Junior choice
The junior election is a project for political education in schools. After a classroom preparation, a real simulated election act parallel to state elections , federal elections and European elections forms the highlight of the project; the pupils deal intensively with the topic of “ democracy and elections ” for about a month . The action-oriented concept of the junior election demonstrably promotes the political interest and willingness of young people to participate. Since 1999, the junior election has been carried out by the non-profit and non-partisan association Kumulus eV. The project encompasses all types of schools - with the exception of primary schools - from grade 7 and is now one of the largest school projects in the Federal Republic of Germany.
aims
The goals of the junior election are to promote a well-founded opinion- forming process in the form of democratic decision-making, preparation for participation within the political system of the Federal Republic of Germany, and overcoming disaffection among young people with politics . The focus is on the didactic nature of the project, its integration into the classroom and its learning success. The realistic choice forms the conclusion and the climax in the conception of an action-oriented lesson. Here the pupils can also organize the voting procedure themselves as electoral officers, form an electoral board and receive voting notifications , electoral rolls , voting booths and an election record. The election results, their consequences as well as the personal experiences and impressions of the students are then followed up with the teachers in class.
execution
classes
Participating schools initially receive a teaching package that focuses on the methodological and content-related approach to the education and curriculum. The teaching materials are currently being developed for the respective choice and are designed in different degrees of difficulty so that they can be used specifically according to the level of knowledge of the learning groups in the lower and upper secondary level. An average of 6 to 8 teaching hours are used for the topic “Democracy and Elections”.
Election Act
Voting is either as online voting with an electronic voting system, which is also used in regular and legally binding elections, or traditionally as paper voting. The online voting has the advantage that it appeals to the pupils in an age-appropriate manner, saves time and is easy to use. Counting takes place here at the push of a button, which makes it easier to carry out the voting process. The procedure is based on the PIN / TAN procedure known from online banking. The classic paper voting, in turn, has the advantage that the voting process is more authentic. In this voting process, the students also get an insight into the process of counting votes. For both electoral processes, the schools are provided with all the electoral materials to carry out a realistic election process: from electoral rolls and voting notifications via voting booths, as well as ballot boxes and ballot papers for the respective constituency for paper voting or voting boxes with PINs and TANs for electronic voting, to election records. The increase in knowledge is of course greatest when the students are involved as intensively as possible in the preparation and organization of the election process and form the electoral committee themselves.
Scientific investigations
The junior election project was developed based on the American initiative “KidsVoting”. Accompanying scientific research was carried out for both programs in Germany (University of Stuttgart) and in the USA (Stanford University). It was found that students with higher and lower socio-economic status converge in turnout and interest. In addition, the number of young newspaper readers tripled. At home, too, the pupils address political events more intensively, which on the one hand leads to the upcoming elections within the family and on the other hand enables the pupils to pass on the knowledge they have acquired. In this way, socially disadvantaged families in particular, who otherwise had largely dropped out of political events, were reached. This creates a second chance for political socialization for socially disadvantaged families. It could also be shown that the junior election increases the turnout among young and first-time voters. In 2011, the junior election was carried out nationwide in the state of Bremen parallel to the general election. The representative election statistics were able to show that the turnout among first-time voters could be increased by 9.2% compared to the 2007 elections - even though the turnout has decreased in all other age groups. Overall, the junior election approach, as a concept of political education, leads to an increased ability to form opinions, more participation and interest in political events at all levels (including school) among the young people involved.
Chronicle of the junior elections
The junior election has been carried out nationwide in all 16 federal states since 1999 and is one of the largest school projects in the Federal Republic of Germany. Almost 1.6 million young people (as of July 2015) have participated since then. The carrier is the non-profit and non-partisan Kumulus.eV from Berlin.
