Mascha (35): Developing prospects in Germany

January 6, 2025January 6, 2025

Mascha has a bachelor’s degree in teaching from Russia but has not yet worked in her profession. She came to Germany with her two children and started a language course, which she was initially unable to complete for family reasons. The advice centre helped her find a place and financial support for a new language course, as well as career prospects as a nursery school teacher.

Frau in der Hocke vor Kindern, die ihr zuhören. — Erzieherin bei der Arbeit mit Kindern. (Bild zur Veranschaulichung, Foto: vm via iStock)

Knowing the first steps

Mascha came to Germany from Russia several years ago with her two children. She had earned a bachelor’s degree in teaching in Russia but had not yet gained any professional experience.

After her arrival, she started a German language course but was unable to complete it due to her child’s illness. She wanted to continue learning German but received conflicting information from various sources about her eligibility to enrol in another language course, which left her confused.

She sought help from the education and career counselling service to learn more about the necessary steps and her options for continuing with a German course. Thanks to the specific information provided during the counselling session, Mascha was able to re-enrol in the language course. Just one week later, she was able to resume her German course at the adult education centre and received financial support from the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees.

Finding career prospects

During the counselling session, Mascha also expressed her desire to become financially independent as soon as possible and to establish herself professionally. As a result, she was given career guidance as well. Mascha was interested in social professions, particularly in working as an educator or social assistant. Her counsellor explained the requirements and steps necessary for entering these professions, and together they developed a strategy to help Mascha achieve her goal.

Mascha was very pleased to be able to continue her German course and left the counselling session with a detailed plan for starting her career as a state-recognised educator. She is currently preparing for her language course exam and then plans to complete a training programme as a socio-educational assistant, with the possibility of becoming a childcare worker later on.

A success story from the Spandau and Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf Counselling Centre.

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What our clients say:

Im thankful for your service, it supports people to find orientation and motivation.

Helps me out to find a school. I really appreciated the way they handled, friendly people with high knowledge.

After our counselling session, I was motivated further to make my desire of becoming a nurse in Germany, a reality! Thank you!

It is a good starting point. I am very happy with the counselling. All my questions were answered and I got new ideas from the counselling.

Really helpful to know what I should do for now. And what are my options.

I so much appreciate the counselling and I got all the relevant information I need and also corrected the mistakes I did during my applications.

This service is invaluable for somebody like me to help me understand how the work market functions in Germany (very different from the UK!). My counsellor was excellent, pointed me in the right directions, helped me find right organisations I needed. I’m very grateful!!

Extraordinary experience. I get detailed answers to my questions.

The counsellor understood my background and education during the first visit and in the second visit they gave me my options and gave advice on financial assistance. I am now clear on which way to proceed. Overall my best decision to contact the counsellor. Thank you.

The counselling was good and helped me evaluate, however I would have loved it even more if I had come up with a concrete answer by the end. 🙂

The counsellor made me feel very comfortable around him and also took the time to break down the relevant information into digestible bits, while ensuring that I have a good overall picture of the education system as well as Ausbildung in nursing in Germany.