Housekeeping

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The term housekeeping describes the economic aspects and activities to be taken into account in a household . Housekeeping also describes the type of economy that dominated until the 19th century. It relates to the house in its entirety as a place of work and residence. Thus today house economics is one of the fundamental economic levels of modern society alongside business administration and economics.

definition

Housekeeping today refers to professional, responsible business management in private households, as well as in urban and rural small, medium-sized or large businesses. These include facilities for children, young people, senior citizens and people with disabilities, social stations, health, recreation and rehabilitation facilities, conference centers, youth hostels, hotels, restaurants and service centers (large laundries, catering companies, service companies).

Professional housekeeping includes the planning and organization of the entire housekeeping area, such as kitchen, laundry supply, tailoring / sewing, building cleaning and, depending on the level of training, staff management and training of young housekeepers as well as advisory activities. Housekeeping specialists and managers are responsible for the optimal care of the clientele, for compliance with hygienic laws and work safety, for environmental protection and compliance with the budget.

Scientific teaching and research related to housekeeping is a sub-area of ecotrophology (household and nutritional sciences) as a subject of study. The correct job titles for the training professions are: housekeeper or economist .

history

Already in the early modern period there were various writings dealing with housekeeping or housekeeping ("Haushaben"), such as the so-called doctrine of housekeeping , a German-language adaptation of the Epistola de gubernatione rei familiaris, which was widespread from the late Middle Ages to the 16th century .

Housekeeping in the 19th century

Housewives on washing day around 1890

In the 19th century, housekeeping included the following areas (according to Henriette Davidis ):

Cooking , canning , Einschlachten , sausage making , pickling , milk essence , livestock , raising children , dealing with servants , accounting , cleaning of premises, equipment and laundry , preparing and treating the bed plant , including mattresses, preserving the dressing room , the sewing , mending and darning of clothing, washing dishes and cutlery, heating, repairing devices and in rooms, preparing for removals , shopping , dyeing textiles and clothing, wallpapering , painting and polishing furniture, vermin control .

The Königsberg artist Helene Neumann (1874–1942) paved the way for the profession of housekeeper .

The Lette Association in Berlin set up home economics training courses in 1878 and trained home economics teachers from 1896. Today, training courses in nutrition and supply are offered there.

The life reform around 1900

Seminarians from the Reifensteiner School Ofleiden in 1898 doing laundry

The life reform coincided with the women's movement . Both set the goal of reducing housework. The apartment should be downsized, the elaborate decoration radically reduced and clothing simplified. Functional built-in furniture should make hours of dusting superfluous. The plans of the housekeeping reformers even went as far as to abolish cooking in their own homes altogether, with large kitchens and laundries to replace the work of housewives and maids .

Important representatives were:

  • Ulrike Henschke , who founded a training school for maids ,
  • Hedwig Heyl (1850–1934), who founded the first housekeeping school and wrote the first scientifically based cookery and nutrition book,
  • Elise Hannemann , who shaped the home economics training courses at the Berliner Lette-Verein ,
  • Henriette Davidis (1801–1876), who worked as a home economics teacher and wrote numerous books for the education of middle class women,
  • Lina Morgenstern (1830–1909), who became known as one of the first pioneers of the women's movement and social aid work and set up the first Berlin Volksküche in 1866, founded the Berlin Housewives Association in 1872 and opened the first cooking school of the Berlin Housewives Association in 1878.

Warm lunchtime meals were implemented in kindergartens and schools, and so-called household schools emerged - in connection with the women's movement - in which young, middle-class women, later being housewives and wives, learned household skills such as cooking, baking , sewing, handicrafts and "cleaning". The first textbooks for home economics were also developed around 1900. Initially, however, this training was not viewed as a profession, but rather as a preparation for marriage. But despite all the reform efforts, it stayed that way: Those who could afford it still hired a housekeeper (“maid”).

Since attendance at a household school was often subject to a fee, it was mainly the middle class who could afford it for their daughters. Women from simpler backgrounds were “in positions” until they got married, that is, they worked as maids in an upscale household or in a domestic economy Business (hotel, sanatorium, etc.) in order to learn the relevant activities and to earn a living.

Home economics education was seen as part of the duty of care of women, but was not widely recognized by society. An employed woman who z. B. worked as a housekeeper, laundress, seamstress or cleaner, could not neglect her role as a housewife and mother in the family.

