Be a part of us

1. Education specialist / specialist with group leader function

• State-registered educator
• Social pedagogue/social education worker
• Early childhood educator (degree graduate)
• Depending on the federal state, e.g. teachers (degree graduate); state-registered special education teachers

Links to each federal state’s skilled workers catalogue:

• Baden-Württemberg
• Bavaria
• Hesse
• North Rhine-Westphalia
• Rhineland-Palatinate

1. Supplementary education specialist / specialist, no group leader function

• At least two years’ training, predominantly oriented to education, fully qualified
• Examples: childcare assistant/ nanny/ nursery nurse
• Depending on the federal state e.g. state-registered special needs assistants
• Shortened training courses to become a state-recognized specialist are available for these occupational groups.

1. Near-Native Speaker – employment as an English-speaking specialist
   

• A pedagogical qualification that is recognised in Germany (see above).
• Very good knowledge of English, e.g. due to a stay of several months in an English-speaking country (e.g. as an au pair) or as a native-speaker.
• See also the cooperation between educcare and AIFS  Educational Travel (Au Pair for Professionals Programme); a large part of the programme costs can be reimbursed on passing the probationary period at educcare.

1. Educators with degrees from abroad

• Professional recognition of your foreign qualification for the respective federal state.
• A legally regulated procedure will check whether your training is equivalent to German training and thus whether professional recognition can be granted.
• You can find further information and relevant contact persons here (in English).

1. Possible employment as educational support for career changers

• If you do not have any recognised professional pedagogical training but would still like to work with children, there are some locations where you can be employed as a support worker.
• We specifically advertise these positions as “support staff” as these depend on the funding or the support of the respective city.
• Unfortunately, we are not able to employ support staff at all locations.

Further information on joining educcare, for example as a working student, (recognition) intern or for FSJ can be found here (in German).

Our bilingual concept means that the regular educators only speak German and the near-native speakers only English with the children.

For German-speaking professionals, we attach great importance to good German language skills. A basic knowledge of English is necessary in order to understand English-speaking colleagues.

A very good knowledge of English is a prerequisite for being a near-native professional, speaking only English to the children. You have these skills as a native-speaker or gained them through a longer stay abroad, e.g. being an au pair in an English-speaking country.

Your English skills will be confirmed by an English-speaking colleague in a small Skype exchange. Your knowledge of German should be at least at B2 level and recognized pedagogical training is also required for English-speaking positions.

TVöD stands for “Public Sector Collective Agreement” (Tarifvertrag für den öffentlichen Dienst). The TVöD is part of the collective wage agreements and is a nationally valid agreement that serves to protect employees. The TVöD SuE applies in the social and educational services sector.

As an independent provider and employer not bound by collective agreements, educcare does not have exactly the same regulations as in the collective agreement. Remuneration is based on the collective agreement for the public sector (TVöD SuE).

The supervision key at educcare is based on the legal requirements in the respective federal states and often goes beyond these. Due to the various statutory requirements in the federal states, the ratio of qualified educators to children being looked after can vary from one centre to another.

One of our goals is to support parents in reconciling work and family life. That is why our year-round opening hours are adapted to the companies’ working hours whenever possible. The opening hours of our childcare centres vary and are based on the needs of the parents. Some of our centres are open between 7 am and 6 pm and our educators work in alternating shifts within the opening times. The exact opening hours can be found on the pages of the individual childcare centres here (in German).

The contact person for applications from educational specialists or supplementary staff is Ms Anne-Sophie Wohllebe.

We prefer to receive your application via our online application form (in German). You will find the link to this in every job advertisement or in the menu bar. Alternatively, you can apply by email to bewerbung@educcare.de or by post to:

educcare Bildungskindertagesstätten gGmbH

Attn. Anne-Sophie Wohllebe

Applicant Management

Alter Markt 36-42

D-50667 Köln

Applications for specialist or supplementary educational staff are processed centrally in the administration in Cologne and forwarded to the centres.

All other applications, e.g. for a Voluntary Social Year (FSJ), recognition internship, student internship, as working student, caretaker, office or kitchen staff should be sent directly to the centre’s management (in German). Job advertisements always state the relevant contact person.

All you need to do is send us an application and give us the preferred centres or job reference numbers. We will check all possible positions and forward your application to the childcare centre in question.

Our online form is not specifically designed for administrative positions. So please send us your application preferably by email to bewerbung@educcare.de or by post to: educcare Bildungskindertagesstätten gGmbH, Attn. Ms. Anne-Sophie Wohllebe – Applicant management, Alter Markt 36-42, 50667 Köln.

If there is no vacancy in your preferred childcare centre, you are welcome to submit an unsolicited application.

With your approval, we will include your application in the applicant pool and will contact you when we have advertised a suitable position. To do this, we need your details in the online application form (e.g. from when you are available, which childcare centres you are interested in, the number of hours you would like to work or which age group of children you would like to work with).

As long as a position is advertised in our job exchange, you can apply for it. As soon as the position is filled, we remove it from our job page. You are also welcome to send us an unsolicited application if there is no vacancy that meets your requirements.

We will review your documents as soon as we receive them. If the formal requirements are met (in particular, recognised training for work as a specialist in your state), we will forward your application to the centre. If the childcare centre’s management finds your application suitable, they will contact you by phone or email to arrange an interview. In addition to the job interview, we usually invite applicants to visit the centre and sit in on groups. This gives both sides the chance to get to know each other better.

Due to the following advantages, we recommend applying via our online application form:

• quick, easy and reliable application
• guidance on which information is important to us and the avoidance of further inquiries
• save application costs
• faster feedback from us

It is also possible to apply by email or by post.

Please enclose the documents required for the job advertisement with your application (CV, degree certificates and relevant job references at the very least).

So that we can grade your salary calculation correctly, we need the certificate from your pedagogical qualification (training/studies) as well as all references from the educational sector. Your current employer’s reference can, of course, be submitted later.

It is best to send us your application documents in PDF format. Ideally 1-3 documents with a total of max. 10 MB.