Williamson, lacking investment and support. Too many young people for whom this was not the right route had been pushed towards university, and that had to be addressed, he insisted.

Now, there are, of course, plenty of young Germans who make wrong career choices – who study when they shouldn’t, or who choose an apprenticeship for the wrong reasons. What is true, however, is that apprenticeships, in particular, are viewed as much more prestigious. The German economy is literally built on them, and we know it.

There was no looking down on those off to be apprentices when I was in the last few years of school heading towards university. Instead, we were jealous of the strides they were taking in their careers, with cars and money to spend at weekends and business cards. They were out-earning me then, and I am afraid to say I and many of my peers have never caught up with them since.

I can see why the culture Germany has adopted around vocational education and training is enviable – although I struggle to see how that can be implemented through policy changes. Esteem has to build over time, through role models and success stories and policy consistency.

The other part of the German system the education secretary mentioned was also interesting. He wanted an FE system, he said, that was “employer led”. We knew that already, of course – there has been much talk about apprenticeship standard being co-designed by employers.

In the German system, though, it is more than that. Apprenticeships are the main way in which vocational education is delivered to young people in Germany. School-leavers most commonly apply to an employer – either because there is a suitable vacancy or speculatively because they like the business. They then get taken on by that employer and sent to college for blocks of training or on day-release, with the curriculum, and the exam and assessment, co-designed by the Industrie und Handelskammer, IHK, the German equivalent of a chamber of commerce.

Today, following Williamson’s speech, I spoke to an HR professional responsible for apprenticeships at a large-ish German business that takes on around 60 or 70 apprentices every year, with about 200 employed at the company at any given time. She told me that they advertise vacancies on bigger platforms, in local papers in the rural area they are based in, and on their own website – and that a significant number of applicants for apprenticeships have previously done work experience with them. “They know what it is like to work here, they know it is a great working environment.”

She also said that the vast majority – 90 per cent-plus – stay on after their training.  “They come to us when they are 16 or 17, so, by the time they have done three years of training, you really get to know them, you know where their strength and weaknesses are. And when they come to you at that age, you can really have an impact on them.”

For the theory side of their training, the young people go to the local college, only a few miles away. There would be other options, said the manager, but they have long-established relationships with that institution and its staff and are happy with the quality of the training – the content of which is determined by regional government.

But the most important thing she said was this: “We train for ourselves.”

Taking responsibility and helping shape training, employing and growing young people is not something German employers do for charity. It is to make sure they get the workforce they need. That is why they are invested. And why they are willing to invest, even when times are hard. And once the economy and education work together in that way, you won’t need a landmark speech to promote “further education, further education, further education”.