Medienscouts NRW
Qualification Medienscouts NRW
Media is part of everyday life. Especially for young people. Media is fun and simplifies many things. At the same time, questions and problems arise when using media: cyberbullying, violent videos in class chats, the distribution of copyrighted videos or digital games – media use by adolescents, even in its problematic forms, does not stop at school.
In order to recognize not only the opportunities but also the risks of media offerings and to be able to use them in a self-determined, critical and creative way, guidance, qualification and media competence are required. The approach of "peer education" is particularly helpful here: on the one hand, young people prefer to learn from their peers and, on the other hand, they can educate their peers in a way that is appropriate for the target group due to similar media usage behavior.
In recent years, the Landesanstalt für Medien North Rhine-Westphalia has worked with municipalities throughout North Rhine-Westphalia to implement the ‘Medienscouts NRW’ project, in which secondary school pupils are trained as so-called ‘media scouts’ in a school context. Due to the positive response and great interest in participating in the project in the previous project phases, the ‘Medienscouts NRW’ project will be continued again as part of a train-the-trainer programme.
The district of Herford has been participating in the NRW state project of the Landesanstalt für Medien (LfM) since 2021. Since then, the Medienzentrum has organised and coordinated three rounds of training, in which 17 secondary schools from eight municipalities in the district have been qualified with over 100 scouts and counsellors.
The following schools were qualified in the district of Herford
Herford
Ravensberger-Gymnasium
Friedrichs-Gymnasium
Königin-Mathilde-Gymnasium
Geschwister-Scholl-Realschule
Otto-Hahn-Realschule
Gesamtschule Friedenstal
Löhne
Städtische Realschule
Bertolt-Brecht-Gesamtschule
Städtisches Gymnasium
Enger
Realschule Enger
Widukind-Gymnasium
Bünde
Erich-Kästner Gesamtschule
Vlotho
Weser-Gymnasium
Weser-Sekundarschule
Spenge
Regenbogen-Gesamtschule
Hiddenhausen
Olof-Palme-Gesamtschule
Rödinghausen
Rödinghausen Gesamtschule
More information on qualification
The LfM NRW qualifies the trainee media scouts and their counseling teachers in five qualification workshops on the topics of internet and security, social networks, digital games, smartphones and project implementation.
Media scouts and teachers are also trained across workshops in the areas of communication training, advisory skills and social learning.
The Medienezentrum Kreis Herford is responsible for organising and coodinating the qualification. It also supports the participating schools with local experts and technical advice.
The Qualification
It is carried out in 5 workshop units acros types of schools with a maximum of 10 secondary schools.
For each school, 4 pupils are trained as media scouts and 2 school specialists are trained as counselling teachers. The LFM NRW commissions two instructors for each qualification programme. The workshops usually last 5 hours.
The development workshops
They are designed in the 2-hour online version or to meet in person for the counselling teachers and the media scouts and can chosen from various topics.
Request information at:
Link Medienscout NRW
Information on network meetings of media scouts
Once the media scouts have been trained, the next step is networking. To this end, all media scouts and counsellors from the district are invited by the district's Medienzentrum twice a year to exchange experiences about their work in schools. Additionally, there are regular further professional inputs on specific topics as well as in-depth new knowledge through the organization of advanced workshops.
An important component in this process is also the two local specialists, who support sustainable implementation at the schools with their commitment and they help plan and organize the network meetings.
Eva-Lotte Heine's experience as a media educator is particularly noteworthy here, as is the networking provided by Tanja Lindemann, who works at the district's Medienzentrum.
Local professionals media scouts
Link to schools with their own media scout area
Request information at:
News
Network meeting and development workshop of the Media Scouts NRW in the Herford district September/October 2024
topic of cybergrooming
Media scouts from secondary schools in the district of Herford meet once a year to promote an exchange on the appropriate use of media. On September 5th, 2024 they met again at a networking meeting. They were accompanied by dedicated specialists and local experts Eva-Lotte Heine and Marius Diekmann, who offer support with questions and topics. Christian Meyer, Head of the Medienezentrum in the District of Herford, coordinates the project and emphasizes the importance of cooperation between the schools.
