Prospects for Political Education Symposium

Impudent, Courageous, Demanding – Self-Empowerment through Peer Education?

Is the world coming unhinged? Do young people see things that way too? Does the younger generation have answers to questions that aren’t even formulated the way they would have put it? Does peer education constitute the key to self-empowerment that opens the door for young people to assuming responsibility, making a commitment and a mark on society—in impudent, courageous and demanding terms? This symposium will attempt to come up with answers to such questions by staging speeches as catalysts, workshops as settings for discussions of ideas and methods, and a Dialog of Disobedience as a wake-up call.

Anita Reinbacher at the Prospects for Political Education Symposium, POSTCITY, Credit: vog.photo
Angelika Sery-Froschauer at the Prospects for Political Education Symposium, POSTCITY, Credit: vog.photo

An event produced jointly by the Upper Austria Teacher-Training College, Upper Austria Chamber of Labor and Ars Electronica.

09:30 – 10:00 Check in
10:00 – 10:15 Welcome
10:15 – 11:00 Dialogue of disobedience: Gerhard Haderer, Peter Androsch Moderation: Anita Reinbacher
11:00 – 11:45 Keynote: „Jugend Hackt“ (Daniel Seitz, Ingo Leindecker)
11:45 – 12:00 Announcement of workshops
12:00 – 13:00 Lunch break
13:00 – 15:00 Workshops:
  • Politically reinforced – Political Education through Peer-Education (Sapere Aude, AK NÖ)
  • We make games (Team Icarus)
  • Peer-Education in Political Education (Jakob Feyerer, PH OÖ)
  • I am best we – Peer Learning as key to new learning culture (Thomas Mohrs, PH OÖ)
  • Peer Education: mediation eye-to-eye (Reinhard Leonhardsberger, Katja Kloimstein, SOS-Menschenrechte)
  • INTERNET: digital learning, media competence & secure participation (INTERNET PRIVATSTIFTUNG AUSTRIA)
15:35 – 15:45 Coffee Break
15:45 – 16:30 Keynote: Cheeky, brave, demanding? Why grown-ups first need to be brave to succeed at “peer-education” (Ulrike Kegler)
16:30 – 16:45 Conclusion
17:00 – 18.30 We guide you – Guided Tour through POSTCITY

Bios

Gerhard Haderer
Creative disobedience, which defies the dictates of mainstream politics and media, is not only the basis of all progress, but also necessary to sustain a democracy’s living dialogue. Currently, a trend is emerging in which more and more frustrated people turn away from politics all together and withdrawal to comfort in the private sphere. One could also call this attitude “digitized Neobiedermeier;” it culminates in a passive acceptance of an absurd world that cannot be supported. We therefore need a civil society of self-confident citizens with imagination and courage who are prepared to intervene with new ideas that will make everyone look toward the future with excitement again.

Gerhard Haderer, satirical sketch artist, painter and author, publishes political caricatures in Austrian and German newspapers. Since 2008, his comic booklet “MOFF” has been published monthly. In 2018, the “Linzer Tabakfabrik” opened the “School of Disobedience”, a platform to facilitate the meeting of art and politics.

Peter Androsch
It’s not just the Austrian world that is so dizzyingly retro. The school system is creating a comeback of “black politics” based on forgotten history. (????) Misconceptions such as “educational standards” or “Program for International Student Assessment” tests suggest that education depends on “the art of kneading children” (thanks Rudi Palla). The standard is a unified way of doing something – anyone could understand that. Individuality, solidarity, education, learning, self-empowerment, critical thinking, DEMOCRACY – none of this is present. The ABCs of Enlightenment and Humanity has not arrived in the education system. Rather education is a dictatorship of tests, re-testing, Repetition, and Judgment, all of which has not only not improved since my youth, but in fact has blatantly deteriorated. No reform helps. Revolt and reestablishment is announced.

Peter Androsch works internationally as a musician, composer, artist of language and space, researcher, writer and lecturer.

Daniel Seitz
Daniel Seitz founded a media path because he burns for a free, political society which takes its responsibility seriously. As a teacher of media he is convinced, that media education can make an important social contribution to political participation, self-development and creativity. Daniel Seitz lives in Berlin. Since 2013 he has remained astonished of how the youth hack and develop inside social media.

Ingo Leindecker
Through his work as project manager at Open Commons Linz, Ingo Leindecker is responsible for the organization and further development of the “youth hack” programs in Linz.

Ulrike Kegler, born in 1955, is a teacher and has served for the last 25 years as headmistress of the state-owned Montessori School in Potsdam, a school for children and adolescents aged 6 through 16.

Today, the school distinguishes itself through its innovative approaches for all ages: no grades until 12th grade, interdisciplinary teaching, project-based learning and, above all, teacher cooperation. In 2007, the school received the German School Award from the Robert Bosch Foundation. Since then, Ulrike Kegler has worked as a member of the German School Academy together with prominent representatives of the school development task force on the improvement of the German school system.

In her latest book, “Praising the Teachers – Those Who Strengthen Relationships, Make Schools Good” (Beltz 2018), Kegler describes the challenges of a school development process and the mistakes, detours and successes that a school goes through. The book has dedicated it to “all courageous teachers”.

Ulrike Kegler is married, has three adult sons and lives with her husband in Berlin.