How do Inclusion Education Specialists work at other locations? Which topics do they address in their seminars? And what can colleagues learn from one another?

These were the questions explored by KIB Inclusion Education Specialist Sven Gräbner and Wiebke Göbel, Educational Director at the KIB, during a three-day job shadowing visit to the Centre for Diversity and Inclusion Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (ZeVI M-V) at Neubrandenburg University of Applied Sciences. ZeVI is one of seven locations in Germany where Inclusion Education Specialists have been qualified and are active in teaching.

After their arrival, the first day began with a tour of the campus and the ZeVI facilities. The local team provided direct insights into the everyday work of the Inclusion Education Specialists. The visit focused not only on seminar content, but also on practical questions: How are seminars prepared? How does the team organise itself? And how does collaboration work in day-to-day practice?

Sven Gräbner and Wiebke Göbel also observed a seminar on “Diversity in Education”. In this seminar, the Inclusion Education Specialists shared their own experiences of self-determination in school, childhood and working life. It was particularly interesting to see how differently educational work can be designed and which methods the colleagues use.

On the second day, the focus was on internal work organisation. During a team meeting, upcoming seminars were planned and content was coordinated. The close cooperation within the team left a strong impression. Materials were read together, discussed and mutually revised. The different working methods within the team also became visible. Inclusion Education Specialist Julia Kilb, for example, works with a tablet with speech output, which she uses as an important communication and work tool. It enables her to communicate with support and to prepare seminar content independently.

On Wednesday, the two KIB colleagues took part in a seminar on sensitive language. Together with trainees from different fields, the Inclusion Education Specialists explored language, personal experiences and social perceptions.

Looking back, the strong sense of cohesion within the team was perceived as particularly valuable. The mutual support and the joint preparation of seminars left a lasting impression. “What I take away from these three days is, above all, the cohesion among the colleagues and their joint development of the seminars. They support each other and work very closely together,” Sven Gräbner summarises his impressions.

The Kompetenzzentrum Inklusive Bildung Sachsen-Anhalt would like to sincerely thank the ZeVI M-V team for their warm welcome, the intensive exchange and the exciting insights into their work.