Social exclusion and violence:
Education for social cohesion

Violence Prevention Project, "Prävention im Team" (PIT)

Munich, Bavaria, Germany

In Munich, children and adolescents learn to find constructive solutions to conflicts, stressing their own social competence. The Violence Prevention Project intends to improve the social atmosphere of the German classroom by limiting all kinds of violence within the school and society as a whole. Youngsters receive information about the dangerous places in their surroundings, as well as about the consequences of juvenile delinquency. Thus, they will be able to build a scale of values and develop a sense of responsibility toward the others. A teachers team in collaboration conducts the project with representatives of the city's police service. Thanks to the project, a school network (information technologies) has also been created. It allows schools (teachers or students) to exchange information on crime prevention, first within the schools themselves and then in the community.

The project holds several principles:
1. Teaching is provided in schools by a professional team (police officers, teachers and other people, according to the subject dealt with).
2. The students do their work divided into pedagogical activities with their teacher during visits conducted by professionals.
3. For the introduction, the subject choice is left to the school's discretion. It responds to its needs or to those of a particular class group. It can cover, for instance, "theft", "the use of force" or "toxic substances dependence". What is important is that the subject may be dealt with in such a way as to start developing the students' social competence.
4. The concept is an open-ended one. It adapts itself to the situations experienced by the school and can be modified on the way. Until the end of the school year 2001-2002, forty-three Bavarian high schools (Haupt und Realschulen) will participate in the project.

The program has been created as a response to the increase of violence among young people and to particular problems found inside high schools (toxic substances consumption, violence against girls, verbal and physical violence, theft, etc.) in Bavaria. The Crime Prevention Department has become directly involved in working in collaboration with schools in crime prevention and violence in general within German youth.

Frau Hinke
Ministerialrätin Bayerisches
Staatsministerium für Unterricht und Kultur
Salvatorstrasse 2 80327 München, Germany
Tel.: (089) 2186-0
E-mail: poststelle@stmukwk.bayern.de

Institutional Partners
Criminal Affairs Department of Bavaria
Representatives of the Police Corps and the educational entities of the participating regions

The project is under test period from September 2000 to June 2002.