Counselling & Qualification
While vocational training and education is usually geared for teenagers and young adults of up to 25 years, older training candidates in Germany go through the so-called Umschulung (retraining). It is equivalent to the training with identical contents and the same examination, but is completed within a shorter timeframe - usually 21 months. In almost all fields at the BWK BildungsWerk in Kreuzberg we offer retraining programs. Our education and counselling services for adults, however, comprise a much wider spectrum for all age and education groups and is not only suitable for the unemployed.
More migrants in the media: journalist training for young academicsAbout one in five persons living in Germany has a migration history - but only one in fifty journalists. The reason for this imbalance are the high entry requirements for university journalist training which are not compatible with the structural disadvantage of people with a migration background. As a result, there is a general lack of awareness among migrants with regard to social topics, and sometimes news reporting is characterised by clichés. With this background in mind, BWK Bildungs- Werk in Kreuzberg has been carrying out the 15 month long "Bikulturelle Crossmediale Fortbildung für junge Migranten” (Bicultural cross-media education for young migrants) since 2009. In planning and implementation, we are assisted by Professor Dr. Ulrich Pätzold, one of the leading experts in the German journalist training. For the six-month practical part of the training for people with non-German cultural background interested in media, the BWK was able to secure renowned partners such as the Federal Government Commissioner for Migration, Refugees and Integration, the Deutsche Presseagentur dpa, Hürriyet, Radyo Metropol FM, RBB, Tagesspiegel, taz and ZDF. |
Support of entrepreneurs of non-German originDespite their active start-up behaviour – when it comes to training contributions, entrepreneurs with a non-German cultural background are relatively reluctant. Therefore, we at the BWK have started projects since 2006 within the framework of the “JOBSTARTER” program by the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (Bundesinstitut für Berufliche Bildung – BIBB). Ourmultilingual, interculturally-experienced trainingposition developers advise and support entrepreneurs of Turkish and Arabic origin with establishing training positions within their own businesses – starting from the application process via accompanying them to interviews at the competent Chamber all the way to referring suitable trainees. |
