District cooperative looks back over 10 years of successful work

Preparing young people with disabilities for working life

The Cultural Affairs and Employment service, the Integration Office, Bruchsal-Bretten Counselling Centre and the district are working together as part of the 'Cooperative for vocational education and training and preparation for the general employment market' in order to prepare young people with significant disabilities for a career in later life.

In the northern district, this takes the form of participants receiving teaching, amongst other things, at vocational schools in a similar way to the dual education and training system. This has now been taking place at the Balthasar-Neumann-Schule II for ten years.

Over this period, 155 young people have attended classes here with huge success. Of these, 90 pupils were assisted in finding employment; one pupil started training and 30 pupils found a position in a workshop for people with disabilities. As part of the anniversary event last Friday at the Balthasar-Neumann-Schule II, the project's continued existence over the 10-year period was celebrated.

In a press conference the Principal, Horst Schwab, looked back to the start of the project. "The general practice at the time of 'placement first then training' was essentially reversed, which was ground breaking back then," he recalled. This was confirmed by Berthold Deusch, unit head at the Municipal Association for Young People and Social Affairs.

He referred to a radical, conceptional transformation and that, together with very open minded partners, it had been possible to remove barriers. He added that the Bruchsal based cooperative was a showcase project, a feature of which was a very high number of placements in companies.

Volker Klett from the Bruchsal-Bretten Counselling Service explained that workshops for people with disabilities have undergone significant further development and that a high level of expertise has been gained as a result of job coaching, both in terms of individual support for people with disabilities as well as the communication of employers' specific requirements.

Marianne Staudte, Employment Agency District Manager, emphasized the close integration of institutions involved. She added that this made it possible for projects to be discussed in detail and also implemented with a high degree of precision, and, consequently, also enabled projects to be supported financially.

This model initiative has now been extended.