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To address the problem of the shortage of childcare workers in Dutch-speaking childcare in Brussels, the Flemish Community, the Brussels-Capital Region and the Flemish Community Commission (VGC) have developed a project in which candidate childcare workers can work in Dutch-speaking childcare. in Brussels and at the same time follow training as a childcare worker.
The shortage of childcare workers in Brussels has existed for longer than today. The VGC, in collaboration with the Brussels Capital Region and the Flemish Community, wants to break this vicious circle with a significant investment in the influx of child care workers.
Through a project call ‘diploma through training and experience in childcare’, the VGC assigns GECOs to organizers of childcare for babies and toddlers in Brussels, allowing candidate childcare workers to gain work experience in childcare. The participating daycare centers provide mentorship. The candidate childcare workers therefore combine the job with the training and are paid during the training.
Once graduated, the certified childcare worker moves on to the professional field, and a new place becomes available for a new entrant. The VGC also awards subsidies to the organizers to enable the training and supervision of these candidate childcare workers, and offers additional support such as training, intervision, coaching and stimulation of Dutch in the workplace.
The support offered in Dutch allows us to attract a diverse audience. CVO Brussels will incorporate Dutch modules in childcare into the training, depending on whether the candidates need it. In addition, the House of Dutch will provide training on encouraging Dutch in the workplace, in addition to the existing guidance programs for nurseries of the House of Dutch on Dutch in the workplace.
Example of good cooperation
VGC board chairwoman Elke Van den Brandt (Groen) says in a press release that this project will provide oxygen to the teams in daycare centers in the short term. “We therefore also ensure the influx of qualified childcare workers in Brussels in the long term. Moreover, we invest in a vulnerable group of short-skilled Brussels job seekers, who can obtain a diploma and a decent job more quickly through training and language support.”
According to Brussels Prime Minister Rudi Vervoort (PS), this decision will partly solve the shortage of childcare workers without sacrificing the quality of the staff. “It is a good example of good cooperation between different agencies, but also of something out of the box thinking can bring about. I am therefore very pleased that we can support many Brussels families and their helping hands in this way.”