Educators are desperately needed. The “Direct Entry Daycare” project is intended to provide a remedy. In Reutlingen, 15 people take part, including 53-year-old Elke Fink.
Elke Fink is training as a pedagogical specialist. She is one of 15 people taking part in the “Direct Entry Kita” program in Reutlingen. The 53-year-old has just started training as a social education assistant at the municipal kindergarten on Steinhäuser Straße in Reutlingen-Rommelsbach. The training takes two years as part of the “Direct Entry Daycare” project. For that long, Fink will look after children between the ages of three and six two days a week. On the other days she goes to school. “That’s exciting,” says Fink in an interview with SWR. “I have to learn how to study again.” But in her class there are many her age or even older. “They learned a wide variety of professions.”
My own children are grown up
Fink is a trained bakery saleswoman. She worked in sales for years, including as a branch manager. She always enjoyed teamwork. When Elke Fink found out that the city of Reutlingen was desperately looking for supporters for the kindergartens, she decided to change jobs. She then worked as an additional worker in daycare centers for three years. But now she wants to become a specialist. The woman from Reutlingen raised two children herself. They are now 17 and 19 years old. “They go their own way,” says Fink about her children. One is doing an apprenticeship – just like she is now, she remarks with a smile.
The city of Reutlingen receives many applicants
She sees the two-year training as a huge opportunity because of her age and because the training is practice-oriented, says Fink. The wages are also attractive. The direct entrants sign a training contract with the city of Reutlingen and receive 2,600 euros gross per month. Monika Mayer from the city administration is enthusiastic about the interest in the shortened training. “We have a lot of applicants. That’s why we can choose the trainees,” said Mayer in an interview with SWR. The city pays attention to motivation, competence and experience. However, you do not need any previous experience in the educational field.
Daycare director Nathalie Fröhlich is Elke Fink’s trainer. SWR
Trainees are already perceived as specialists
Nathalie Fröhlich, the head of the Steinhäuser Straße kindergarten, is happy to see how motivated and competent her trainee Elke Fink is. Fröhlich thinks she should continue and become a social education assistant teacher after her training. In any case, she is not perceived as a trainee, but rather as a specialist. If there hadn’t been the option of direct entry, Elke Fink says she wouldn’t have started any further training. Head Fröhlich finds it brave that she dared to do so. And adds: “We are glad that she is there.”
