Wittgenstein Vocational College

Wittgenstein Vocational College
type of school	Vocational college
School number	182278
founding	1856
address	Am Breitenbach 1
place	Bad Berleburg
country	North Rhine-Westphalia
Country	Germany
Coordinates	51 ° 3 '31 " N , 8 ° 23' 57" E Coordinates: 51 ° 3 '31 " N , 8 ° 23' 57" E
carrier	Siegen-Wittgenstein district
Website	www.berufskolleg-wittgenstein.de

The Wittgenstein vocational college (BKW for short) in the Siegen-Wittgenstein district is numerically the smallest vocational college in North Rhine-Westphalia .

It is part of a more than 150-year-old tradition of vocational training in the Wittgensteiner Land . In the former Wittgenstein district , it supported the region's economic change in the post-war decades and ultimately secured the independence of the business location after the merger as the Siegen-Wittgenstein district.

Student numbers were around 500 in the 1980s and rose to around 800 in the first decade of the 21st century. During the times of the economic miracle, over 1,000 students were at BKW at times.

Institutional History

The founding document of the institutionalized vocational training in Wittgenstein is the mention of “Sunday schools for craft apprentices and for those who still need secondary instruction” from 1856. More than 10 years earlier there was an instruction from the (Prussian) “Königl. Government ”in Arnsberg , which also decreed a“ vocational school ”for the city of Bad Berleburg .

In Bad Laasphe , the administration announced in writing on January 5, 1857:

"According to § 148 of the (Prussian) General Municipal code of 1845, the apprentices of all craftsmen are obliged to attend the local craftsmen's advanced training school according to the instructions of the undersigned authority, if their schooling is insufficient when they are accepted into the apprenticeship (!) And therefore a follow-up is found to be necessary, until they have acquired the legally prescribed degree of knowledge. "

In 1859, the Berleburger College comprised four teachers, including a district architect (engineer title only existed from 1899) and a pastor. In 1881 a factory owner from Berleburg suggested the formation of a school for apprentices , but in 1901 the local training companies had to be informed by the Prussian authorities of their obligation towards the under 18s. Ultimately, however, this institution established itself in Wittgenstein before the First World War .

In some teaching areas there was already a shortage of staff at this time and the teachers were often overwhelmed by the heterogeneity of the classes. From the 1930s onwards, specific vocational education institutions were set up in order to qualify teachers accordingly (“trade teachers”).

On July 31, 1923, the law concerning the extension of compulsory vocational schooling came into force, but it was not until the following decade that the training areas were separated (industrial and commercial) and the teaching times increased to six hours.

In 1939, two trade teachers, eight part-time teachers and ten engineers, masters and training managers were working in the new district vocational school , which had combined the facilities in Bad Berleburg, Bad Laasphe and Erndtebrück with effect from October 31, 1939. In the course of the Second World War , the two trade teachers were drafted into the Wehrmacht, and Wittgenstein's vocational training could only be maintained by auxiliary staff.

Towards the end of the war, before Wittgenstein was occupied by the US Army, material that was probably incriminating was cleared: file entries made after March 15, 1933 are also missing in the BKW archive.

Economic Environment

The region remained dominated by agriculture well into the 20th century and was only able to develop industrial economic structures relatively late. The former border location of the county or the principality of Wittgenstein, despite the incorporation into the administration of Prussia after the Congress of Vienna in 1816, still plays a decisive role up to the present day, if you pay attention to the infrastructural deficits of the region: The Eder rivers , Lahn and Sieg , which arise in the border area of the old districts of Siegen and Wittgenstein and created natural barriers, have never been able to assume greater importance as a shipping route due to the topographical conditions, although Lahn and Sieg both flow into the Rhine . The single-track train line, which was originally supposed to lead northeast to Hesse after 1866 in order to open up the Wittgenstein hinterland there, ends in Bad Berleburg, after having existed in this form for about 100 years (1911). The road therefore remains the main supply route for the company locations. However, the city of Bad Berleburg has no motorway access within a radius of 50 kilometers. There are currently plans to expand the B 62 in the direction of Hesse ( Ferndorf-Eder-Lahn-Straße , FELS ). The Route 57 initiative has existed since 2011 , which alternatively promotes a moderate form of infrastructure expansion by linking projects bypassing the area between Kreuztal and Bad Berleburg.

In the 1990s, the white industry of clinics was relied on, but this was not as successful as expected - presumably due to the savings made in the healthcare system since then. In order to advance from a health resort to a holiday resort, the expansion of the Rothaarsteig was accelerated. In addition, the economic development for the region relies on lighthouse projects such as the biomass power plant in the Jägersgrund industrial area near Schameder in order to provide impetus for the modernization of the region. Agriculture is no longer a main source of income in Wittgenstein, but it still shapes everyday life.

In 2008, a study on the development of the region on behalf of the local business association found that - relative to the population - there were only a few training places and an average lower level of qualification ("rural region"), but a conspicuously low rate of youth unemployment. According to this study, there has been an increase in training places of over 50 percent in southern North Rhine-Westphalia over the past 10 to 15 years, but the number of available training places has stagnated in the old district of Wittgenstein. As a consequence, young people emigrated in order to find a professional future in the state of Hesse or in the Hochsauerland district or in the neighboring regions of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. While the “older” population would stay, no “new” ones would follow suit - and the “next” generation had to be prepared for training in the “surrounding area”. Despite demonstrably “high industrial density” (48% employment in the manufacturing sector), there are too few training places in relation to the number of employees. While in the Siegen district, for example, apprenticeship contracts have increased by 67% over the last 15 years, this number stagnated in the Wittgenstein district.

Educational perspectives

The Siegen-Wittgenstein district and the state of North Rhine-Westphalia currently finance this facility with around 1.5 million euros annually. Around 5 to 10 percent are used for upgrading the equipment, the rest consists of personnel and building costs.

In spring 2009, the Wittgenstein training offensive was launched, which aims to ensure a partnership between vocational training, politics and business. Starting points for the development work emerged from the IHK study on the training situation in Wittgenstein . A development plan in cooperation with the district administration and the Siegen-Wittgenstein-Olpe Chamber of Commerce and Industry is to document the objectives for the coming decade under the title Mission Statement 20/20 . An examination of the implementation of this development program for vocational training in Wittgenstein took place in spring 2011, with a positive result for the work of BKW.

The aim is to counter the effects of the population decline by using all resources to train people in the region. The Wittgenstein Vocational College therefore tries to reach a broader public , through which the region's development opportunities can be optimized. Not only the offer in the dual system ("teaching"), but also further training offers for those who are already qualified should contribute to this. In addition, with the support of partners from business and administration, BKW is improving its range of career orientation and preparation in a targeted manner.

At the beginning of the 2010/2011 school year, two new courses were introduced, the technical college for engineering / mechanical engineering and the technical college . On the one hand, both courses offer qualification for a technical college entrance qualification , and on the other hand, the technical school is intended to fill a gap in regional vocational training in order to secure the skilled labor requirements of regional companies. BKW thus not only covers essential secondary school qualifications, but now also includes the tertiary sector of the education system in the form of the technical college.

Despite the stable number of pupils at the beginning of the 2011/2012 school year, which was largely ensured by the new training courses in the field of technology, and overall relatively high numbers for the new apprenticeships in the chamber district of the IHK Siegen, the Wittgenstein vocational college sees itself with the special features of the region confronted by the fact that in the municipality of Bad Berleburg - quite contrary to the general trend - there is a "lower training offer" than in 2010.