“How do we want to live together in this society?” is the guiding question of the model project Empowered by Democracy , which participants explore in numerous workshops and seminars. One of these took place again at the wannseeFORUM Foundation from September 24-26, 2018. Students from the Friedrich-Ebert-Oberschule, a secondary school in Berlin-Wilmersdorf, attended, many of them from welcome classes for newly arrived students. They wanted to breathe new life into their project, which they had launched here exactly one year prior.
That's precisely the aim of the Refresh Seminar format: to support ongoing welcome mentor projects in evaluating and further developing them. First, everyone quickly packed their bags, rolled up their sleeves, and then got straight to the heart of the matter – taking stock. What had we achieved, what had we been able to implement, and what hadn't? What were the success factors, and what were the stumbling blocks? Some of the participants were quite surprised by how much already existed that they themselves hadn't known about. The high turnover among the student mentors is and remains the biggest challenge, because new members need to be properly introduced before they can become part of a project team.
Therefore, on the second day, the two trainers focused on raising awareness, with the topics of identity, diversity, and inclusion forming a central pillar. To minimize the language barrier, lecture formats were avoided, and instead, playful exercises from the Betzavta (Hebrew for "Togetherness") democracy education program were used. If communication difficulties arose, the students from the regular classes readily translated, as their own migration backgrounds gave them some fluency in the languages spoken by the students from the welcome classes. This also contributed to a quickly developing atmosphere of mutual acceptance and appreciation within the seminar group. To ensure that leisure time and getting to know each other better were not neglected, game nights and a campfire were integral parts of the program.
The final day of the seminar focused on the practical implementation of what had been learned. Building on the initial assessment, the project was revised, and a detailed action plan with concrete next steps for the coming school year was developed. Who does what, with whom, and by when? Some participants were familiar with this method from the last seminar, but learning never stops. Everyone left with the confidence that they had a renewed sense of purpose. The ship "Open School Culture"—the project's name—was about to pick up speed; everyone was certain of that.
The measure took place as part of the Empowered by Democracy of the Federal Committee for Political Education (bap eV).
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