At the network meeting, the media scouts dealt intensively with the topic of cybergrooming. Eva-Lotte Heine provided information on how to recognize cybergrooming, protection options and support for those affected. Ms. Schütze also introduced herself from an advice centre that offers parents and young people advice on parenting issues and cybergrooming. She gave the media scouts tips on how to deal with suspected cases, but emphasized that they cannot replace trained advisors.
On October 30th, 2024, an advanced workshop on the topic of cyberbullying was held, also at the request of the media scouts. The event included interactive learning tasks on how to deal with cyberbullying and was supported by the Rotary Club Herford-Hanse, which has sponsored the project since the beginning.
Network meeting of media scouts in the district of Herford
Pupils deal with the topic of cyberbullying
Report from the 3rd network meeting of the Media scouts in May 2023
For the third time since 2021, the students qualified as media scouts met at the Medienzentrum in the district of Herford to discuss the experiences with the project at their schools.
As at the previous network meetings, Mr. Christian Meyer (Head of the Medienzentrum in the district of Herford and organizer of the local media scouts project) and Ms. Eva Lotte Heine (media educator and local specialist) and Mr. Marius Diekmann (Regional school counseling and former local specialist) were also present.
On May 22, the programme consisted of a guest contribution followed by the usual discussion. This time, the guest contribution took form of an input on the highly topical subject of cyberbullying, offered by Ms. Martina Buhl.
Ms. Buhl works for the regional school consultancy in the district of Herford. She is a system consultant for the prevention of violence and extremism for the schools in the district area. She usually works preventively with school administrations, educators and teachers on topics realting violence and extremism. In her input, she also emphasises that cyberbullying is an extension of bullying. "Previously, individuals who were bullied would go home after school and essentially have their peace. However, that is different today," said Ms. Buhl in her input.
After the lecture, and after a short break, there was finally an open exchange among the media scouts. The scouts were accompanied by Ms. Heine and Mr. Diekmann. Meanwhile, the accompanying counselling teachers met in another room in order to be able to discuss their concerns with Mr. Meyer and Ms. Buhl.
The media scouts from the Ravensberger Gymnasium Herford and the Wesergymnasium Vlotho will also take part in the cyberbullying congress, which the district of Herford is organizing on June 20th, 2023 for pupils in the 6th and 7th year in the discotheque 'GoParc'. The scouts will present their work to the participating students at a "Market of Opportunities".
Media scouts and specialists from the Realschule Enger, the Olof-Palme-Gesamtschule Hiddenhausen, the Widukind-Gymnasiums Enger, the Ravensberger and Friedrichs-Gymnasiums Herford, the Geschwister-Scholl-School Herford and the Weser-Gymnasium Vlotho were represented.
The next network meeting is planned for September 2023.
Award for 158 media scouts schools in NRW for their special commitment in the 2023/24 school year
The media scouts of the RGH in Herford were awarded for their work. We are very happy about this and offer our warmest congratulations!
Herford
Ravensberger Gymnasium
The Ravensberger Gymnasium is the only school in Herford to be awarded the “Media Scouts School 2023/2024” by the Ministry of Schools and Education of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia and the Landesanstalt für Medien NRW. This recognition is given to schools that are particularly committed to the Medienscouts NRW programme. The RGH is one of 158 honoured schools in North Rhine-Westphalia. The four media scouts, Sara, Felix, Nele and Soenke from the ninth and tenth grades, are students who support their classmates with problems and questions in everyday digital life. Among other things, they offer various workshops in the lower grades. The four media scouts are supervised by Ms. Schäffer and Mr. Ufermann. The media scouts' commitment is voluntary and they are trained by specialists from the Landsanstalt für Medien of North Rhine-Westphalia.