Junior elections held so far:
- Berlin 1998: Junior election parallel to the House of Representatives election
- North Rhine-Westphalia 2000: Junior elections parallel to the state elections
- Baden-Württemberg 2001: Junior elections parallel to the state elections
- Berlin 2001: Junior elections parallel to the House of Representatives election
- Bundestag election 2002: junior elections parallel to the Bundestag election patron Federal President Johannes Rau
- Hessen 2003: junior elections parallel to the state elections
- Bremen 2003: Junior elections parallel to the state election
- European elections 2004: junior election parallel to the European elections
- Thuringia 2004: Junior election parallel to the state elections, patron of the state parliament president Christine Lieberknecht
- 2004 European elections in Austria: junior elections parallel to the European elections
- 2004 European elections in Poland: junior election parallel to the European elections
- Brandenburg 2004: Junior election parallel to the state election, patron of the state parliament President Harald Knoblich
- Schleswig-Holstein 2005: Junior election parallel to the state elections, patron of the state parliament president Werner Arens
- North Rhine-Westphalia 2005: Junior election parallel to the state elections, patron of the state parliament president Ulrich Schmidt
- Bundestag election 2005: Junior election parallel to the Bundestag election, patron of Federal President Horst Köhler
- Rhineland-Palatinate 2006: Junior election parallel to the state election, patron Christoph Grimm
- Saxony-Anhalt 2006: Junior election parallel to the state election, patron Adolf Spotka
- Berlin 2006: Junior election parallel to the House of Representatives election, patron President of the Berlin House of Representatives Walter Momper
- Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania 2006: Junior election parallel to the state elections, patron of the state parliament president Sylvia Bretschneider
- Bremen 2007: Junior election parallel to the state election
- Hessen 2008: Junior election parallel to the state election
- Lower Saxony 2008: Junior election parallel to the state election, patron of the Lower Saxony state parliament Jürgen Gansäuer
- Hamburg 2008: Junior election parallel to the state election, patron of the Hamburg citizenship Berndt Röder
- European elections 2009: junior elections parallel to the European elections
- Thuringia 2009: Junior election parallel to the state election
- Saarland 2009: Junior election parallel to the state election
- Saxony 2009: Junior election parallel to the state election
- Brandenburg 2009: Junior election parallel to the state election
- Bundestag election 2009: Junior election parallel to the Bundestag election
- Schleswig-Holstein 2009: Junior election parallel to the state elections, patron of the Schleswig-Holstein state parliament, Martin Kayenburg
- North Rhine-Westphalia 2010: Junior election parallel to the state election
- Hamburg 2011: Junior election parallel to the state elections, patron of the Hamburg citizenship Dr. Lutz Mohaupt
- Baden-Württemberg 2011: junior elections parallel to the state elections
- Saxony-Anhalt 2011: Junior election parallel to the state election, patron of the state parliament of Saxony-Anhalt Dieter Steinecke
- Rhineland-Palatinate 2011: Junior election parallel to the state election, Patron President of the State Parliament of Rhineland-Palatinate Joachim Mertes
- Bremen 2011: Junior election parallel to the state election, patron of the Bremen citizenship Christian Weber
- Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania 2011: Junior election parallel to the state elections, patron of the state parliament President Sylvia Bretschneider
- Berlin 2011: Junior election parallel to the House of Representatives election
- Schleswig-Holstein 2012: Junior election parallel to the state elections, Patron President of the Schleswig-Holstein State Parliament Torsten Geedts
- Lower Saxony 2013: Junior election parallel to the state election
- Bundestag election 2013: Junior election parallel to the Bundestag election, patron President of the German Bundestag Prof. Dr. Norbert Lammert
- European elections 2014: Junior elections parallel to the European elections under the auspices of the European Parliament represented by President Martin Schulz
- Brandenburg 2014: Junior election parallel to the state elections, Patron President of the Brandenburg State Parliament Gunter Fritsch
- Thuringia 2014: Junior election parallel to the state election under the patronage of the President of the Thuringian Parliament Birgit Diezel and the Education Minister of the State of Thuringia Christoph Matschie
- Hamburg 2015: Junior election parallel to the state election under the patronage of the President of the Hamburg Citizenship Carola Veit and the Senator for School and Vocational Training Ties Rabe
- Bremen 2015: Junior election parallel to the elections in Bremen and Bremerhaven (citizenship, city citizenship, advisory councils and city council assembly), patron, President of the Bremen citizenship Christian Weber
- Rhineland-Palatinate 2016: Junior election parallel to the state election
- Saxony-Anhalt 2016: Junior election parallel to the state election
- Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania 2016: Junior election parallel to the state election
- Berlin 2016: Junior election parallel to the House of Representatives election
- Schleswig-Holstein 2017: Junior elections parallel to the state election
- Germany 2017: Junior election parallel to the federal election
Europe-wide network
In June 2008 the Europe-wide network for school elections “JuniorVoting” was founded in the European Parliament in Strasbourg . In addition to the didactic nature of the junior voting for schoolchildren throughout the European Union, the network aims to encourage cooperation between implementing institutions and organizations. The focus here is on an international exchange of experiences and close cross-border cooperation. In addition, other member states are to be encouraged to participate in the network. 1.3 million young people in the Netherlands , Poland , Finland and Germany took part in the 2009 European elections .
Controversy
For the 2014 European elections, one class at the Fridtjof-Nansen-Realschule in Gronau chose 25% of the NPD . A not insignificant proportion of these students did this “for fun” or to provoke. The school management then refused the class an excursion, which is controversial, especially since junior elections have no effect on the composition of parliaments. However, there are also positive voices for the approach of the school management, which did not leave the incident uncommented. In the course of the debate, the students themselves also spoke up in order to distance themselves from the behavior of their classmates. The incident at the Fridtjof-Nansen-Realschule, however, is to be considered and assessed independently of the junior election project. Projects like the junior election make it possible to carry out targeted education and to address the dangers of right-wing extremism for our democracy.
Individual evidence
- ↑ http://www.wn.de/Muensterland/Juniorwahl-an-der-Nansen-Realschule-lief-aus-dem-Ruder-Aus-Spass-die-NPD-gewaehlt
- ↑ http://www.wn.de/Muensterland/Kreis-Borken/Gronau/1587275-Blickpunkt-der-Woche-Kommentar-Die-Juniorwahl-an-der-Gronauer-Realschule-Meinung-und-Gegenmeinung
- ↑ http://www.wn.de/Muensterland/Kreis-Borken/Gronau/Zwei-Schueler-der-Fridtjof-Nansen-Realschule-behaben-Stellung-Wie-bloed-kann-man-denn-sein
- ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from July 9, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