These activities, which were originally geared towards the private household, then developed into domestic professions with different functions, such as B. the housekeeper, the governess, the decision maker, the home economics teacher.

20th and 21st centuries

In the 1920s, the first scientific studies on nutrition and housekeeping were carried out. Work studies led, among other things, to new kitchen concepts. B. the fitted kitchen.

In the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s housekeeping was made considerably easier by technical progress: electrical household appliances came onto the market, such as washing machines , vacuum cleaners , refrigerators , freezers , stoves for cooking and baking, dishwashers , irons , food processors and hand mixers . Automatically working heating systems replace the complex furnace heating with coal.

A 1950s-style housekeeping school was experimentally set up in 2006 for a period of 6 weeks as part of the shooting of the ARD television series Die Bräuteschule 1958 .

In the 1980s, ecological issues such as wholefood nutrition, energy saving, food additives, and recycling of household waste also took hold in housekeeping. Due to demographic change, changed ways of life (loss of the extended family) and lifestyles (individual households), domestic professions, such as B. Housekeeping and housekeeping have become more important.

Men are also increasingly being trained in the domestic professions.

Housekeeping services are one of the core services of social institutions. They are geared towards the needs of different target groups (school catering, senior facilities, conference venues). Housekeeping services can help raise the profile of the facility and thus create competitive advantages over competitors.

Housekeeping is a subject that is changing and reorienting itself. In the future, cooperation with other areas such as B. the care of the elderly, out-of-home catering, family care are becoming increasingly important.

Areas of housekeeping

A maid (United States circa 1939)
Alonzo Fields, the cellar master at the White House, Washington, DC
The water carrier (by Heinrich Zille)
A maid (Colombia)
  • Food preparation in communal catering from a nutritional and clientele-related point of view (child-friendly or senior-friendly diet)
  • Customer orientation (clientele and employees)
  • Business organization and profitability
  • Purchasing and warehousing
  • Controlling, inventory, accounting
  • Budget planning and investment planning
  • Compliance with relevant laws such as food hygiene regulations, HACCP (analysis of critical control points), occupational health and safety, environmental protection
  • Work organization, organization of work processes, time management, employee motivation and management, interface planning and monitoring
  • Training of young professionals in the field of industrial kitchens, laundry and building cleaning, further training
  • Advice and planning of large kitchens and laundries
  • Equipment of the residents and guest rooms
  • Supervision of housekeeping contractors
  • Social skills

Home economics as a school subject

Home economics is taught as a subject at secondary schools, secondary schools and comprehensive schools, vocational schools, as well as at private and technical schools. The subject name varies depending on the school and state. Common names are: Housekeeping, Housekeeping, Arbeitslehre, HTW (Housekeeping / Textiles Werken), MUM (People and Environment), WAG (= Economy-Work-Health) or BQM (professional qualification measure) to obtain the secondary school leaving certificate.

A large part of the teaching time is covered with practical activities. The pupils are actively prepared to run their own household. At the same time, they get an insight into the working world of certain occupational groups in the nutrition, textile and (room) care sectors.

The following subject areas are traditionally taught:

  • Food preparation and nutrition theory , includes the imparting of skills and knowledge that enable people and groups of people (children, adults, seniors) to optimally care for them from a nutritional perspective.
  • Business organization includes the aspects of economic efficiency of a household (keeping a household book), hygiene, occupational safety, work organization and environmentally conscious behavior, as well as care and maintenance of living areas and textiles
  • further aspects are personal hygiene, laundry care and operation and maintenance of small and large electrical appliances

Modern housekeeping is now more open and varies in schools and more depending on the federal state. New topics are here depending on the focus of interest e.g. Belly:

Home economics as an academic discipline

In the German Empire, home economics had also become a subject for higher education with the Reifenstein schools . An important graduate and pioneer was Käthe Delius (1893–1977), an early ministerial assistant for home education in Prussia and later director of the Federal Research Institute for Home Economics.

As part of the introduction of the Ecotrophology course at German universities in the course of the 1960s, housekeeping was also institutionalized as a household science. Bachelor and master courses are offered at various universities and technical colleges.

The electronic trade journal "Hauswirtschaft und Wissenschaft" publishes scientific manuscripts from the fields of household economics , household technology and social management .

