A critical Look at Games in educational Work
16th to 23rd April 2022, Sonthofen, Germany
The project
Games and Energizers are very present in the activities of international Peace and Volunteering Organisations, like SCI and its partners. They are used in volunteer camps to bring the group together, and to work on contents during seminars and trainings. There is hardly any volunteering group that does not play games during their projects. But why are we actually using these games? And what should we consider when playing?
Games in educational work got institutionalised without considerably reflecting their use, their advantages, and their
challenges. On the one hand, games can be very helpful and useful in the seminar context. On the other hand, they
can be criticised regarding the reproduction of stereotypes or as violating the personal space of participants. To debate the role of games in volunteering activities, SCI Germany organises this project aimed at trainers, youth
workers, group coordinators and volunteers. The project consists of 5 parts: 2 on-site activities and decentralised
preparation, implementation and follow-up activities.
This call for applications comprises the first three parts:
The Training from 16th to 23rd April with its online preparation period and the implementation and reflection period during summer 2022. However, we recommend a participation in all 5 parts of the project
- Online-Preparation Phase (starting mid march, 1 month before the training)
Project participants will receive the most important information for the project activities beforehand. This includes
tasks for the individual preparation as well as questions and tasks to reflect upon. - Training (16th to 23rd April 2022)
During the training in Germany, the participants learn about the basics of the usage of games in educational work. The training will provide a basis for deeper discussion and reflection on problems and advantages of games with a critical perspective on power relations. Obviously, in this training we will play a lot in order to add practical experience to the theoretical approach. The main topics of the training are:
usage of games and energizers (why/why not?)
peaceful playing for peace
roles of facilitators/trainers/group coordinators
humour and fun in educational work
gender-sensitive use of games and energizers
stereotypes and discrimination in games
pros and cons of the gamification of educational work
(dis-)advantages of educational games online
first reflection on the content of a manual on peaceful playing in educational work - Implementation and Reflection Period
The participants use the knowledge they have gained during the training to implement critical points and ideas on how to use games more carefully in their youth activities (e.g. in international Workcamps). They are asked to do a small personal reflection on each game they facilitated during their activities. - Other Activities of the Project: As 4th part and 2nd activity of the Play for Peace project, we plan another seminar in Serbia in autumn 2022. Participants will reflect upon their experiences with the games during their interim activities and discuss them further to develop a manual. Afterwards, there will be a Follow-up Period to finalise the project outputs and start implementing new project ideas. There will be a separate registration for Activity 2. Participants of Activity 1 will be accepted for the seminar with priority.
All activities will be held in English language
Call for applications
The Venue
The seminar will take place in the youth house “FUB der Falken Sonthofen”: https://fub-sonthofen.de/. It is a house
owned by a socialist youth organisations and located in Sonthofen in the southern part of Germany around 2 hours
train ride from Munich. Sonthofen is well connected to public transport and the house is very close to a lake and to
the mountains.
The Team
The seminar will be facilitated by an experience team of trainers of SCI: Marie Rolf, Simon* Jakob and Hasna El Hiyani
Aims of the project
- Critically reflect on games used in non-formal education through sensibilisation for different forms of discrimination as well as safer spaces to create more inclusive youth and volunteering projects.
- Raise awareness and understanding of intersectional perspectives (global justice, gender, class, race, inclusion, climate justice) when facilitating and organising youth projects by developing and sharing inclusive, diverse and power-critical games
- Understand the role of peace and human rights in games in educational work
- Improve the quality of NFE instruments that can be used in future events, projects, trainings, seminars and general meetings
- Provide youth workers with tools and methods for power-critical, inclusive and peaceful games in educational work
- Create a manual for games in educational work, that includes underlying concepts, shared experiences with safe spaces in games and guidelines for peaceful playing
- Create more and stronger alliances and solidarity in the peace and volunteering movement
Outcome
Inspiration for manual–contents: NFE methods about peaceful playing, critical look on gamification of educational work, tips and tricks for inclusive and sensitive games in educational work
Concept and kick-off for research implantation period
Methods
We’re going to use a broad variety of non-formal education methods, such as world cafe, snowball discussions, re-
search, silent exhibition, simulation games, theatre, visual harvesting, arts, energizers, role games, team building ac-
tivities and more. As this training is about peaceful playing we will use many games and energizer methods in this training for critical reflection.
