State Secretary Strube visited People's Theater skills training at IGS Lindenfeld

The People's Theater training focused on a play about friendship. The conflict in the play formed the starting point for a discussion with the pupils in class 6a. The moderator was Schiwa Ghazanfari, the educational director of the association. Together with the pupils, she analyzed the conflict theme from the play and developed creative solutions with them.

One of the main aims of the training was to promote empathy. The children were encouraged to put themselves in the shoes of the characters in the play and to name their feelings: How does someone who is excluded feel? What does a person who has been hurt think? This active reflection on emotions and perspectives opens up ways to better cooperation in everyday school life.

The topic of friendship was dealt with in depth: What is a good friend? What should a friend not do? What does it take to create cohesion? The pupils discussed, developed scenes and experienced what it takes to be loyal to a friend.

Class teacher Ms. Aslan was impressed by the behaviour of her class: "I know my class very differently. Today, it was the otherwise quiet children who got involved. The training gave the children real options for action in everyday life." She particularly emphasized how effective the theater method is in conjunction with the association's young volunteers, who meet the pupils at eye level.

The pedagogical methods of the People's Theater Trainings have been continuously developed over two decades and adapted to the realities of pupils' lives. This development would not have been possible without the many years of support from the City of Offenbach as part of the municipal prevention work and from the Förderverein Sicheres Offenbach e.V. (Safe Offenbach Association). A strong network is needed - from schools, politics, administration and civil society - that works together to promote social skills among young people and make it possible to experience democracy in everyday life.

"Peoples' Theater's skills training has established itself as a key factor in community prevention work in Offenbach over many years," says Frank Weber, head of the city's public order office and a fan from the very beginning. "The fact that almost all of Offenbach's primary school pupils receive training is an outstanding success. Now it is our common goal to find a way to increasingly integrate the training sessions in secondary schools as well."

IGS Lindenfeld, under the school management of Kai Maas, is actively implementing this goal: it consciously integrates projects such as the People's Theater skills training into its everyday school life and is visibly committed to respectful cooperation. The program is also supported by UBUS employee Mayer, who observes increasing psychological stress among the pupils on a daily basis. This makes IGS Lindenfeld an important partner in local prevention work and shows how schools can become social learning workshops.

Everyone agreed on one point: school is the central place where all children and young people can be reached - especially those who are otherwise easily overlooked. State Secretary Manuela Strube emphasized how important it is to her to specifically strengthen opportunities for participation. State Secretary Strube's visit and the participation of representatives from the City of Offenbach and the State Education Authority underline the social relevance of programs such as the People's Theater.

The project at the IGS Lindenfeld Offenbach was funded by the Partnership for Democracy City of Offenbach am Main as part of the federal program "Demokratie leben!" of the Federal Ministry of Education, Family, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth and the state program "Hessen - aktiv für Demokratie und gegen Extremismus" of the Hessian Ministry of the Interior, for Security and Homeland Security. The Partnership for Democracy Offenbach am Main is committed to democracy and countering extremism. It is organized by the DRK Kreisverband Offenbach e.V. on behalf of the City of Offenbach am Main, Municipal Prevention Office (Public Order Office).