Together for the future: New mission statement strengthens school-youth welfare cooperation

Together for the future: New mission statement strengthens school-youth welfare cooperation

On September 17, 2025, Katharina Günther-Wünsch, the Senator for Education, Youth and Family, and Elvira Berndt, Chairwoman of the State Youth Welfare Committee, signed a groundbreaking mission statement for cooperation between youth welfare and schools in Berlin. This mission statement aims to define the foundations for effective collaboration and to focus particularly on strengthening educational and upbringing opportunities for all children and young people. In addition, the principles of child and youth orientation as well as multi-professional cooperation are emphasized as central focuses. [berlin.de].

Günther-Wünsch emphasizes the community of responsibility between youth welfare services and schools and speaks of the need to create optimal conditions for the development of the students. Berndt, on the other hand, emphasizes the role of youth welfare as a partner to schools, especially in areas such as all-day care and crisis intervention. A new administrative regulation on school inclusion assistance will create more clarity about the benefits of this support.

Legal basis and development

The legal framework for cooperation between youth welfare and schools is diverse and is based, among other things, on the school laws of the federal states and the Child and Youth Welfare Act (KJHG, SGB VIII). According to bildungsserver.de, there are also numerous regulations on school social work that vary from state to state. These regulations set legal standards that should promote cooperation, while at the same time pointing out the need for empirical studies to better understand obstacles to cooperation.

A continuous development of forms of cooperation has been observed since 2000, particularly in the context of the PISA debate, which called for an understanding of education in a more comprehensive sense. In order to strengthen cooperation between schools and youth welfare services, there are numerous basic documents that address obstacles and possible solutions.

Social work in schools

In Brandenburg, social work at schools is an essential part of student care. As mbjs-fachportal.brandenburg.de describes, school social work is aimed at all students and pursues the goal of reducing social disadvantages. The tasks of school social workers are geared to the individual needs of the children and require close cooperation between school authorities and youth welfare services.

In addition, all-day programs that are offered during the summer holidays or on school-free days are designed to take the students' leisure interests and social-educational needs into account. The collaboration requires at least three extracurricular partners to ensure high-quality support.

In summary, it can be said that the signed agreement between youth welfare services and schools in Berlin represents an important step. It creates the basis for sustainable and effective support for children and young people and will significantly shape the educational landscape.