Further and continuing education

Many think a vocational education is a dead end. It is not. As a trained social and health assistant you have a very good springboard if you later want to go further — and you can often take your work experience into the next education.

The most obvious step for many is to become a social and health assistant. As a social and health helper you can take the assistant education with credit because you already know a lot from your field. It shortens the way. There are typically requirements for a certain amount of relevant work experience as a helper and you must have an apprenticeship agreement before the credit program can begin.

You don't need to take a whole new education to develop. Many social and health helpers specialise through courses and further training in areas such as dementia, nutrition, rehabilitation and welfare technology. That makes you a more sought-after colleague and can give new tasks and responsibility in the job.

Examples of paths you can develop skills in.

• 01Dementia and care of people with cognitive impairment
• 02Nutrition and prevention of malnutrition in the elderly.
• 03Rehabilitation and everyday training
• 04Welfare technology and digital aids

If a card goes missing anyway, or a corrupted file is discovered, it is crucial that it is reported immediately — not hidden in hope that it resolves itself. The faster the rest of the team knows that a scene is missing or damaged, the greater the chance that it can be retaken while location, actors and equipment are still available. A DIT who discovers and admits a mistake right away often saves the production; a DIT who is silent and hopes rarely does anything but make the damage worse.

Regardless of whether you stay in the helper trade for life or build further, you have a trade that is always in demand. That provides a security many others can only dream of.