Social workers for refugee aid withdrawn: Sharp criticism from schools and those affected

Created: 10/22/2022, 6:29 p.m

By: Stefan Aigner

Youth mayor Astrid Freudenstein (CSU) sees no alternative to delegating youth social workers.

© Martin Oswald

Ironically, on the 20th anniversary of youth social work in schools in Regensburg, several employees are seconded to help with the care of underage refugees.

Regensburg - The city of Regensburg and the responsible youth mayor Astrid Freudenstein regret it, but they see no alternative to a decision that is currently causing protests among those affected and in schools.

We are talking about youth social work in schools, in short: JaS.

The city of Regensburg describes this project as "a success story" for 20 years now and recently invited to a ceremony to mark the anniversary.

Ceremony for the 20th anniversary: ​​Greens do not go there in protest

On the other hand, the Greens in the Regensburg city council are not in the mood to celebrate.

They stayed away from the event in protest.

And at the Regensburg district association of teachers at vocational schools in Bavaria (VLB), the annoyance is great.

Its chairman Tobias Macht, teacher at the Matthäus Runtinger Vocational School Center (Berufsschule III), has written a veritable fire letter to the parliamentary groups in the city council.

The background to the criticism is the secondment of several JaS employees away from the schools to look after unaccompanied minor refugees.

There, according to Mayor Gertrud Maltz-Schwarzfischer (SPD) and Youth Mayor Freudenstein (CSU), the situation in view of the war in Ukraine and further refugee movements has long been “unacceptable”.

According to Freudenstein, the employees came "on their gums".

Refugee care workers overloaded: But there are no more staff

According to mayor and youth mayor Astrid Freudenstein (CSU), there are currently no plans to hire more staff, even temporarily.

On the one hand, the refugee situation could also ease up again, on the other hand, it was difficult to find staff for this work.

Therefore, social workers withdrawn from work in schools should judge it for the time being.

A total of nine of them will be transferred from October 14th to January 14th to look after the underage refugees, seven of them from youth social work at schools and two from district projects.

for now.

Then, against the background of the current situation, a decision will be made again, according to the city.

Criticism from the teachers' association: those responsible do not know the value of youth social work

At the same time, as VLB district chairman Tobias Macht explains in his letter, the staffing level at JaS is conceivably thin anyway.

At the Matthäus Runtinger school center, with around 3,000 students the largest vocational school in Regensburg, there is currently one full-time and one part-time employee available.

Power attests to those responsible at the top of the city that they "still haven't recognized the indispensability of youth social work in schools (...)".

Originally, the delegation of the social pedagogues of the JaS was to be within the department of youth mayor Freudenstein apart from the city council.

That falls under the responsibility of the administration and is not suitable for a political debate, so the argument goes.

Youth social workers delegated to care for refugees: Criticism from schools

But the Greens had brought the topic to the City Council's question time after employees had contacted City Councilor Eberlein.

They had gone on the barricades after learning about the plans for a secondment to help refugees.

But also because those affected describe it, because they were told in the first talks that youth social work in schools was one of the more conspicuous positions in a report on the personnel costs of the city of Regensburg, presented in July of this year.

Accordingly, one can also fall back on them to shoulder the current situation without additional positions and thus without additional costs.

"It didn't sound particularly appreciative," said one person affected, who did not wish to be named.

Youth mayor demands: "Now move together and help out"

However, statements relating to the report or austerity measures are not heard in the public debate about the deputations from the JaS in the public city council meeting.

Not even from CSU Mayor Freudenstein, whose party has long been committed to cutting staff costs.

Everyone is talking about the importance of youth social work in schools.

And no, it's not because of the money, says Freudenstein at one point.

But hiring additional staff in view of a refugee situation, of which one does not know how long it will last, is not the method of choice, she and the mayor agree.

Instead, in such an acute emergency, it is “natural to move together and help out”.

First of all for three months – maybe longer.

During this time, according to Freudenstein, "we will see that - if possible - no school remains without social work".

