School education/training
The vocational colleges in North Rhine Westphalia provide different opportunities to acquire a professional/vocational qualification.
For this purpose, you do not need any work permit.
Moreover, the professional qualification is a school-leaving qualification with general educational value which ranges above the qualification achieved so far. If you have, for example, finished grade 9 with a certificate of secondary education, you are able to acquire a professional qualification as state certified almoner as well as state certified child care assistant at the vocational colleges. With the qualification, you will also get the Fachoberschulreife (general certificate of secondary education). Such an education/training at the vocational college takes 2 years.
After the Fachoberschulreife (general certificate of secondary education) or the Fachoberschulreife mit Qualifikationsvermerk (general certificate of secondary education with qualification note) you may, for example, become a state certified assistant for business information systems or a state certified graphic design assistant. Those training programs run for 3 or 3 1/4 years. With the professional qualification, you will - depending on the school-leaving qualification you had and the level of your performance - the Fachhochschulreife (Fachabitur) (advanced technical college certificate) or the allgemeine Hochschulreife (Abitur) (general qualification for university entrance).
Some vocational colleges have their own website which you may call up via the website Overview of schools of the education authority of the district of Soest.
