Young cleaner wins national title

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2nd of May 2024 Article by Katja Scholz

ECJ correspondent in Germany Katja Scholz reports from the latest Craft Skills championship.

The winner of the 72nd German Craft Skills championship in the contract cleaning sector is Sarah Lutz. The 20-year-old from Baden-Württemberg in south Germany was the only female trainee worker along with nine men at the start of the competition, secured the national title in the final.

This kind of championship is unique in Europe and has German federal president Frank-Walter Steinmeier as its patron. It is hosted by the German Confederation of Skilled Crafts (ZDH) and the Foundation for the Promotion of Talented Craftsmen which in turn are supported by the Federal Ministry for Business and the Environment (BMWK).

The aim of the competition is to showcase the varied range of skilled trades and to encourage outstanding young talent. It is open to journeymen and women who have passed their examination with a minimum overall grade of ‘good’ and who are no older than 27 at the time of
the examination.

From over 130 different skilled trades, the best graduates of the year in their respective trades came forward to compete for the national title. This year there were more than 3,000 young entrants at the start of the competition, which extends over several stages. To start, the top candidates have to compete at guild or trade chamber level in practical tasks and show they can apply what they have learned during training under time pressure.

The next stage is at state level where the winners can apply for a scholarship for further training. For the roughly 900 remaining finalists, the trade associations then organise the national competitions.

The venue for this year’s championship was St Lambert’s Basilica in Düsseldorf. Participants had to demonstrate their knowledge and skills in three different areas: deep cleaning of church safety glass, deep cleaning of fabric upholstery covers and machine cleaning of natural stone flooring.

“When else does one have the opportunity to be responsible for the cleaning and thus the preservation of a centuries’ old city landmark?” said Matthias Stenzel, Federal Association of Contract Cleaners board member responsible for vocational training. This year’s winner, Sarah Lutz, following her Abitur (school leaving examination) in 2021, completed her dual training with top marks and is currently employed by the Research and Testing Institute for Facility Management.

Her next plan is to take her master craftsman’s examination. Her two cleaning colleagues who took second and third places are respectively Leon Hunte from Lower Saxony and Paul Knieper from Rhineland-Palatinate. The three top competitors will receive the Federal Association of Contract Cleaners’ Carl Gegenbauer prize worth a total of €4,500. And they will compete next year for the €2,000 Newcomer Prize.

Winner Sarah Lutz is proud of her title and has dedicated it to all the other young women working with her in a skilled trade. She would like to see greater promotion of skilled trades, particularly in schools and on social media. “People are always amazed when I tell them that as a 20-year-old
journeywoman I am already working in management roles. There is a distinct lack of knowledge about the diversity and career opportunities in skilled trades. It’s time to catch up”, was her message.