Cooperation Project between Alanus University and the City of Dormagen

Family, work, education and care: social changes and the reconciliation of family and work, the measurement of educational outcomes in international comparison, and the expectations placed on appreciative, high-quality out-of-home care clearly point to a need for action that is being addressed politically through numerous packages of measures. One of these measures is stronger networking between primary schools and extracurricular care services. In North Rhine-Westphalia, the development and expansion of newly established open all-day primary schools, which have provided high-quality education and care for primary school children after official class hours for 20 years, continues to evolve. Under the Act on All-Day Support for Children of Primary School Age, from August 2026 all children in the first year group will initially be entitled to all-day support. In the following years, this entitlement is to be extended by one year group at a time, so that from August 2029 every primary school child in years 1 to 4 will be entitled to all-day care in after-school care centres or open and bound all-day schools. To achieve this, more than 800,000 additional places still need to be created and numerous educational staff members recruited, whose qualifications are still inconsistent. In order to meet the care, learning support and developmental support mandate in a society undergoing change, OGS staff require a wide range of educational knowledge and practical skills.

The certified university continuing education course “Getting Ready for the Open All-Day School (OGS)!” offered by Alanus University from September 2023 addresses this initial situation and prepares people for working with children between the ages of 6 and 12 in the OGS.

In addition, an exclusive programme was developed for the City of Dormagen that addresses the city’s specific needs. In order to maintain, deepen and expand the quality of out-of-home education and care for children of primary school age, the City of Dormagen is making funding available to support providers, which will be used for the qualification and further training of all-day staff. The pilot project, which provides for weekend seminars in Dormagen as well as at the university in Alfter over a period of two years, is coordinated in Dormagen by Regine Lewerenz (Head of School Administration Dormagen) and in Alfter by Prof. Dr. Stefanie Greubel (Deputy Head of the Department of Educational Science, Childhood Education, Art Education and Waldorf Education), together with a team from the Childhood Education degree programme at Alanus University, and builds on a professional development and continuing education programme developed in 2019 by Ulrike Schiefer (OGS Specialist Advisor, Department of Children, Youth, Families and Schools Dormagen). Together with Ulrike Schiefer, the course started with 17 women on 26/08/2023 in Dormagen. Before that, on 15 August, the participants were welcomed in a ceremonial event by the Head of Department for Children, Youth, Families and Schools Dormagen, Mike Wetzel, and his colleagues Regine Leverenz and Ulrike Schiefer, as well as Prof. Dr. Stefanie Greubel and Prof. Dr. Janne Fengler (Department of Educational Science, Childhood Education, Art Education and Waldorf Education, Alanus University) (photo).

We are delighted about the collaboration and the City of Dormagen’s trust in our work!