We are a college of further education in the westernmost county of Germany, the Kreis Heinsberg.
In the school year 2008/2009, we have around 2400 students in over 100 classes,
who are taught by more than 110 teachers in various fields.
Depending on the field the students choose, they will either be full-time or part-time students
at our college. Most of our part-time students come to school for one or two days per week,
the rest of their training is done - as is typical of the so-called "dual system" -
in a company which employs them as apprentices. Job training, which students can start at the age of 16,
can be anywhere from one to three years.
As the name of our college indicates, we offer job training in various fields.
- There are courses for construction workers (building and road construction),
joiners, carpenters and house-painters.
- We also train electricians, electrical engineers and metal workers
as well as apprentices in the field of IT and communications.
- A third field covers food production and sale (bakers, confectioners,
food sales assistants), beauty (hairdressers) and social care (social care assistants).
- In the field of social pedagogy, we form nursery school teachers as well as childcare workers.
- For those students who wish to pursue their education with studies at the level of
Fachhochschule, we offer preparatory two-year courses.
- Students can also do a programme combining preparation for the Abitur (A-levels)
with the training as a nursery school teacher.
- Young people who have not found an apprenticeship in a company or who have not yet achieved
their secondary-school certificate, profit from prep classes
guiding them to a placement in a regular job training course and to an apprenticeship
in the regional job market.
We also offer courses for students with little or no previous knowledge of German to help them
integrate into the job training process.
- Finally, we also have a number of classes in the local detention centre,
where inmates are encouraged to pursue a job training to help reintegrate them into society.
Some of the aims set down in our college’s mission statement are
- ensuring that our students are fully prepared to enter and progress in the world of employment;
- encouraging and helping them to realise their personal, social and economic goals;
- helping them build their personality by teaching values such as solidarity, tolerance, honesty,
environment consciousness, discipline, assiduity;
- learning with and from our students;
- developing our students’ critical thinking and creativity;
- working within the community and with other schools in the area.
It is in this context that our college is very interested in international contacts with colleges in the EU. Thus, we have started an exchange with Jewel & Esk Valley College in Scotland and are striving to establish contacts to other colleges, especially in the nearby Netherlands.