The state government announces:
Classes for a violence-free school day, de-escalation training for school staff, talks with police officers in school playgrounds: in future, schools in North Rhine-Westphalia will be working with the North Rhine-Westphalian police to find new ways of showing pupils how important it is to treat each other with respect. Together with the Ministry of the Interior of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, the North Rhine-Westphalian Ministry of Education has developed a further concept to prevent violence, strengthen trust in the police and give teachers confidence in dealing with aggression and disputes. Education Minister Dorothee Feller and Interior Minister Herbert Reul presented the cooperation on Tuesday at the comprehensive school on Stettiner Straße in Düsseldorf.
The concept is called "miteinander.stark.sicher - gemeinsam für eine gewaltfreie Schule" (together.strong.safe - together for a violence-free school).
Interior Minister Herbert Reul says: "We are seeing developments in child and youth crime that worry us. More and more young people are prone to violence. The police in school playgrounds and in lessons should create more awareness of the issue. We need to start at an early stage to show pupils how they can resolve conflicts without violence. This is the only way to achieve the necessary turnaround in child and youth crime."
Schools Minister Dorothee Feller says: "Schools are a reflection of our society - we are therefore all called upon to address the issue of violence. As this is a social problem, there are also incidents and aggression at schools that teachers are confronted with. We have already initiated many measures in recent months. And we have to counter these incidents by joining forces. The cooperation with the Ministry of the Interior is something completely new. I am very confident that the confidence-building presence of the police in our schools, the de-escalation training and also the intensive dialog between the officers and all those involved in school life will be very beneficial to the climate in our schools."
The concept is divided into three pillars: Pillar 1 comprises support for school staff in matters of prevention, dealing with violence and aftercare (de-escalation training). Pillar 2 comprises the teaching units and pillar 3 the schoolyard talks. Ten district police authorities in Bielefeld, Bochum, Düsseldorf, Duisburg, Cologne, Mönchengladbach, Olpe, Rhein-Erft-Kreis, Steinfurt and Unna will launch the increased police presence at 20 schools in their area of responsibility at the end of the year, heralding a one-year pilot phase.
Teachers learn techniques to defuse conflicts
The introduction to de-escalation training, which is designed to help teachers deal with conflict situations effectively, was developed by the #sicherimDienst prevention network, which works across the state and across ministries to improve safety in the public sector. The training helps people to recognize different forms of violence, communicate calmly under stress and apply techniques to avoid and defuse conflicts. A digital kick-off event for teachers on dealing with violence will be held as part of the launch. In addition, #sicherimDienst has created compact information pocket cards with safety recommendations, which are designed to provide teaching staff with handy and easy-to-store assistance in various situations - for example in the event of a crisis at school, a risk assessment or when reviewing content on social media.
Kripo in school lessons - lessons for respectful coexistence
Teaching units for respectful and non-violent coexistence are the core element of the second pillar. Based on pedagogical and criminal police expertise, a teaching concept has been developed that will be taught by uniformed police and civilian police officers under the guidance of a teacher. The target group is children and young people from the seventh grade, as crime statistics clearly show that violent crimes are generally committed at a later age. These teaching units also focus on the increasing number of violent attacks with knives.
Break-time talks with the police
Uniformed police officers from the local district police authority are present at schools during break times as part of the schoolyard talks - the core content of the third pillar. The talks are not intended as a form of control, but to build and strengthen pupils' trust in the police. It's about getting into conversation with each other.
"The schoolyard talks are an invitation to the pupils to have an open exchange. The police show: We are there, we are approachable, we listen. The talks create trust and that is exactly what we want," says Interior Minister Herbert Reul about the third pillar.
"With the three measures, which interlock and reinforce each other, we are laying the foundation for successful violence prevention and sending a clear signal that violence has no place in schools. School must be a place where everyone involved in school life can feel safe - and that is exactly what we want to achieve with our new cross-ministerial cooperation," emphasizes Minister Feller.
Further background:
Schools in North Rhine-Westphalia have already been using many means to combat violence for years. The emergency folder "Hinsehen und Handeln" including its Handbook for Crisis Prevention is part of the wide range of support offered by the Ministry of Education. In addition, North Rhine-Westphalian schools have developed or are in the process of developing new protection concepts for the prevention of violence on the basis of guidelines issued by the Ministry of Education.
The Ministry of Education also organized a major digital event on the topic of violence last year and answers questions on this topic in detail on its website, the education portal, information on which can be found here.
Further background information on dealing with the overall topic of violence of all kinds and on information events organized by the Ministry of Education can be found here. The Ministry of Education has also sent a guide to dealing with incidents of violence against employees to schools in North Rhine-Westphalia, more information on this can be found here.
For inquiries from the public, please contact: Telephone 0211 5867-40.
For journalistic inquiries, please contact the press office of the Ministry of Schools and Education, telephone 0211 5867-3505.