Participants Profile
Everyone who comes to this seminar should…
- be vaccinated against Covid 19 or recovered (obligation)
- ideally be an active member and be involved in the process and decision structures of their sending organisation
- have some experience in international group works as participant or better as trainer/facilitator or group
- coordinator
- be interested in learning more about the use of games in groups and to discuss this critically
- be aware of power structures and be able to approach them both sensitively and critically
- be committed to abstain from flying, but travel to the event via overland route instead;
- be committed to spreading their new skills and competences to their sending branches, e.g. via a workshop
- or a camp coordinator training.
- allow time and ideas for both the seminar and the finalisation phase;
- ideally be motivated to participate actively in the production of the outcomes and in the implementation
- period
- have sufficient English language skills (spoken and written);
Please note that there will be opportunities to visit Sonthofen and it surroundings, but that this is not a “getting to know the region” project. On some days the seminar also foresees evening sessions.
Logistics, financial conditions and sustainability
Simple life: The seminar will take place in a seminar house with simple living conditions. You will sleep in a room shared with few other people.
Money, money, money: We can cover all essential costs of the program (including vegan food, travel costs up to a maximum amount per distance (maximum travel reimbursement amounts: 10-99 km = 20 Euro, 100-499 km = 180 Euro, 500-1999 km = 275 Euro, 2000-2999 km = 360 Euro), visa costs, accommodation, and seminar) through a European project grant by Erasmus+. Your sending organisation might ask for a small participation fee. The costs will be reimbursed to you after submission of a complete expenditure summary and original receipts after project completion.
Sustainable food: The food provided by the house will be vegan. This is not just a practical decision, but also an ideological one: SCI believes in the values of sustainability and climate justice – and if we want to contribute to a more peaceful planet, we need to give up on industrialized animal agriculture and its destructive effects on our planet.
Sustainable travels?: This is also why we ask you to come to this seminar through more sustainable means of transport rather than flying (e.g. by train or bus), if somehow possible. Sonthofen is easy to reach with (night) trains and busses via Munich or Ulm from many places. We will give you more guidance on how you can reach the venue once you are accepted to the training.
How to apply:
Please send your application for the Play for Peace Project via this application form until 30.01.2022. After we accept your application, you will receive a detailed infosheet.
Covid19 Regulations
Please be advised that due to the pandemic and related measures, there may be changes. We ask you not to book
your trip before we have informed you that the training will take place at the planned location. We will let you know
about this about four weeks before the seminar starts.
For the protection of all participants on site, we will only accept participants who are fully vaccinated with one vac-
cine accepted by the German government and the last dose (second or third) is not older than 360 days:
BioNtech/Pfizer Comirnaty/BNT162b2/Tozinameran
AstraZeneca/Covieshield/R-CoVI
Moderna
Johnson/Janssen + a second dose with another vaccine from one of the above
If you’re recovered, you need a Covid-19 recovery certificate. This is valid until 6month (180days) after your positive PCR test. After 6 month you need one vaccination shot with one of the vaccines, mentioned above. This is valid 360 days after the vaccination, then you need a second dose.
We will also ask you to bring your own supply of FFP2 masks and a certificate of a negative Covid19 rapid test result no older than 48 hours (no exceptions). If the current situation in April forces us to do so, we will either do it online on the same days or postpone this seminar to another date and will inform you immediately. Upon confirmation, you are responsible to ensure that your trip complies with the latest recommendations of the health authorities regarding the spread of Covid19. For Germany, the regulations of the ministry of health apply.
We are looking forward to your application 🙂
The coordinating team – Britta, Marie & Simon*
For any questions contact: simon.jakob@sci-d.de
