Information on the pre-study internship for the Bachelor's study program in Social Work

The following criteria must be met for recognition:

• The activities must have been relevantly social work/social education and/or educational.
• The guidance must have been provided by social workers, social pedagogues, pedagogues, childhood pedagogues, educators or curative education nurses.
• The scope and duration must comply with the regulations: 400 hours. We recommend a maximum of three placements.
• It is desirable that the activities do not date back more than three years before the intended start of studies.

The form "Bescheinigung Vorpraktikum" must be used as proof of the internship.

If you have completed your pre-study internship, have your internship placement office fill out and sign the pre-study internship certificate form and submit it with all other documents when you enrol. At least 200 hours of the pre-study internship must have been completed by the time of enrollment.

Relevant practical experience can be credited as a pre-study internship if it meets the requirements. This can include a voluntary social year or voluntary work. Please use the pre-study internship certificate form to provide proof of this.

Applicants who have completed vocational training as an educator or curative education nurse or have completed a degree in childhood education do not need to provide proof of a pre-study internship. Please provide proof of this when enrolling.

The pre-study internship should give you your first impressions of social work and give you the opportunity to gain your first practical experience in your future profession.

The field of social work is very large and there are many areas in which you will work together with other professional fields. Again and again, prospective students are unsure which activities are relevant and in the sense of the pre-study internship.

In order to avoid misunderstandings, we would like to list examples of activities that we do not recognize as pre-study internships:

• Integration assistant/school companion
• Au pair
• Teaching activities (e.g. English lessons abroad) and tutoring
• Nursing activities (e.g. nursing internships in hospitals)
• Parental leave
• Domestic work (e.g. preparing meals in residential care facilities for the elderly)
• Driving services (e.g. patient transportation)
• Translation work (e.g. in refugee work)
• Medical care (e.g. paramedics/accident assistance)

If you have any questions, please contact the Practice Office of the Faculty of Applied Social Studies.

Please note that we particularly recognize activities that were supervised by the following professional groups:

• Social workers or social education workers (diploma or BA degree, for MA degrees usually only if state recognition is available)
• Educators (diploma or BA degree. Teachers are not pedagogues in this sense)
• Childhood educators
• Nursery school teachers
• Curative education nurses

The following regulations apply to activities completed abroad:

• Activities must have been in a relevant social work/social education and/or educational capacity.
• The guidance should have been provided by social workers, social pedagogues, pedagogues, childhood pedagogues, educators or curative education nurses or comparable professional groups typical for the country.
• The scope and duration must comply with the regulations: 400 hours. We recommend no more than three practical placements.
• The activities should not have taken place more than 3 years ago, based on the intended start of your studies.

As proof of your work experience, please submit an English certificate showing all four points listed above. Please submit the certificate to the Practice Office of Faculty 8 for verification.

If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact us:

Practice Office Faculty of Applied Social Studies