Career prospects and professional fields for students of Childhood Education

A look back at the pioneering event “Focus on Practice”

As part of the event “Focus on Practice” (BLICK.PRAXIS), students in the Bachelor’s degree program in Childhood Education had ample opportunity on 19 October 2017 to learn about career prospects and professional fields for childhood educators. 

The morning of the full-day and diverse program began, following a welcome by Institute Director and Professor Janne Fengler and Professor Maximilian Buchka, with a lecture by Professor Johann Michael Gleich of the Catholic University of Applied Sciences NRW, Cologne Department. In his lecture, Professor Gleich addressed an initial key decision that Bachelor’s graduates in Childhood Education should consider: whether to work in teams with mixed qualifications, in counseling, or to pursue an academic career path through a Master’s degree and a doctorate. Empirical data on the career paths of Bachelor’s graduates in Childhood Education after completing their studies were also incorporated. Seamlessly following this multifaceted lecture, Professor Claus Stieve from the Cologne University of Applied Sciences continued with a contribution on the professional identity of childhood educators and initiated a discussion about the professional profile. Dagmar Scharfenberg and Hartmut Beye, representing the Association of Waldorf Kindergartens, then supplemented the broader lectures with an overview of future prospects for childhood educators in the fields of Waldorf kindergarten education. The morning program concluded with an open panel discussion. This gave students the opportunity to engage directly with the speakers and clarify all their pressing questions in a lively discussion.

In the afternoon forums, experts from professional practice presented a total of ten professional fields for childhood educators. Students were thus able to gain an impression, for example, of the professional fields of specialist consultation, open child and youth work, early intervention and inclusion, as well as an academic career. Some of the speakers were alumni of earlier Childhood Education cohorts, allowing students to gain an impression “from a live example” of where a degree from Alanus can lead professionally.  At the end of the event, participants were given an insight into the advanced Master’s degree programs offered by the Department of Educational Science at Alanus University. Professor Bernhard Schmalenbach, Professor Axel Föller-Mancini, and Eric Bollmann presented the programs on behalf of the Master’s degree courses. This enabled Childhood Education students to learn about opportunities for further qualification for work in the fields of curative education, practice-based research, and schools. 

The event, held for the first time as part of the Bachelor’s degree program in Childhood Education and developed by Claudia Reinert, Kirsten Scherwitz, and Michael Brockmann, research associates and lecturers with special responsibilities at the Institute of Childhood Education, was very well received by both students and speakers. The plan is to hold the event every two years in the future – making it an important component in supporting students in their professional development in childhood education.