Those taking the sentence about lifelong learning to heart are open for additional qualifications in their professional career. Additional knowledge can be acquired also without a study course either during or after an apprenticeship.
"The world of finance always was dear to me", says 22-year-old Bianca Dürr from Karlsruhe. For as long as she can think, she always enjoyed crunching numbers. She attended a commercial high school and during that time completed an internship at a bank. "I knew for a long time that I wanted to do an apprenticeship as a bank clerk", says Dürr. "But when I had earned my university entrance qualification, I wanted something special in addition, something a little more demanding." After some browsing on the internet, she found what she had been looking for: the additional qualification as finance assistant - and a corresponding apprenticeship placement with the Volksbank Karlsruhe.
Finance assistants complete a fully-fledged vocational education and training course with a bank, however, the duration of the apprenticeship is always shortened to two years. At the same time they study at the vocational school to acquire knowledge going beyond the usual contents of a banking apprenticeship, in particular in the fields of taxation law and comprehensive financial service propositions. This includes, for example, the topics of real estate, insurances and building society savings. "All in all, it is more content in less time - something for busy bees." This is how Bianca Dürr describes it; she completed her apprenticeship last year in summer.
Yet those who, unlike Bianca Dürr, do not call the Federal State of Baden-Württemberg their home, have to go to a particular kind of extra effort to achieve the same end. According to data from the Federal Employment Agency, the additional learning content is available only at vocational schools in Baden-Württemberg. "Apprentices from other federal states then usually have block-release training for which they have to travel to Baden-Württemberg each time", explains a spokeswoman for the Federal Agency.
Broader spectrum of knowledge
Yet this can be a worthwhile effort for a career. "We have a broader spectrum of knowledge compared to normal bank clerks, therefore for most financial assistants it is easier to get on the fast promotion track", says Dürr. She herself obtained one of the sought after so-called "junior posts" at the Volksbank subsequent to her apprenticeship. "For two years, I now get to work in all departments involved in lending and receive training for this core area", she explains. Of the twelve Karlsruhe Volksbank apprentices of her year, Bianca Dürr is the only one who was successful in her application for such a junior post.
"I am sure that the additional qualification gave me an advantage", Dürr thinks. Not only does it reflect in the curriculum vitae that one showed commitment well beyond the vocational education and training course. It helps also as regards content, for example, in her case in the field of lending, because she is already more familiar with the topic of real estate than are her colleagues without such an additional qualification.
Yet for Bianca Dürr the greatest appeal of the little extra to her vocational training was something else, "I think it is exciting to not only intensively work with customers, but also to gain a much more in-depth insight", she says. "How exactly are the products we offer designed? Why should this be so? How does a bank calculate such issues in detail?" She says she is much more able to answer such questions with the background of her financial assistant training. She did not perceive the additional learning effort as "overly strenuous". "That is because I was still somehow used to studying for my A-levels", says Bianca Dürr. "And because the learning content simply was so much fun."
Continued education course in pain management
Birgitta Pieper likes her work as a nurse. She completed her vocational training at the St. Johannes Hospital in Dortmund. She then had her children, a son and a daughter. And a routine set in. "I had the feeling I need food for my head and I did not want to continue in this vein until retirement. This was not about having a career, which is hardly an option in my profession, but about becoming further specialised", says the 41-year-old woman, who now works at the Marienkrankenhaus hospital in Schwerte. "I always thought it sad that in our job there are many different continuing education courses, but none I could have easily done as a mother and part-time nurse."
Usually, requirements demand full-day work placements with other hospitals and this she was hardly able to incorporate into her life what with two children in school. Hence she was all the more interested when a senior physician indicated a continued education course in pain management, also alerting her to the fact that pain management is well-established in hospitals in other European countries.
"The thought thrilled me." Birgitta Pieper did some research and found the continuing education course for becoming a "Pain Nurse" and qualified pain management assistant. The complete course was offered as a distance-learning course. Nurses with this qualification are intended to act as an interface between physician and patient and are to ensure adequate pain management, be it in a hospital, a nursing home or a hospice. Amongst other places, the course is available in Göttingen, Cologne and at the Klinikum Nürnberg; the requirement is a completed vocational education and training course or a study course.
