Needs of youth: exchange about media, inclusion and school refusal

Needs of youth: exchange about media, inclusion and school refusal

On June 16, 2025, an important event will take place at the Am Schlaatz community center in Potsdam that will address the needs of children, young people and families in the districts. The Children, Youth and Family Department of the state capital Potsdam invites local actors and youth welfare partners from Schlaatz, Waldstadt I and II as well as Potsdam Süd. From 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. the program will discuss central topics such as media education, school truancy and inclusion. The plan is to build a community of responsibility in the social space so that everyone involved can pool their strengths.

The participants, including professionals from youth welfare services, schools, daycare centers and clubs, will ask themselves: “What do we need – and what can we do together?” In this culture of dialogue, sustainable solutions should be developed that meet local needs. This event also marks the start of further meetings in other Potsdam social spaces, which promotes broader exchange and collaboration, as potsdam.de reports.

Focus on media education

A central topic of the meeting is media education, which is becoming increasingly important for early childhood education. As part of the “Media Education in Dialogue” project, which is carried out by the Digital Opportunities Foundation and the Ravensburger Verlag Foundation, the focus is on practical recommendations for action. This project includes three modules: literature research on media education, the development of a criteria catalog and a field phase in which selected daycare centers are supported. The aim is to optimize the media educational support in the dialogue between daycare centers and families. The aim is not only to improve the practical work in daycare centers, but also to strengthen the training of educators, which is crucial for the education of our children.

In daycare centers, children from around the age of three should learn to use media potential and deal with negative experiences. However, studies show that many educators do not see media education as part of their professional role and often have concerns about the negative effects of digital media on children. This could be due to the fact that there are many content-related weaknesses regarding media education in the educational plans, as bpb.de shows.

The importance of media literacy

Early media education is more than just a buzzword – it is an educational task that must be implemented in daycare centers. Children grow up in a media-dominated environment and perceive their parents' media behavior. At the same time, empirical studies show that many daycare centers do not adequately implement their task of promoting media literacy. Concrete methods for media education, which are often referred to but are rarely implemented in practice, would be helpful. It is crucial that children learn not to just passively consume media, but to deal with them actively and critically.

The upcoming event in Potsdam offers the opportunity to discuss these topics together and plan concrete steps to improve media education in the region. It is important to work together to identify barriers and develop strategies that support both children from families with problems and their parents. “There’s something going on,” and that’s certainly what the organizers and participants have taken up.