"Schulen fördern - Erziehung stärken - Gewaltprävention ausbauen". Erklärung der Kultusministerkonferenz zur Gewalt an Schulen vom 23./24. Mai 2002

Kultusministerium

Kultusministerium

German

English

Violnce in schools, Politics

Legislative document

Policy Makers, Teachers, Researchers, School Directors.

Over 100 pages

On 23 and 24 May 2002, the Conference of Education Ministers (Kultusministerkonferenz) discussed about possible measures to prevent violence and expressed – especially in response to the murders at Erfurt Gutenberg Gymnasium – their wish for greater control of violent media and computer games. In their statement, the ministers of education stress the state responsibility for education, of which school administration, teaching staff, parents as well as students must take care all together to get consensus about shared aims and strategies concerning education. This also means that common social rules of conduct should be established, which must be consistently respected by everyone. The School Supervisory Board also has an important role because they should actively support the schools in their work against general violence, extremism, xenophobia and discrimination of any kind. The shared responsibility of students and parents is also brought up, who both can contribute significantly to the creation of a pleasant climate and school life in order to prevent possible acts of violence.
Especially students should show more responsibility and should be more involved in the creation of work life and social life. To ensure this, schools should adopt educational policies and transfer their students more social functions, for example in form of mediation programs or any similar projects. The youth welfare is also of great importance because together with the schools they can contribute to the positive personal development of the children, with a special focus on personal responsibility and sense of community.
Cooperation with the police concerning preventive education is of great importance as well as the increasing use of school psychologists who can support schools through their various counseling. The Conference of Education Ministers also deals with the influence of media on young people’s willingness to act violent and welcomes proposals to strengthen the control of media content.
Finally, the Conference suggests once again that the schools cannot solve all education problems of today's society alone, and emphasizes again the need for cooperation and union of various institutions such as family, school, youth services and police.

This document is a example of a political response and resolution proposals on violence in schools.

Kultusministerium