And she trusts her officials, who would then do it in such a way that it works.

Teachers' Association: There is a lack of staff in youth social work anyway

For the time being, no new positions are planned.

Neither in the care of underage refugees in the Michlstift (where the occupancy rate was already 119 percent last November) nor in the JaS, whose understaffing at least VLB representative Tobias Macht describes in clear words.

According to Mayor Maltz-Schwarzfischer, 42 JaS staff are currently available at 27 schools.

Far too little, criticizes Tobias Macht with regard to the vocational schools in view of the many problems.

Regensburg vocational school: One and a half social workers for over 3,000 students

"Our students are very heterogeneous in terms of age, educational background and nationality," he says, describing the situation.

On the one hand, there are adult retrainees and high school graduates, but on the other hand, there are also school dropouts without a degree.

"A fundamental task is therefore to reduce sources of interference."

The youth social work makes an important contribution to this, “by being available as a neutral contact for problems with trainers, teachers, classmates, family, authorities, money worries, etc. at schools”.

One and a half employees for more than 3,000 students at the Matthäus Runtinger School Center are “far too little and there is an urgent need to increase this”.

It's not much different at the other vocational schools in Regensburg.

(By the way: Our brand new Regensburg newsletter will keep you regularly informed about all the important stories from the World Heritage city and the Upper Palatinate. Register here.)

Teacher: "Many problems and dramas in secret"

You don't have to be a particularly problematic school, says Macht.

Vocational school III is not like that either.

"But if ten percent of over 3,000 students have problems, then that's 300 people." And the only contact person is basically the JaS.

"Even if we teachers try our best, without the support of social workers, many problems and dramas remain hidden".

And there is no support from school social workers or school psychologists on site, apart from the JaS.

In addition, the number of students with a migration background has increased significantly in recent years.

“These young people often come to the school with language problems, a lack of democracy and tolerance, but also with traumatic experiences and a feeling of rejection.”

Diverse problems in schools: drugs, psyche and corona

In view of the average age of many of those affected, vocational schools in particular are required to a high degree in this integration task.

"The help of the JaS forces was and is essential to cope with this."

This situation is also aggravated by the fact that the proportion of young people with mental illnesses or addictions has increased in recent years, "also, but not only because of Corona".

Video: Children and Corona: Mental illnesses are increasing in a pandemic

Teachers' Association: Only youth social work can help with many problems

And finally, there is an increasing number of schoolchildren with repeated and sometimes acute care needs.

Power lists a whole range of problems:

“Young people with disabilities, autism or social phobia, young people who have committed a crime on probation or on parole, women dependent on their boyfriend/husband, clan members/those at risk of suicide, homeless people, involuntarily pregnant women, minors in care measures, those at risk of deportation, over-indebted, abused young people , acute admissions to the district hospital and much more, which normal citizens cannot imagine and which we as teachers only partially notice.

Not because these are rare individual cases, but because of the size of the school and the JaS’s duty of confidentiality.”

Teachers' association criticizes secondment of social workers: "Confronts us with unsolvable problems"

Almost every year, young people who go to the Regensburg vocational schools lose their lives through suicide or drug addiction without the problems having become apparent beforehand.

"In this school year, people looking for advice reached out to the counseling room right from the start," says Macht, assessing the current situation.

A secondment of the JaS social pedagogues, who are already working at the limit, sends the completely wrong signal and presents the vocational schools with almost “unsolvable problems”.

"Putting out a fire by diverting firefighters away from another major fire cannot be the solution"

One understands that there is a shortage of staff for the unaccompanied minor refugees, but, according to the district chairman of the teachers' association: "Extinguishing a fire by taking the firefighters away from another major fire cannot be the solution."

The VLB calls on the city leadership to refrain from delegating social workers from youth social work and to bring workers who have already been transferred back to the schools.

So far, however, without success.

The city does not answer the question of whether an increase in JaS staff is planned for the future.

It is only pointed out that 1.25 full-time positions have been created in the current financial year.