Housekeeping Professions

Ecotrophologist (Diplom-, BSc, MSc)

Since the introduction of the bachelor's and master’s degree programs across Europe, degrees in household and nutritional sciences at colleges and universities have been “ Bachelor of Science (BSc) ” and “ Master of Science (MSc) ” in the subject of nutritional science . The job titles “ecotrophologist BSc” and “ecotrophologist MSc” are also common. These have replaced the previously awarded university degree "Diplomökotrophologe / -in (Dipl.oec.troph.)".

Household sciences examine the business, technical and social aspects of running both private households and large households. The nutritional sciences deal with the economic, physiological and technological bases of a healthy and wholesome diet. They distinguish themselves from the disciplines of food chemistry and food technology.

Nutritionists (Diplom-, BSc, MSc) mainly work in the food industry, quality assurance and testing, household, nutrition and consumer advice, in market research, in journalism and as teachers in training, further education and training.

State-certified housekeeping manager (HBL)

The training to become a housekeeping manager is regulated by state law and is offered at special technical schools, vocational colleges and specialist academies. Therefore, the qualification designation can differ depending on the federal state.

Other similar job titles are:

  • State-certified agricultural and domestic manager,
  • State-certified housekeeping manager (HWL),
  • State certified nutritional scientist,
  • State-certified technician for housekeeping and nutrition
  • Since the 2011/2012 school year, the advanced training for housekeeping operations manager (HBL) in all Bavarian technical academies has been renamed to “State-certified business economist for nutrition and supply management”. This concerns the nine locations in Augsburg, Konradsreuth / Ahornberg, Miesbach, Munich, Neumarkt, Nuremberg, Regensburg, Vilshofen near Passau and Würzburg. The names of the specialist academies will then also be adapted to the new title "Nutrition and Supply Management" from 2012/2013, but some have already changed their title at the start of school or have both terms run in parallel. This goes hand in hand with the change from the second year of further training to a deepening of the teaching content such as quality assurance and hygiene, which can be individually set by the schools. The curriculum for the second school year is currently being developed. Only the school sector is affected by this new name; the initial training to become a housekeeper will continue under the name for the time being.
  • The HBLs were also renamed in Hamburg and Thuringia, so there are three new names:
  • Thuringia: State-certified business economist for housekeeping (since 2009, two years)
  • Hamburg: State-certified business economist specializing in domestic services (since August 2011, three years)
  • Bavaria: State-certified business economist for nutrition and supply management (since September 2011, three years).

The training usually lasts two years full-time (in some federal states three years) and requires at least a middle school leaving certificate (Realschulabschluss) as well as the final examination for a state-certified assistant in housekeeping (also called economist).

The following content is taught during the training:

  • General subjects: German, English, mathematics, information technology,
  • Social studies and consumer protection
  • Nutrition and household management:
    • Nutrition and health, food preparation, service taking into account hygiene laws (food hygiene ordinance, HACCP)
    • Object design and equipment technology, such as B. structural and equipment requirements for large kitchens and laundries, taking ergonomics, occupational safety and environmental protection into account
    • Building cleaning or property cleaning
    • Textiles and laundry supply
    • Agricultural production, direct marketing and home gardens are added to the agricultural training
  • Leadership Management:
    • Business administration, accounting and controlling
    • Quality management and marketing
    • Vocational training and human resource management
    • Business organization, project management

The housekeeping manager assumes management and leadership tasks. He / she develops service offers and operational processes and coordinates their implementation, the business organization of purchasing, the large kitchen, laundry, sewing, building cleaning, personnel deployment planning and personnel management. He / she creates menu plans taking nutritional aspects into account.

He / she is also responsible for training young professionals. If you are a member of a professional association or a trade union, you can be appointed by the state to become a voluntary auditor for housekeepers and housekeeping assistants for the intermediate and final exams.

The following additional qualifications can be acquired, among others:

  • Study of business administration, ecotrophology or food technology
  • Training to become a quality management officer, auditor, quality manager, hygiene officer and disinfector or occupational safety officer
  • special educational additional qualification.

Master in housekeeping

Prerequisite: state-certified housekeeper and then at least two years of professional experience in housekeeping or five years of professional experience at master's level.

The main qualifications are:

  • domestic care and support services
  • Operational management
  • Leadership
  • Vocational training.

