Conference looks at the future of local education landscapes

9th June 2022 — "Our education will change". With this statement, Professor Kai Maaz of the Leibniz Institute for Human Development and Educational Information addressed the participants of the Federal Conference on Educational Management 2022 in Berlin. Maaz pleaded for "developing visions at all levels and deriving goals from them". One key to sustainable local education would be "that we invest more in social space-oriented school and development work".

What can an analogue-digital networked educational landscape look like?

How can the manifold potentials of cultural education be used in the best possible way and captured at the local level? What contribution does Education for Sustainable Development make in local structures and strategies? And how can the need for skilled workers in municipalities and regions be met? The highly diversified programme of the two-day Federal Conference on Education Management 2022 spanned an arc from the successes of the already completed programme "Bildung integriert" (Integrated Education) to an outlook on municipal education landscapes of tomorrow.

DLR-PT organises hybrid conference

The hybrid conference was organised and implemented by experts from the DLR-PT on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). Its tasks ranged from assigning the venue and designing the content of the event formats and the marketplace to researching keynote speakers and panel guests, designing the digital conference platform and coordinating external service providers.

Innovative education management – the basis for good education communities

"We want you to network. The main purpose of the Education Integrated programme is that municipalities learn from municipalities," explained BMBF State Secretary Kornelia Haugg at the start of the Federal Conference on Education Management. In lectures, panel discussions, panels and development workshops, more than 280 participants on site and around 420 digital attendees were able to learn about good practice examples and tried and tested approaches. They also discussed how the further development of data-based municipal education management contributes to solving social challenges.

One common finding was that tailor-made analogue and digital educational offers improve the prospects for achieving individual educational goals. The targeted networking of the various actors from administration, civil society and school and extracurricular learning places is crucial for municipalities in positioning themselves as attractive living spaces and sustainable education locations.

The second day of the conference was dedicated to the future of municipal education landscapes. The aim was to develop ideas and concepts to find answers to current and future challenges to municipal education landscapes – both locally and digitally networked. The BMBF's new ESF Plus programme "Educational Communities" supports municipalities in improving the transparency and accessibility of educational opportunities and in achieving coordinated cooperation between all educational stakeholders along the entire educational chain and in all areas of education.

In addition, the participants worked out design and solution approaches to the central topics of the "Education Communities" funding programme in numerous development workshops. At the marketplace – on site and digitally – the participants had the opportunity to network with actors from municipalities, the transfer agencies for municipal education management, partner programmes and civil society.

DLR-PT brings education management community together

Since 2014, DLR-PT has been supporting the BMBF in implementing the Transfer Initiative for Local Authority Education Management in all technical and administrative matters, and has supervised and managed more than 450 projects. Together with the BMBF, DLR-PT has built up a community on municipal education management in which transfer agencies and more than 300 of the 400 German municipalities as well as municipal umbrella organisations, Länder, statistical offices, foundations and actors from civil society and science participate.

In addition, DLR-PT advises the BMBF on the further development and thematic expansion of the initiative. This includes the conception and implementation of websites, flyers, brochures and handouts as well as the development and implementation of customised event formats for the qualification and networking of the programme partners.