Career Change - Men and Women in Early Childhood Education and Care

The federal pilot programme "Career Change - Men and Women in Early Childhood Education and Care" provided support to pilot projects that create or optimise training formats for adults aimed at male and female career changers wanting to become state recognised educators. The training was combined with paid employment in child day-care centres in order to safeguard the trainees' livelihoods.

The previous federal ESF pilot programme "MORE Men in Early Childhood Education and Care" (2011–2013) showed that not only many women but also men, and in particular men over 25, want to change their careers to become educators. Seen on a nationwide basis, however, the number of those having re-qualified has so far been relatively low because at the moment the three-year training period is unpaid and people cannot go without income for such a long period. This is set to change with the new federal ESF pilot programme.

The aim was to give men and women the opportunity of life-long learning while at the same time earning their livelihood – regardless of their previous employment status. Thus both employed and unemployed persons would be able to individually adapt to a changing labour market independently of state funding instruments and gain a qualification as a state-recognised educator.

For the period from 1 June 2015 to the end of the school year 2020 (July/August), the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth provided a total of approximately 33.8 million euros from the European Social Fund.