WaeBi

Term: 2016-2020

Project management:
Prof. Dr. Oliver M. Reuter, project management of the Pofessorship of Art Education
Prof. Dr. Roland Stein, project management of the Chair of Special Education V

Academic staff:
Tanja Wilkeneit, Chair of Special Education V
Sabine Wolz, Professorship of Art Education

Short description:
The research project examined aspects of aesthetic education with a particular focus on children and young people in socially difficult constellations. Two groups of people were focused: on the one hand, young people with a low socio-economic status or rather in difficult family constellations, on the other hand young refugees.

As a rule not only single problems of young people are the reasons for their difficult social situations.  Rather various factors of under-supply usually correlate with each other, resulting in failing educational biographies and diffuculties in socio-cultural participation. Young refugees present a special group. In addition to the difficult external conditions they often have to cope with strong psychosocial stress experiences as well as with cultivation processes.

Particularly with respect to sometimes significant trauma processes of young refugees, questions about (not primarily lingustically bound) processing and expression possibilities of the things they experienced are relevant. The project focused on following questions by means of empirical-qualitative research:

• Which pedagogical paradigms, framework and working methods characterize mediating practice? Which pedagogical conditions are necessary so that aesthetic educational processes are particularly successful and effective?
• To what extent are the further development of communicative competences and social interaction positively influenced and thus basic conditions for social integration are created?
• Which effects can be described with respect to identity and aspects of self-concepts?
• To what extent do aesthetic educational opportunities facilitate an easier access to society as well as contribute to the discussion of one`s own and foreign cultures?

In order to find answers projects were selected in the fields of music/rhythm, scenic/theatre/improvisation und visual arts according to certain criteria and accompanied. In connection with the mentioned target variables creative and artistic-designed processes were investigated from a cultural and special educational perspective.

On the base of a manual, focused on the four central key questions, a total of 92 qualitative interviews were conducted and analysed. Professionals and experts as well as young people, participating in the projects, were interview partners.

The evaluation of the projects of aesthetic education on the basis of a wide and profound database resulted in many interesting findings concerning framework and working methods of the projects, conditions for success as well as effects on the target parameters communication, social interaction, identity and self-concept, access to aestetic education as well as acculturation and cultural exchange.

A more comprehensive presentation of the project and its research findings in the context of a monograph is being prepared.

This research project was funded by the Federal Ministery of Education and Research (abbr. BMBF).

Publications:

Reuter, Oliver M.; Stein, Roland; Wilkeneit, Tanja & Wolz, Sabine (2018): Chancen der ästhetischen Bildung: Gegen die Biografie des Scheiterns. In: Behinderte Menschen, Zeitschrift für gemeinsames Leben, Lernen und Arbeiten, Nr.4/5. Graz.

Reuter, Oliver M.; Stein, Roland; Wilkeneit, Tanja & Wolz, Sabine (2018): Pädagogische Gelingensbedingungen und Wirkung ästhetischer Bildung bei Menschen in schwierigen sozialen Konstellationen (waebi). In: Vierteljahresschrift für Heilpädagogik und ihre Nachbargebiete 87 (1).

Reuter, Oliver M.; Stein, Roland; Wilkeneit, Tanja & Wolz, Sabine (2019): [waebi] – ein Forschungsprojekt Jugendliche in sozial schwierigen Konstellationen. In: BDK Mitteilungen. Hannover.

Reuter, Oliver M.; Stein, Roland; Wilkeneit, Tanja & Wolz, Sabine (2020, in Vorber.):  Ästhetische Bildungsprozesse von Jugendlichen in sozial schwierigen Konstellationen. In: Timm, Susanne u.a. (Hrsg.): Kulturelle Bildung. Münster.