Gamze found a new future in childcare in the Brainport region.

When Gamze Aydogdu moved to the Netherlands, she was unable to find work in her original profession. In Turkey, she worked as a psychologist. Through Summa, she was given the opportunity to apply her knowledge and experience in a different way. She completed the BBL training program for Childcare Pedagogical Worker and now works as a pedagogical professional at Little People in Best. “I look at all the children with my heart,” she tells the Eindhovens Dagblad.

Gamze was given that opportunity through an innovative educational program by Summa, which started in 2024. Educational developer and teacher Lara Poulson noticed that many internationals in the Brainport region were eager to work and learn, but struggled to find their way to the Dutch labor market. Together with several childcare organizations in the Brainport region, she developed a program combining Dutch language lessons, a vocational education program, and practical work experience.

Following the pilot in 2024, in which the first group of internationals obtained a certificate, new groups followed. In early July, the first cohort to complete the full BBL program reached a special milestone: the participants received their MBO diploma. And it did not stop at childcare. In 2025, a similar program for internationals also started in elderly care.

Summa is primarily known in the Brainport region as a provider of secondary vocational education for young people. However, through our vocational education, an increasing number of adults from both the Netherlands and abroad develop their skills every year. They pursue further training, discover new talents, and sometimes consciously choose retraining because their hearts turn out to lie in a different sector. This occurs in diverse sectors, such as healthcare, but also in engineering, automotive, construction, beauty & lifestyle, and economics & entrepreneurship, for example.

Read Gamze's full story on ED.nl.

Also check out the courses and development opportunities for adults at Summa.