Our College, the Berufskolleg Ernährung – Sozialwesen – Technik

 

We are a college of further education in the westernmost county of Germany, the Kreis Heinsberg.

Every year, we have around 2400 students in over 100 classes, who are taught by more than 120 teachers in various fields.

Depending on the field the students choose, they will either be full-time or part-time students at our college. Most of our part-time students come to school for one or two days per week, the rest of their training is done – as is typical of the so-called „dual system“ – in a company which employs them as apprentices. Job training, which students can start at the age of 16, can be anywhere from one to three years.

As the name of our college indicates, we offer job training in various fields.

  • There are courses for construction workers (building and road construction), joiners, carpenters and house-painters.
  • We also train electricians, electrical engineers and metal workers as well as apprentices in the field of IT and communications.
  • A third field covers food production and sale (bakers, food sales assistants), beauty (hairdressers) and social care (social care assistants).
  • In the field of social pedagogy, we form nursery school teachers as well as childcare workers. Graduates in this field are also qualified to work as youth care workers in youth centres and homes.
  • Students may also choose training in the field of special-needs care, qualifying them to work as special-needs assistants.
  • For those students who wish to pursue their education with studies at the level of Fachhochschule, we offer preparatory two-year courses in the social and technical domain.
  • Students can also do a programme combining preparation for the Abitur (A-levels) with the training as a nursery-school teacher/youth care worker.
  • Young people who have not found an apprenticeship in a company or who have not yet achieved their secondary-school certificate profit from prep classes guiding them to a placement in a regular job training course and to an apprenticeship in the regional job market. At the same time, they also have the opportunity to achieve different levels of secondary-school certificates. In addition, we offer courses for students with little or no previous knowledge of German to help them integrate into the job training process.
  • Finally, we also have a number of classes in the local detention centre, where inmates are encouraged to pursue a job training and achieve their secondary-school certificate in order to help reintegrate them into society.

Some of the aims set down in our college’s mission statement are

  • ensuring that our students are fully prepared to enter and progress in the world of employment;
  • encouraging and helping them to realise their personal, social and economic goals;
  • helping them build their personality by teaching values such as solidarity, tolerance, honesty, environment consciousness, discipline, assiduity;
  • learning with and from our students;
  • developing our students’ critical thinking and creativity;
  • working within the community and with other schools in the area.

It is in this context that our college is very interested in international contacts with colleges in the EU. Thus, we have established close ties with Midlothian District in Scotland and are striving to establish contacts to other colleges, especially in the nearby Netherlands.