Education minister Tonne sits in on an elderly care class at the DIAKOVERE Vocational Education Centre for Health Occupations.
To mark this year's vocational education and training week, Lower Saxony's Minister for Education and Cultural Affairs, Grant Hendrik Tonne, attended the school of nursing at the DIAKOVERE Vocational Education Centre for Health Occupations in Hanover. He sat in on a nursing lesson in an elderly care class and then afterwards discussed training in nursing and in other specialist health occupations with teachers, learners and with the head of the vocational education centre.
"The demand for skilled workers in nursing is high and is set to increase in the foreseeable future. It is only by means of attractive training and working conditions that we will succeed in persuading more young people to join the demanding nursing profession. The DIAKOVERE Vocational Education Centre cannot fail to impress with its practice-oriented and modern training. This also integrates new requirements within the training such as inclusion, and marketing and media competence" explains Minister Tonne on his visit.
Presently, around 750 trainees are studying at the DIAKOVERE Vocational Education Centre on training courses and dual courses of study such as occupational therapy, physiotherapy, special needs care, elderly care, healthcare and nursing, and on courses for surgical and anaesthesia assistants. "The visit by the Minister for Education and Cultural Affairs enhances the reputation of our trainees in nursing and elderly care — they are training in an occupation which is highly relevant to society. The boost in status given to nursing by policy-makers will hopefully motivate more young people to take up this training occupation — because it would not be possible without them," says Pastor Uwe Mletzko, Theological Managing Director of DIAKOVERE gGmbH and responsible for the area of initial, further and continuing vocational education and training.
Head of the DIAKOVERE Vocational Education Centre, Dr. Monika Scholz-Zemann, added: "We are promoting responsible and independent working on all our training courses; this includes a large number of teaching projects which are focused on real situations outside the school. For example, our special needs care students design educational programmes for people with and without disabilities, physiotherapists run movement sessions during the break for employees, and the occupational therapists provide individual assistance to people from the residential and care area."
Education Minister Tonne attended the DIAKOVERE Vocational Education Centre as part of this year's vocational education and training week which is being organised with the theme of "You shape the future" and which has Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and his wife Elke Büdenbender as patrons. "Vocational and general education are totally equivalent. The federal state government is therefore prioritising vocational education and training. It offers young people varied career options through to starting a degree," emphasized Minister Tonne.
"Our aim is to further consolidate vocational education and training. This includes gradually ensuring a blanket exemption from fees in vocational education and training. In the coalition agreement, we have therefore stipulated that tuition fees for training in the social, healthcare and nursing occupations should be abolished. This is an important measure for ensuring we have sufficient skilled workers in the future in these occupations," explained Minister Tonne in conclusion.
The vocational education and training week is an initiative of the German Employers Association (BDA), the German Trade Union Federation (DGB), the German Chamber of Industry and Commerce (IHK), and the German Confederation of Skilled Crafts (DGB) with support from the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs (KMK).