Right-wing extremist incidents occur again and again at schools in Brandenburg. What can teachers do? And how can they be strengthened to be able to resist? A model project looked for answers.
Julia Maaß stands in front of a twelfth grade class at the high school center in Ludwigsfelde, Brandenburg. On this day she is giving a biology lesson – politically harmless. But the young teacher also teaches politics at the high school center. And she is sometimes confronted with statements from her students to which she doesn’t always immediately know how to react: trivializing the AfD, for example.
She has not yet heard any racist or anti-Semitic comments. But Maaß knows about such incidents from colleagues. The young woman is one of the teachers who took part in the model project “Strong Teachers – Strong Students” against anti-democratic tendencies.
Model project “Strong teachers – strong students”
“The project made it clear that anti-democratic positions and attitudes are part of everyday school life,” said project leader Udo Dannemann. He teaches political education at the University of Potsdam and accompanied 19 teachers and a school social worker at six high school centers in Brandenburg for over three years. The core question of the model project was: How can the pedagogical skills of teachers be strengthened when dealing with anti-democratic tendencies?
Teachers often felt unsafe, especially when racist or sexist attitudes or conspiracy theories were expressed. In the model project run by the University of Potsdam, the Brandenburg Ministry of Education, the Federal Agency for Civic Education and the Robert Bosch Foundation, the teachers received supervision, advice and further training. There was a similar project in Saxony from 2015 to 2018, says project manager Dannemann.
Teachers empower strong students
Especially in times of multiple crises, “critical action and judgment skills” are becoming increasingly important for teachers, says Dannemann. Teachers should also help students to become responsible citizens – who “know and live democracy,” says the Robert Bosch Foundation. The model project therefore conveyed knowledge about right-wing extremist youth culture, but also very individual strategies on how to counter right-wing extremist and other anti-democratic statements.
Some schools have already developed action strategies, says project manager Dannemann. House rules have been adjusted and conflict resolution teams have been founded. “Conflict resolution teams are the icing on the cake for us,” says Dannemann – a platform at the school that collects and passes on collegial experiences and advice and connects teachers with each other, but also with external experts.
Hostility after warning Right-wing extremism
This spring, the case of a high school in Burg im Spreewald showed how bad things can get for teachers if they take a stand against racism and right-wing extremist agitation. After warning internally but achieving nothing, teachers Max Teske and Laura Nickel drew attention to the conditions at their school in a public letter: students showing the Hitler salute, swastikas on school tables, right-wing extremist, racist and homophobic slogans.
After the letter, the two experienced massive hostility. “‘Piss off to Berlin,” was the message under a photo of the two on stickers throughout the town. There was even a call for a hunt for the two on Instagram. Nickel and Teske left their school and castle in the summer.
It should continue in 2024
Julia Maaß from the secondary school center in Ludwigsfelde gained a lot from the model project “Strong teachers – strong students”. It was good to hear what difficulties the others were facing and how they were dealing with them. For example, a high school center set up a crisis intervention team a long time ago, says the young biology and politics teacher from Ludwigsfelde.
But the model project shouldn’t be over now. It has shown that sustainable offerings and “internal school structural anchoring are necessary” to combat anti-democratic tendencies, says project manager Udo Dannemann. From 2024 there will be a specialist office that will be accessible to all types of schools across the country. The goal: to establish contact with relevant expert organizations, such as the Brandenburg Anti-Semitism Office. Further training for teachers should also continue. The Ministry of Education guarantees financial support for this.