The IB endorses to the demand made in the UN Children’s Rights Convention that every child should develop healthily physically, spiritually, morally, emotionally and socially according to their nature, in freedom and dignity. Educational support follows this ideal as an important area of social development alongside familial child rearing.
In accordance with our mission statement the goal of educational support is to help people to develop freely, to live a self-determined life, to be integrated into society, to take personal responsibility and to participate actively in the development of society.
The IB’s product portfolio in this area has been continuously refined. Its non-residential, semi-residential and residential education support represents the core business of social work. The professional positioning of the Internationaler Bund (IB) recognizes education support as an infrastructural service for children, youth and families in the middle of the society; it is understood as an enduring support system. The pedagogical conceptual framework of the IB, as it is defined in its basic principles also impacts the content and topic related orientation of the education support. This orientation was defined in the guidelines of the segment education support: “the social pedagogical work of the IB strives towards diversity of decisions and actions, care for and kindness towards fellow humans as well as societal participation and responsibility. It is especially intended for disadvantaged groups of society and their social integration.”
Most children, youth and families are cared for within the scope of non-residential education support such as educational counselling, social group work, educational supervision and socio-pedagogical family support.
Day groups are important services that provide social learning in groups, competence training and accompanying work with the parents to ensure children are able to remain within their families.
Residential education support is a further important field, providing support in residential living groups and communities, in assisted living communities, in five-day-groups in education provision centres and in intensive educational living groups. Individual intensive educational care, mother-child housing, aids for young adults and shelters round off the range of offers provided in educational support.
Extended school cooperation’s are planned in future: educational aids, modules in open day schools, and co-educational daily groups in elementary schools or the increasingly requested school assistance for mentally disabled children are envisaged. There is a notable demand for non-residential, semi-residential and residential support for children and youth with psychological difficulties and signs of trauma.
There is also an increasing demand for social-pedagogical living communities to compensate for the nationwide lack of places for infants in the context of child welfare. Unaccompanied minor refugees are cared for in the context of educational support in various locations. Another trend is represented in the successful work transcending individual cases in social space projects at several IB locations. Families and the public youth work and youth welfare services increasingly ask after various forms of parental trainings.