The professional trainer qualification is acquired after passing the master’s examination.

State-certified assistant in housekeeping

Prerequisite: two-year training to become an assistant for nutrition and supply (housekeeping assistant). The training takes place in a technical school and lasts one year including internships. The technical college entrance qualification is acquired during the training (applies to Baden-Württemberg). Further training to become a housekeeping manager possible (3 years).

State-certified specialist housekeeper (FHW)

According to Section 53 of the Vocational Training Act at the federal level, this vocational training is advanced training in home economics. Prerequisite: initial training as a state-certified housekeeper and two years of professional experience or, alternatively, at least six years of professional experience in the job description of a specialist housekeeper.

The training takes place in the dual system, i. H. the specialist content is imparted both at school and in a practical way in senior facilities. Domestic skills such as catering, textile care, cleaning and care are deepened. In addition, there are nursing skills such as basic nursing measures, everyday and milieu design, as well as advice and guidance for senior citizens.

The specialist housekeeper distinguishes himself from the core processes of care, but complements them in housekeeping, social care and basic care. He / she works mainly in institutions for the elderly and in home care for the elderly.

Village helper

Requirements: state-certified housekeeper and a minimum age of 25 years. The training takes place in full school usually in two years and includes internships in farms, in kindergartens, in elderly and infant care and in animal husbandry.

After successfully completing a professional qualification, there are job opportunities as a representative of the farmer or housewife in agricultural or rural households to cope with crisis situations, usually as an employee of village helper services, social stations or welfare associations in family and elderly care and in work with the disabled.

Housekeeper (Switzerland: specialist housekeeping)

Prerequisite: secondary school leaving certificate as well as enjoyment of household chores, practical work, dealing with people, organizing and working creatively. The training lasts three years and takes place either in full school in a vocational school with internships or in the dual system.

The dual training takes place in the first year at a vocational school where basic skills are taught, and in the second and third years the training takes place primarily in companies, such as B. in facilities for children, young people and senior citizens. On a few days, lessons take place in the vocational school.

The Vocational Training Act provides for the possibility of participating in an external examination to become a state-certified housekeeper on the condition that a multi-person household has been run independently for at least 4.5 years (Section 45 (2) of the Vocational Training Act, approval in special cases).

After the training, the housekeeper can work in private or large companies (as described above). He / she can also train to become a village helper, a specialist housekeeper and in higher qualifications.

Switzerland : The three-year basic training to become a specialist in housekeeping EFZ (federal certificate of proficiency) is offered in the dual system. The umbrella organization OdA Hauswirtschaft Schweiz is responsible for the basic education. Training locations are mainly large households such as homes, hospitals and hotels. Vocational school classes are regularly held one day per week. Inter-company courses (compulsory) are carried out by the regional organizations of the world of work (OdA).

Specialist in housekeeping (Switzerland: housekeeping practitioner)

Prerequisite: young people who have special educational needs and B. cannot provide evidence of a secondary school leaving certificate. The ability to train and the special educational needs are confirmed by the career advice service of the Federal Employment Agency.

The training lasts three years and is offered in a dual form. The dual training takes place weekly on four days in company training and on one day in a vocational school. In the third year of training there are six months in the focus training in the area

  • Food preparation: preparing food and drinks, setting and decorating tables, serving food and distributing it, nutrition and food science or
  • House cleaning and disposal: cleaning and caring for rooms, furnishings and workplaces, environmentally friendly waste disposal, flower care or
  • Laundry cleaning and maintenance: preparing, washing and ironing of laundry items and clothing, maintenance of textiles spent.

With the completion of the training, the secondary school certificate is acquired. Further qualification in the above-mentioned domestic professions is possible.

Assistant and business economist for nutrition and supply management

In Bavaria and at the Berliner Lette-Verein the three- or two-year training is offered. Community catering, large kitchens and modern quality standards play a central role.

Switzerland : The two-year basic education with certificate of domestic economics practitioner EBA (federal professional certificate) is offered in large households such as homes, hospitals and hotels. Entry into the second year of apprenticeship as a specialist in housekeeping is possible after passing the final examination. Vocational school lessons take place regularly. The OdA Hauswirtschaft Schweiz is responsible for the basic education . The obligatory inter-company courses are carried out by the regional OdAs.

