Schools have a statutory duty to offer children from different backgrounds the same right to education and participation. For schools to be able to fulfil this duty of inclusion successfully and systematically, they require the expertise of various partner organisations. One of the key partners is youth welfare services. Through the services it provides, it can make a significant contribution to the success of inclusion in schools.

Teachers often only gain an insight into the demands placed on them during co-operation with youth support services once they are in the workplace, for example, when it comes to effectively coordinating their own work with those providing individual support for specific children, or when organising day-to-day collaboration with colleagues from school social work or networking with youth welfare service staff within all-day schools.

For trainee teachers, an understanding of the services provided by youth welfare is crucial, particularly with regard to their professional development in fostering inclusion in schools.

This symposium offers teachers in teacher training a framework for gaining a concise overview of key areas of work within youth welfare services. The keynote presentation will provide insights into how co-operation between schools and youth welfare services can contribute to supporting children’s development. In the workshops, you will have the opportunity to learn about and discuss their work with experienced speakers from youth welfare services based in Oldenburg and the surrounding area.

As international research findings demonstrate, professionally organised co-operation between nursery and school, and their targeted co-operation with parents, is of particular importance for a successful start at school. Youth welfare services are the primary providers of early years settings; in terms of structure, staffing and curriculum, schools are often organised differently. This presentation provides an overview of research findings on the organisation of co-operation during the transition from nursery to school, with a particular focus on an inclusive perspective. Case studies provide illustrative insights into questions such as: What is needed for youth welfare services and schools to effectively support children throughout their educational journey? Where do the stumbling blocks lie?

An inclusive transition concept will be presented, which is largely based on co-operation between these systems and, in the spirit of inclusion in schools, seeks to continue children’s learning and development across institutions through mutual exchange.

Information about the speaker:

Dr Michael Lichtblau is a carpenter, psychologist and trainee child and adolescent psychotherapist; he works as a research associate in the ‘Pedagogy for Learning Disabilities’ department at the Institute of Special Education at Leibniz University Hannover.

His work focuses on the development of children’s interests, the transition from pre-primary to primary education, inclusion in early years settings and schools, and childhood and socio-cultural disadvantage. He is a co-founder and spokesperson for the Early Childhood Education and Development Research Network at Leibniz University Hannover (www.ffbe.uni-hannover.de).

You can find the conference leaflet here.

You can register here.