German
"Smart daycare centers" launched in Jena: 140 professionals at kick-off event
The training series "Smart daycare centers. Digital skills in daycare centers - safe, creative and everyday support" was launched today as part of the Smart City Jena project. Around 140 participants - including 120 educational professionals from Jena nurseries and childcare providers - came together at the Imaginata to spend a day dealing with issues relating to digital education in everyday nursery life.
Christine Wolfer, Head of Youth and Education at the City of Jena, emphasized that the fact that around three quarters of all Jena nurseries took part in the kick-off event and the subsequent series shows the high demand:
"Digital media have long been part of the reality of life - even for very young children. It is important to us to support educational professionals in such a way that they can accompany children responsibly, creatively and critically. At the same time, we are strengthening our advisory skills for parents who are often unsure how to deal with media."
Johannes Schleußner, Head of the Department of Education, Youth, Culture and Sport of the City of Jena, emphasizes the municipal responsibility: "Early childhood education is one of the central tasks of the municipality. With the Smart Kitas series, we are actively taking on this responsibility so that professionals can acquire digital skills and support families. In this way, we ensure that children and parents learn to use digital media confidently, creatively and critically right from the start - an important building block for their future and for a strong, smart urban society."
After the welcoming speeches, Prof. Dr. Daniel Hajok from the University of Erfurt opened the day with a keynote speech on the topic of "Digital media in early childhood: current data and educational action". He made it clear that even the youngest children are being drawn into the media world in a targeted manner - and that digital offerings have a pull that even adults find difficult to resist. This makes it all the more important for educational professionals to recognize the media world as a natural part of children's experience and to accompany children in this process instead of rejecting media in principle. However, it remains crucial: "Reading aloud is the be-all and end-all. It creates closeness, bonding and a relationship between child and adult - and must not be replaced by offers such as Tonieboxes, but only supplemented."
Hajok also warned against early and unregulated smartphone use, which can quickly overwhelm children. Clear rules are not an imposition here, but rather give children and parents security in dealing with digital media. In any case, media use is not just an issue for daycare centers and schools, but is primarily present in everyday family life - children imitate the behavior of their caregivers. "Only a few daycare centers regularly talk about media. Yet the triangular relationship between child, parents and teachers is a great opportunity to provide guidance and support," he emphasized. Media should not be the focus, but should be seen as tools for creative ideas.
In the afternoon, the participants deepened their knowledge in two workshop phases that covered practical topics - from language education with digital tools to creative explanatory films, stop-motion projects and media education work without technology.
The kick-off event marks the beginning of a multi-part training series that will start at the beginning of November. The aim of the series is to train educational professionals as media coaches and qualify them to use digital media responsibly, creatively and in a way that is relevant to everyday life. In addition, the ProbierLaden teaches basic digital skills for educational professionals.
"With this series, we want to provide practical suggestions, but also create space for reflection. We hope that the topics are well received, that the speakers are inspiring and that the participants can take what they have learned back to their work," says Sandra Wiegand-Neumann, specialist advisor for daycare centers in the city of Jena.
Guided through the event and provided content-related input (from left): Jan Wiescholek (sub-project manager in the Smart City project), Sandra Wiegand-Neumann (specialist advisor for daycare centers), Prof. Dr. Daniel Hajok, Stefanie Teichmann (sub-project manager in the Smart City project), Head of Education Johannes Schleußner and Head of Specialist Services Christine Wolfer
Background information:
The "Smart Kitas" training series is part of the Jena Smart City project, which promotes digital skills in all areas of life in urban society - from education and administration to sustainable urban development. The project is supported by the Federal Ministry of Housing, Urban Development and Building (BMWSB) and the Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW) as part of the Smart Cities model project.