Professional associations

The professional associations offer a wide range of advanced training courses.

  • Professional Association of Housekeeping e. V. (former name: Professional Association of Housekeeping Specialists and Managers - bhf)

The association's task is to promote and communicate domestic professionalism. The association advocates the professional, economic and social interests of its members, carries out public relations and lobbying work and represents specialist political positions. Members are domestic specialists and executives who work in the domestic service sector of institutions for the elderly, the disabled, children and youth welfare, hospitals and health clinics, educational centers, communal catering facilities and service companies. There are regional associations in Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Berlin-Brandenburg, Hesse, North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate / Saarland, Schleswig-Holstein / Hamburg. 30 regional groups offer an exchange of experiences and professional training.

  • Federal Association of Domestic Professions MdH e. V. with 12 regional associations
  • DHB - household network. Professional Association of Housekeepers e. V. with over 200 local chapters
  • German Society for utility e. V. (dgh), umbrella organization for over 20 domestic and vocational associations in Germany.
  • VDOe Berufsverband Oecotrophologie e. V .; The association represents oecotrophologists, household, nutrition and food scientists (with a diploma, bachelor or master degree) in Germany and has around 4200 members
  • Professional Association of Catholic Women Workers in Home Economics in Germany (bkh eV)

The German Housekeeping Council has been the umbrella organization for professional housekeeping, including professional associations, since 2016 .

See also

literature

  • Anne Kettler, Renate Dreesen: Economics, household economics. Winkler, Darmstadt 2001, ISBN 3-8045-9532-4 .
  • Claudia Blaich and Katja Mertens: Housekeeping for rhw management
  • Karin Beuting-Lampe: Training in housekeeping. Verlag Europa-Lehrmittel, Haan 2011, ISBN 978-3-8085-6025-9 .
  • Trade journals
    • Rational housekeeping (rhw). Trade journals rhw management (12 times a year) and rhw praxis (4 times a year)
    • Housekeeping and Management. Raabe Verlag (folder with supplementary deliveries)
    • Housekeeping and science. German Society for Housekeeping eV dgh, self-published
  • Information service of the professional association of housekeeping
  • “Fundus specialist house economics”, published by the Federal Association of Housekeeping Professions MdH e. V.
  • Information service of the employment agency
  • Claudia Angele: Skills for coping with everyday life in private households. A desideratum of lifelike general education. Münster / New York / Berlin / Munich: Waxmann; Series: International University Papers (also dissertation, Weingarten 2008)
  • Carola Reiner (Ed.): Quality Management in Housekeeping. Safely meet the requirements for accommodation and meals. Raabe publishing house
  • Carola Reiner (Ed.): Fit for housekeeping. Materials to guide and train your employees. Raabe publishing house

Web links

Wiktionary: Housekeeping  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. Volker Zimmermann: Doctrine of housekeeping. In: Author's Lexicon . Volume V, pp. 662-667.
  2. Doris Obschernitzki: The woman her work !. Berlin, 1986 p. 55.
  3. Vivian Vrancken 2007. The Bride School 1958 - Ten young ladies experience their economic miracle . 144 pages, Hampp Verlag, Stuttgart, ISBN 3-936682-07-0 .
  4. Training and job description of housekeeping
  5. Ortrud Wörner-Heil: Women's schools in the country 1997, A story of female awakening and pioneering spirit, pp. 9-17
  6. Home economics and science under the domain: https://haushalt-wissenschaft.de
  7. GGSD self-presentation (link checked on June 8, 2019)
  8. Self-presentation on the homepage of the Lette-Verein (link checked on June 8, 2019)
  9. Self-presentation on www.berufsverband-hauswirtschaft.de (link checked on August 10, 2016)
  10. Page regional associations on verband-mdh.de ( Memento of the original from August 10, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Link checked on August 10, 2016) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / verband-mdh.de
  11. Self-presentation on www.dhb-netzwerk-haushalt.de (link checked on August 10, 2016)
  12. Self-presentation on www.dghev.de (link checked on August 10, 2016)
  13. Self-presentation on www.vdoe.de (link checked on August 10, 2016)
  14. www.bkhev.de (Link checked on August 10, 2016)
  15. German House Economic Council - DHWIR - founded , articles on www.rhwonline.de from November 24, 2016 (Link checked on 21 May 2018)