Education: Alliance calls for permanent school social work across the board

Education Alliance calls for permanent school social work across the board

School social workers do not only help with conflicts and problems at their schools. Photo

© Jens Büttner/dpa-Zentralbild/dpa

School social workers support the children and young people, but also parents and teachers. So far they have been employed at about every second school – but only on a temporary basis. That is not enough for an alliance.

An alliance of business, social associations, teachers, parents and students is committed to firmly anchoring school social work in all schools in Saxony-Anhalt. There are currently around 460 school social workers in almost 900 schools, said Antje Ludwig, chairwoman of the League of Independent Welfare Organizations in Saxony-Anhalt and managing director of the Paritätische.

They have fixed-term contracts and funding is secured until 2028. The functioning system must be transferred from a model project to permanent and comprehensive support in schools, said Ludwig. Legal anchoring and permanent funding are necessary.

Number of school dropouts has not fallen significantly

School social work was originally started in schools because the number of school dropouts was high. This number has not decreased significantly since then. However, according to the alliance, conditions in schools have not improved either, including a shortage of teachers.

This makes it all the more important to have contact persons for students in the event of conflicts, dispute resolution programs, support for parents, for example in applying for money from the education and participation program – this is something that school social workers do, among other things.

Action alliance calls for uniform quality standards

Stefanie Klemmt, Managing Director of Vocational Training at the Magdeburg Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said: “We are calling for reliable measures for school social work and its providers, because training readiness requires not only the transfer of knowledge, but also social skills and an understanding of democratic values.”

The School Social Work Action Alliance is also calling for the further development of uniform quality standards for support in schools. The alliance now wants to approach the parties in order to achieve its goals. The next state elections in Saxony-Anhalt.