Cooperative further education as a metal technology specialist – qualification concept for refugees
Papenburg, 6 October 2016 - MEYER WERFT, Emsland District Council (Job Centre) and Johannesburg in Surwold are training eight young people as metal technology specialists within the framework of cooperative further education from October. An agreement to this end was signed in Papenburg today.
The aim of the 24-month further education course is to give prospects to young people who, due to various disadvantages, barely have a chance on the regular training market. In this case, this also includes young refugees. Emsland District Council (Job Centre) advertised for bids to provide this further education and it is being implemented by MEYER WERFT and Johannesburg GmbH. This model experiment, which is taking place in this region for the first time and is being supported by the Emden and Papenburg Chambers of Industry and Commerce, is intended to sustainably support the integration of young people on the training market and later on the labour market.
In the first twelve months, which the Emsland Job Center is financing, the participants are being supported and trained in their educational skills in the workshops of Johannesburg GmbH. In the second year of the further education course, the participants will change to an operational phase at MEYER WERFT. The shipyard will take over practical training and the further financing of the course. Alongside practical and theoretical training, the participants will receive social pedagogic accompaniment to strengthen their personalities and ability to take action. A specialist is available to them for individual questions and assistance over the entire period. In the second half of the course the participants will be prepared step-by-step to successfully obtain the final qualification. After successfully completing the training, MEYER WERFT is offering the young people the option of continuing their careers there.
“This cooperative path of external and internal training will ensure the apprentices’ further education goes positively and will open up a successful career path in future,” says Managing Director Lambert Kruse.
“Ideas and projects of this kind – lifelike and practically oriented – will contribute to overcoming disadvantages and enable everyone to have access to the labour market,” emphasises Leader of the Council Martin Gerenkamp too. He particularly highlighted that this project, which is unique so far, is an initiative with a model character and he thanked MEYER WERFT for its readiness to collaborate. If the project goes successfully, the intention is to expand this concept to other professions with a shortage of applicants/skilled labour and to other target groups as well from 2017, announced Gerenkamp.
