A five-year professional training course in the social and pedagogical field with a high school diploma and a diploma in social pedagogy. This type of school, which is unique in Upper Austria, will be rolled out in Baumgartenberg from the coming school year. The future “Federal Institute for Social Pedagogy” (BASOP) will be managed by the Congregation of the Good Shepherd, which is also responsible for the private vocational schools (BBS).
The driving force behind the founding is the new BBS director Katrin Blauensteiner-Vuketich: “The school has continued to develop over the past few years, most recently with the advanced course for the Matura. The BASOP is the next step – it’s a big step for us.” The BASOP fits perfectly into an environment that has been known for decades for its commitment to health or socially disadvantaged people. Blauensteiner-Vuketich emphasizes that the technical school will remain independent of the BASOP foundation.
The school concept was presented to the public for the first time last Thursday at an open day. Katharina Laaber, herself a BASOP graduate in St. Pölten, described the professional fields open to future graduates: “From street work to youth coaching, support in educational residential groups to counseling for women or men, there are many opportunities for social workers. The pandemic has shown that there is a greater need than ever for specialists in this area. “It feels like we are slipping from one crisis to the next. That leaves traces – for some more, for others less.” Also, not everyone could keep up with the rapid pace of a digitized and therefore often alienated society. “Forming a safety net here is one of the tasks of BASOP graduates,” Laaber is convinced.
The way to get there will be with good content education, accompanied by numerous compulsory internships, describes the headmistress of the future school life. “With many creative areas, the timetable is very similar to the training in elementary education. In the case of internships in particular, however, we put out feelers very clearly in the direction of social institutions,” says Blauensteiner-Vuketich. For the experienced social worker Katharina Laaber, these internships are a central element of the BASOP training: “It’s a school of life. I am convinced that BASOP graduates have a lot more life experience than their peers in other forms of training.”
You can get to know the new BASOP Baumgartenberg soon, among other things, at the job and education fair on November 11th and 12th in the Perg Chamber of Commerce.
Source: Nachrichten
