Social Pedagogue - Key Contact Person in the Penal System 80-100%

About the job

Start date:

immediately or by arrangement

Workplace:

Krauchthal

"Execution tailored to measure" is our motto at the Thorberg Correctional Facility. We enforce sanctions on 170 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 inmates according to work-educational 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 inmates.

Your tasks

• You ensure the social-pedagogical daily structure and orderly operation on the residential floor of the inmates.
• As a key contact person, you are the first point of contact for the inmates assigned to you.
• Within the framework of individual execution plans, you work with support goals in the area of housing.
• You resolve questions and concerns of the inmates as directly as possible.
• You mediate in conflicts and seek pragmatic solutions.
• You work in an interdisciplinary team with other key contact persons, social workers and workshop 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.

Your profile

• You have completed training in (social) pedagogy, social work, nursing or a related field, or you are an experienced professional in the penal system with a federal specialist certificate.
• If you do not yet have the necessary qualifications, you are willing to complete them alongside your job.
• You are interested and motivated to work 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 fluently and correctly 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 a great advantage in your professional daily life.
• You handle the usual ICT programmes with ease.

We offer you

You can expect an unusual, independent role in a correctional facility where you can help shape the future. You will acquire the necessary execution knowledge at the Swiss Competence Centre for the Penal System or at the ZHAW. 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 15 October 2026 at the latest. For further information, please contact Mr Philipp Stucki, Head of Normal Custody; philipp.stucki@be.ch; Tel. +41 31 635 64 11 (absent from 21.09.2026 to 09.10.2026). During his absence, Mr Michel Kuonen, Deputy Head of Normal Custody; michel.kuonen@be.ch; Tel: +41 31 636 52 90 is available for you.

About the Office for Penal System

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

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