The noticeboard is full, says Rosa Wimmer. There are job advertisements everywhere. Her students can simply choose their job. Wimmer, a woman with a broad smile, runs the Theresia Gerhardinger vocational school for nutrition and supply at Mariahilfplatz. She knows how desperately the graduates are sought after and needed in companies.
At the school, 50 young women are currently being trained as nutrition and care assistants. It used to be called housekeeper, but the new term actually covers much better what it is really about: namely, doing something good for other people, says Wimmer, for example in crèches, kindergartens and homes. Preparing their meals, doing their laundry, designing their invitation cards, serving buffets. It is important that they enjoy doing these tasks, says Wimmer.
The three students Irmgard Renner, Yasmina Polacco and Tabea Silberbauer clearly radiate joy in their work this Tuesday. To show what they are learning, they prepared salads and snacks together with their classmates, filled small glasses, ironed tablecloths and arranged flowers.
17-year-old Tabea Silberbauer says she completed her secondary school qualification here. After her training, for which she commutes up to two hours a day from a village in the Freising district, she wants to continue her studies at the village helpers’ school in Pfaffenhofen. In order to then, as she says, support families in the countryside when, for example, the farmer falls ill.
:Farmer, cook and temporary mother
If one parent in a family is absent, that is bad enough. But if an entire farm is affected? It is a disaster. That is when village helper Anna Oberschätzl steps in – and convinces even skeptical farmers.
They could actually train up to 135 girls and soon also boys, says director Wimmer, who herself studied at this school 30 years ago. Starting next year, they will be taking on men, she says. Instead, they are barely able to fill the classes. And at the same time, potential employers are complaining about a lack of staff.
“We simply need people who work together with the specialists,” says Gabriele Stark-Angermeier, it does not always have to be a full-time nursing professional. She is on the board of the Caritas Association of the Archdiocese Munich and Freising and is responsible for the topics of personnel and care. The shortage of personnel is particularly enormous in inpatient care, she confirmed at the press conference of the Caritas Association, which also includes the vocational school at Mariahilfplatz. The shortage can also be seen in the fact that temporary workers are often employed, especially in care. 13.1 million euros were spent on temporary workers last year, says Thomas Schwarz, also on the board and responsible for finances.
Young people without school qualifications are also accepted
Workers in elderly care are also needed in the kitchen, in service, and for the daily tasks that arise in a home – and housekeepers like those trained here at the school are very welcome, says Stark-Angermeier. The graduates could also quickly find work in crèches and kindergartens, which are also suffering from a shortage of staff.
The vocational school is not only a place for training, but also a social place that supports people on their way to adult life, says Hermann Sollfrank, director of the Caritas Association of the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising. Young people without school qualifications are also accepted here. It is extremely important to support people, that is the task of Caritas – and to strengthen and motivate these people. “The key to this is education.”
Enormous cost increases: “We often pay up to two years in advance”
But when he looks at the status quo in the social sector, the Caritas director is not very optimistic: We are under pressure, says Sollfrank. Politicians are cutting back on social and education spending, the nursing care funds are heading for a deficit of billions, and the increase in costs is enormous due to inflation and tariff increases. “We often pay up to two years in advance, but the refinancing is inadequate and comes too late.” And at the same time, the need for social and nursing care is increasing significantly.
At the same time, the gap between political perception and the everyday lives of many people threatened by poverty is widening. For example, families who can no longer pay off their debts are increasingly coming to Caritas’ consultations, says Sollfrank. The director makes an urgent appeal to society and politics: “We must make every effort to ensure that social peace is not further threatened.” Otherwise, further social division will occur.