Internship in Social Pedagogy in the Penal System 80% - 100%, Duration 6-12 Months

About the job

Start date:

from 1 January 2027 or by arrangement

Workplace:

Krauchthal

"Execution tailored to measure" is our motto at the Thorberg Correctional Facility. We enforce sanctions on 180 men from over 40 nations in closed custody. Our 140 employees dedicate themselves daily to the reintegration of offenders into society, thereby making an important contribution to public safety. In eleven workshops, we lead and support the prisoners according to work-pedagogical principles. Our programmes in the areas of work, therapy, education, sport and leisure are consistently aimed at risk reduction and the social integration of the incarcerated individuals.
In the care sector in normal custody, we offer a social pedagogue internship position.

Your tasks

• You ensure the social-pedagogical everyday structure and orderly operation on the residential floor of the incarcerated persons.
• As an intern, you are the first point of contact for the incarcerated persons; the path to this is planned with the practical instructor (PI).
• Within the framework of individual execution plans, you work with support goals in the area of housing.
• You resolve questions and concerns of the incarcerated persons as directly as possible after appropriate introduction.
• You mediate in conflicts and seek pragmatic solutions.
• You work in an interdisciplinary team with key workers, care staff, social workers and work supervisors and regularly exchange information with representatives of other disciplines.
• You work in early or late shifts and regularly take on weekend duties in rotation.
• In close cooperation with the PI, you set learning objectives in practice and reflect on your own learning process.
• If you are completing a training internship, you bear a high degree of personal responsibility for your learning success and achieving the required practical learning objectives, according to the demands of practice and school.

Your profile

• You are interested in and motivated by working with people in difficult life situations.
• You act professionally in the tension between closeness and distance.
• You are a very resilient, confident and independent personality.
• You remain calm even in hectic situations and know how to assert yourself.
• You enjoy working with people from different cultures.
• You communicate confidently in German, both orally and in writing. Additionally, you have good spoken French and/or English skills. If you speak other foreign languages, this will be very advantageous in your professional everyday life.
• You handle the usual ICT programmes without difficulty.
• If you are completing a training internship, you have a study place confirmation at a recognised higher technical school (e.g. Agogis/BFF) for social pedagogue HF or social pedagogue HF.

We offer you

You can expect an unusual activity in a correctional facility where you help shape the future. You will be accompanied individually, professionally and in a structured manner, with the possibility of practical theory-practice transfer. Your workplace is located in a historically significant building in a unique natural landscape.

Contact

Interested? We look forward to meeting you! Please send us your application documents online by 30 November 2026 at the latest. For further information, please contact Mr Philipp Stucki, Head of Normal Custody (philipp.stucki@be.ch; +41 31 633 11 98).

About the Office for Penal System

The Office for Penal System (AJV) employs around 1000 staff within the Security Directorate of the Canton of Bern (SID) and is responsible for open and closed penal and measure enforcement for adults and juveniles. To fulfil this task, the office has four concordat correctional facilities, four regional prisons, the surveillance station at Inselspital, the detention control centre as well as probation and enforcement services at its disposal.

https://www.ajv.sid.be.ch/de/start.html