"If one does not upgrade one's education, one falls by the wayside"
Birgitta Pieper completed the distance-learning course in Franken. It ran over ten weeks and was based on nine comprehensive learning packages. It was augmented by training days requiring personal attendance and including lectures and practice-oriented workshops. The topics covered include both physiological and pharmacological basic knowledge as well as non-medication forms of treatment such as relaxation therapy and distractive music therapy.
She learned that whereas older patients consider it a given to endure pain and older men in particular are loath to acknowledge a weakness, younger people are less tolerant of pain. "There is a new generation of patients, for example, young tonsil patients, who for some part have zero tolerance for pain, they are more demanding, but also clearer." Pieper makes sure to be there in particular for the older patients, who, according to what she says, often keep an iron grip on themselves and feel as if they had an obligation to prove themselves. "You cannot measure pain like you measure blood pressure. So sometimes I simply ask: If you were at home, would you take a pain killer?"
Birgitta Pieper paid the course costs of 550 Euro herself and added also an advanced training course. "I was supported by way of special leave", she says. Although her additional qualification is greatly appreciated throughout the ward, the nurse does not earn more salary. "Financially, it was not lucrative. But I think it is important to improve oneself further; if one does not upgrade one's education, one falls by the wayside." Whereas previously nurses on the ward were responsible for everything from washing the patients to handing out coffee, there are more and more specialised staff members now.
Birgitta Pieper is not entirely happy with the label of Pain Nurse. "My name badge reads Pain Management and Nurse Birgitta, that is more personal." By the way: in the context of the Deutscher Schmerzkongress (The German Pain Congress), a pharmaceutical company awards the "Pain Nurse of the Year". In the past year, this was a man, an anaesthesia specialist nurse from Bremen.
Fully trained hotel clerk
The hotel intrigues him: Hendrik Müller from Vöhl, a small town in North Hessen, soon starts an apprenticeship as a fully trained hotel clerk. Because the A-level graduate possibly wants to work in management at a later stage, he decided to go for an additional qualification. Hendrik Müller decided to enter into the hotel industry already a long time ago. Already while at school, the A-level graduate had worked in the food service industry. After an internship at the five-star hotel "Hessischer Hof" in Frankfurt he was fully convinced and immediately handed in his application for an apprenticeship as a fully trained hotel clerk.
"I like working with people and, for example, I also like cooking", the 19-year-old explains his choice of occupation. He is also very interested in oenology and commodity economics, two other fields covered in his apprenticeship. As of August, instead of immediately going on to university after graduating from school, he wants to learn from scratch how a hotel works, even though "chambermaid tasks" such as making beds and cleaning bathrooms are not likely to range amongst his favourite jobs. Yet Hendrik Müller intends to use the fact that with his A-levels, he has more opportunities available than other apprentices.
Additional training in the field of hotel management
"By sheer coincidence I discovered that as of this summer it is possible to complete an additional training in the field of hotel management." The requirement: at least an advanced vocational certificate of education. The model originally comes from Baden-Württemberg and other federal states such as Hessen now follow suit. For this additional qualification, Hendrik Müller will spend ten hours per week more at the vocational school; he receives additional lessons in subjects such as accounting, human resources and computer systems. This is what the future apprentice is particularly looking forward to, since he has already learned the basics at his commercial high school. In addition to English, he will learn two other foreign languages for his profession.
The additional qualification costs him only one advantage his higher school degree would otherwise grant him: Normally, A-level graduates in the hotel industry can shorten their apprenticeship by half a year. But because the additional qualification for hotel management is designed to span three years and A-levels are a basic requirement, Hendrik Müller does not have that option. He knows that he chose a profession that may not seem overly desirable at first glance. In spite of his time-consuming additional qualification, he will not receive more salary during his apprenticeship at the Frankfurt luxury hotel and even afterwards the entrance salary is not necessarily higher. Yet Hendrik Müller firmly counts on improved career opportunities due to his additional qualification.
Already, he is thinking about the subsequent career steps: The Europe qualification is an absolute must for him; to this end, he will live and work abroad in Europe for a total of six months within the five years after completion of his apprenticeship. Then, he could moreover add the qualification of hotel business manager in order to later be able to work in hotel management. The additional qualification provides him with a good basis for those subsequent plans.