Task for commercial final and intermediate exams

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The task center for commercial final and intermediate examinations ( AkA for short ) is a central task creation facility of the Chambers of Industry and Commerce (IHKs) based in Nuremberg. It develops examination tasks for commercial and commercial-related training occupations , which are used by the IHKs in dual vocational training in nationwide intermediate and final exams .

Foundation and development

The task center for commercial final and intermediate examinations (AkA) was founded in 1974 by the IHKs in Bavaria and Hesse as a joint institution for supraregional task preparation. Other IHKs then joined the AkA group. Today the AkA is supported by the IHKs of the ten federal states of Bavaria, Brandenburg , Hesse, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania , Lower Saxony , Rhineland-Palatinate , Saarland , Saxony , Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia . The AkA is managed and represented by the Nuremberg Chamber of Commerce for Middle Franconia .

Tasks of the AkA

The AkA has a wide range of tasks. First of all, she has to provide the written examination tasks in the apprenticeships she supervises for joint implementation by the IHKs. To this end, it sets up task preparation and selection committees (so-called technical committees), conducts their business, supervises the task preparation and selection scientifically, initiates the task pressure and the automatic evaluation of the bound examination tasks. In addition, the AkA takes on all cross-chamber district-wide work necessary for the organization and handling of the exams nationwide and provides information material for trainees , training companies and schools .

Uniform federal IHK exams

In the commercial area, the IHK organization has been conducting intermediate examinations since autumn 2000 and also final examinations (with the exception of Baden-Württemberg) nationwide since summer 2007. Every year around 170,000 candidates are examined in the intermediate examination and around 220,000 candidates in the final examination with uniform tasks at the same time.

There are considerable advantages associated with this. There are uniform examination structures and procedures as well as quality standards, which means that the results of the examinations are comparable across federal state borders and enable objective and regional information about the graduate's performance. This gives the trainees flexibility and mobility in choosing a career and gives companies reliable information about potential employees. Each IHK shows the average results for each apprenticeship occupation in its chamber district, the respective federal state and in the federal government under the keyword “examination statistics” on its homepage, thus opening up corresponding possibilities for comparison. After all, central exams that are independent of the place of learning have numerous other positive effects.

Professions spectrum

As a central task preparation facility, the AkA covers the entire spectrum of commercial apprenticeships with the central office for examination tasks north-west in Cologne. It provides the IHKs nationwide with the written intermediate and final exams four times a year for the apprenticeships it supervises.

Exam tasks for commercial and commercial-related professions

The professions range from the large, traditional training professions in retail , industrial clerk or merchant in wholesale and foreign trade, to business-related professions such as florist or cook , to new, modern professions such as professions in dialogue marketing or so-called service professions, e.g. B. Sports and fitness salesman or health care professional .

New jobs

New, modern job profiles as well as updated training regulations for existing jobs are also implemented in a suitable manner. This requires a high degree of factual and time flexibility from everyone involved. Therefore, the full-time and voluntary employees of the AkA need a very broad, job-specific knowledge with regard to the examination content, but also with regard to the different examination procedures, which they have to constantly update and develop.

Quality and further development

Quality criteria

High-quality tests must meet various quality criteria: They should be objective and valid in terms of content, i. H. Check the learning objectives prescribed in the training regulations or framework curricula . They should separate good from bad test items with the greatest possible accuracy, must not be too easy or too heavy, must be transparent and justiciable and - despite all these requirements - must be economically and efficiently feasible in view of the high number of test items . The constant review and assurance of all these quality criteria in every profession and for every examination date is an important function of the AkA. For this purpose, the AkA has developed an extensive range of quality assurance instruments.

Action-oriented exams

With the advancing change in economy and society, the requirements for the training content to be conveyed and thus for the exams also change. Against this background, the AkA is constantly working on their further development. Today, the focus is on the practical orientation of the exams: Situational task types form a practical, target-oriented, activity-oriented and decision-oriented professional situation and ask about the competencies that are essential for exercising the profession .

The task creation process

The creation, review and selection of examination tasks is a complex process that takes around two years and is the central task of the AkA technical committees.

The technical committee as a central element

The AkA sets up and supervises a 12-person technical committee for each training occupation. These are made up of equal numbers of employer and employee representatives - usually trainers with practical experience from companies - and teachers from all over Germany. Only competent persons who must also belong to the examination committee of an IHK are appointed to the technical committees . The technical committee members work on a voluntary basis .

Creation of the tasks by the technical committee

The basis for the work of the specialist committees is - in addition to the statutory provisions - the examination catalogs drawn up by them on the basis of the framework training plans and framework curricula. With the help of manuals, forms, checklists, etc. they create the tasks for future tests. The conception of tasks is made easier for the committee members through special task creation seminars in which they are taught the necessary tools.

