Improving Disability Support in Geneva: Addressing the Shortage of Qualified Educators and Caregivers

2023-12-15 05:42:14

– Disability: we need to better prepare the ground

Posted today at 6:42 a.m.

Working in disability is not easy. Its different professions require one to get involved and dedicate oneself to others, but that is not all: to face the difficulties of everyday life, particularly when the people supported suffer from behavioral disorders, one must have training. sharp and up to date. However, like other cantons in French-speaking Switzerland, Geneva lacks this qualified personnel.

Two problems arise for institutions. One of them is the content of the initial training offered today. According to professionals and parent associations, it is incomplete.

Educators who enter the job market must therefore undergo continuing training to be operational, but this comes too late. And it takes them off the field, which is not without problems in already very busy teams.

The other aspect is the attractiveness of these professions. A professional confided to us: some educators had not thought of working in the field of disability when considering this profession, but it is mainly in this field that we engage, as the needs are increasing.

However, a HETS study mentions this, and the unions affirm it: current working conditions, including salary, would not necessarily make one want to invest in a profession which requires a lot – time, energy, of self-sacrifice – and who suffered from the image conveyed by several scandals.

It is necessary to promote this sector and the people who work in it. By offering conditions that allow them to face difficulties: sufficient staff, attentive management, but also the weapons necessary to meet the challenges of daily life. This is the only way that people living with a disability will be best supported.

Chloe Dethurens has been a journalist in the Geneva section since 2019. She has written for the Tribune de Genève since 2007. More info

0 comments

1702619729
#editorial #Disability #prepare #ground

Leave a Replay