Western Germany is facing a crisis: they have a massive deficit in preschool teachers, and until recently, they had no idea where they were going to find so many qualified people to fill the empty positions. However, the debt crisis in Greece has offered a solution to their problems.
Germany has begun recruiting Grecian preschool teachers to move to Western Germany to teach, and many teachers in Greece are grateful for the chance to earn more money in Germany. Though German translation might eventually become a slight problem, many of the preschool teachers Germany has hired know German well enough to get by.
Businesses Have Flourished Through the New Partnership
It’s not only teachers and preschools that have benefited from the new match either. The recruitment agencies have also experienced a business boom. The Axia recruitment agency run by Athanossios Tsokos and his brother have been scouting Greece for the perfect preschool teachers.
The brothers used to focus on recruiting doctors and engineers, but Tsokos says that with the need for preschool teachers so high, they have shifted focus and business is good. One of the recent teachers in Greece he has found is not only university trained – which is not a qualification for Germany’s pre-schools – but she also has a language certificate from the Goethe Institute, making her a professional translator as well as a teacher.
She and another woman are about to start their new careers in Germany, and each will receive a salary of over £3000 a month.
Source: Spiegel