Adoption of the tasks in several stages

The tasks created by the members of the specialist committee are first subjected to technical and psychological test editing at the AkA and then put together in a suggested task set. This is then edited by expert committees. The AkA incorporates the comments from these committees into the task proposal and this is presented to the technical committee at its next meeting. Each individual task is then checked, discussed, revised or deleted, taking into account the information from the previous editing sessions. The aim is a factually and formally impeccable and qualitatively balanced set of tasks that is approved by the technical committee. On the subsequent path from the raw manuscript to the ready-to-print set of tasks, the individual correction stages are accompanied and precisely checked by the responsible AkA employees and the technical committee. Any changes to the content are always approved by the technical committee.

confidentiality

Confidentiality is an existential necessity for national audits. AkA has therefore committed all those involved in the creation and approval processes to secrecy in writing and secured all process steps through organizational and technical measures. In addition, the AkA - like every IHK - undergoes an external confidentiality audit at regular intervals .

Committees of the AkA

The Advisory Board of AkA

The AkA advisory board is the advisory and decision-making body of the AkA. IHK representatives from all affiliated countries belong to it. It sets the joint examination dates, regulates the examination procedure and ensures uniform examination subjects and times as well as an appropriate assessment. He also advises the management on all important issues and adopt the management plan of AkA.

The Technical Committee

The Technical Committee is made up of representatives from all federal states and deals with content-related, technical and organizational issues relating to the examinations and how they are conducted. In this way, it provides the basis for decision-making for the AkA advisory board. In addition, the AkA is involved in numerous other bodies at the federal and DIHK level.

public relation

Exam preparation

The responsible technical committees have developed examination catalogs for each profession with possible information on the written examinations. The contents are derived from the training framework plan or the KMK framework curriculum and serve to provide information to trainees , training companies and schools. They are structured in an action-oriented manner and also contain the competencies that are essential for professional practice from the point of view of the specialist committee, such as planning, carrying out, controlling, problem-solving, etc. The task sets from previous examinations, along with sample solutions and information sheets for exam participants, formulas, collections of laws and charts of accounts, are used to prepare for exams.

Publications

In addition, the AkA issues so-called AkA information , especially for new training occupations . It shows how training regulations and other legal norms are implemented and what requirements are placed in the IHK exams in the respective training occupation. They also contain numerous sample exercises. These publications can be obtained from U-Form-Verlag in Solingen.

Homepage

Current information, in particular the exam dates, approved aids, etc., can be found on the AkA website at www.ihk-aka.de.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Norbert W. Müller (ed.): 35 Years of AkA - Retrospective and Perspective 1st edition 2009. U-Form-Verlag, Hermann Ullrich (GmbH & Co.) KG, Solingen, p. 235f.
  2. ↑ WiM - economy in Middle Franconia: All Uniform In: WiM - Economy in Central Franconia . , Edition 11/2008, page 12.
  3. ↑ Overview of the examination participants in IHK professions in 2010 , accessed on www.dihk.de on August 24, 2011, PDF, 107 kB.
  4. ↑ Wolfgang Vogel: Learn from the IHK exams! In: position , 3rd quarter 2011, issue 3, page 16.
  5. ↑ Examination statistics on the website of the Nuremberg Chamber of Commerce for Middle Franconia ( Memento of the original from September 3, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed August 24, 2011. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.ihk-nuernberg.de
  6. ↑ Division of tasks between AkA and ZPA Nord-West on the ZPA Nord-West website ( Memento of the original from April 26, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed August 24, 2011.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.ihk-zpa.de
  7. ↑ Overview of the examination tasks provided by the AkA on the AkA website , accessed on August 24, 2011.
  8. ↑ Examination quality criteria of examination tasks on IGBCE.de ( Memento of the original from January 14, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed August 24, 2011.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.pruefungswesen.igbce.de
  9. ↑ Requirements for examinations on DIHK.de , accessed on August 24, 2011.
  10. ↑ a b AkA Chamber of Commerce and Industry Nuremberg for Middle Franconia: The AkA presents itself in Nuremberg 2009, page 11.
  11. ↑ a b Structure of the AkA technical committees , accessed on August 24, 2011.
  12. ^ Creation of a set of exercises , accessed on August 24, 2011.
  13. ↑ Organizational structure of the AkA , accessed on August 24, 2011.

literature

  • Norbert W. Müller (ed.): 35 years of AkA - retrospective and perspective 1st edition 2009. U-Form-Verlag, Hermann Ullrich (GmbH & Co.) KG, Solingen
  • Jürgen Badura, Stefan Kastner: Creation of action-oriented tasks for written exams: Handbook for task authors in commercial vocational training 1st edition 2010. U-Form-Verlag, Hermann Ullrich (GmbH & Co.) KG, Solingen
  • AkA Chamber of Commerce and Industry Nuremberg for Middle Franconia: AkA presents itself in Nuremberg 2009

Web links