The Technical Assistant section in family and collective settings in the press

"The image of training deserves to be improved"

Sud-Ouest on Wednesday March 7, 2018

At Aizpurdi high school, the family and collective sections have difficulty recruiting. "These are jobs that have bad press. However, there are jobs in the personal assistance sector. In our region, the silver economy is already an undeniable development vector." At the head of the Aizpurdi vocational school in Hendaye, Bernard Cabos-Duhamel never ceases to point out the paradoxes surrounding his section "technical assistant in family and collective environments", leading to a CAP ... and serious prospects, whether it is direct employment or further education. Fifteen places are open each year, painfully filled before regular withdrawals during the course. Regularly attracted by careers in early childhood, candidates are more likely to refuse to consider helping the elderly: "It's just a concern of image, because the first internships often make it possible to change mentalities, continues the principal. But this first step to be taken is already high, and potential students see the section as a “CAP household.” This obviously does not suit them. In touch with the terrain Coming out of a cooking class, Yvette Lavigne's students paint a whole different picture, they who, at the height of their 16 years, approach the professional environment with an astonishing seriousness, mixed with the carelessness of their age. In their words, the description of their training takes another turn. Much more complete and related to the varied needs of the dependent person. Raclettes in hand to make the kitchen in which they have just spent the morning to take a cooking class in a collective environment, do not go talk to them about cleaning: "It is about maintenance of living environment or work tool". Communication and oral expression department, these high school girls are also one step ahead: "It is the consequence of their training", assures Bernard Cabos-Duhamel. The best of demonstrations for the principal, who finds there a support to his words. And to this reminder: the training provided within the framework of the CAP ATMFC is in direct contact with the field. Which is perhaps more true in Hendaye than elsewhere. Even when faced with the incongruities of public policies. “The Maison du jour d'Hendaye, funded by the Department, is located in Hondarribia. In the context of cross-border exchanges on a territory of more than 100,000 inhabitants with an overall aging of the population, it's great. But then that we could serve as a laboratory on the theme of cross-border employment, in particular thanks to the links established with the Plaiaundi institute in Irun, we are dealing with funding difficulties and the lack of correspondence of diplomas." Section euro To try to remedy part of the problem, the Aizpurdi high school will launch, at the start of the next school year, a euro section in Spanish: "We will not ask students to have an exceptional level in this language. But they will learn to master and use the terms. techniques inherent to their profession, in a functional way. " One more string to the bow of these young people. Perhaps also a great chance to attract more Hendayais to their high school: "Of an enrollment of 250 students, only six are Hendayais this year."