The student representatives from the secondary schools in the Saarpfalz district came together for their annual meeting, the so-called "SV-Werkstatt", at the end of November in Homburg's Siebenpfeifferhaus. The Saarpfalz district's staff unit for shaping social change took part with a workshop to ask the young people, as representatives of their classmates, about their interests in the STEM field and to give them a voice at district level.
The workshop was attended by 25 elected student representatives from secondary schools. The workshop was deliberately designed to be open-ended: "We want to find out what really interests children and young people," emphasises District Administrator Frank John, "in a network that is all about STEM education, the voice of young people is particularly important." The aim of the Saarpfalz district is therefore to integrate the perspectives of young people more strongly into regional STEM education work in the long term.
The student representatives learnt about STEM topics on which educational programmes are available in Saarland. One of the topics they found particularly interesting was 3D printing. "It's cool because you can use it to realise your own ideas," said one pupil. The young people also suggested their own topics, such as marine research or astronomy, as well as the idea of linking STEM subjects more closely with everyday topics that would also be helpful for them later as adults. Moderator Lena Nicklas addressed the fact that girls are often less represented in STEM subjects - a point that should sensitise the student representatives to include this in their considerations.
The results will then be analysed and will be taken into account in the STEM education programmes offered by the Saarpfalz district.
The Student Council Workshop is organised annually by the Saarland Student Council, the Adolf Bender Centre and the Saarpfalz District Youth Welfare Office. It sensitises young people to their roles as representatives of their fellow pupils and their opportunities for participation. This year, they cooperated with the staff unit for shaping social change to support the participation workshop, which was moderated on behalf of the staff unit by Lena Nicklas, who also works in social education in local youth work. The workshop was funded by the Federal Ministry of Education, Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth as part of the "MINT Cluster III" programme. With this funding, the Saarpfalz district, as a partner in the "SaarMINT" network, is bringing offers from the fields of mathematics, computer science, natural sciences and technology - especially with a focus on girls and educationally disadvantaged children and young people - to the local area.