PrEval Symposium 2024

Discussion and dialogue were therefore also the focus of the symposium, which was based on the Monitor regarding both content and structure. The PrEval colleagues from GPPi, PRIF and IKG kicked things off. As part of the “Zukunftswerkstatt” on Evaluation Research, they are working on monitoring and analyzing (international) evaluation capacities. Their data show: Evaluation benefits from transparency, independence, an overarching evaluation strategy and sufficient resources. And: networking is worthwhile – as a look at international best practices in the 14 country contexts examined shows. Currently, another PrEval study is being conducted at the University of Duisburg-Essen, which is investigating the relationship between civic education and extremism prevention in different organizational and country contexts. The first results were presented at the symposium.

The focal point of the first day was the welcoming address by State Secretary Juliane Seifert from the Federal Ministry of the Interior and Community (BMI). She spoke of a “democracy to make” instead of a “democracy to go” and emphasized that democracy is actively shaped by its citizens. This also applies to those involved in the prevention of extremism, in democracy promotion and civic education, whose work and contribution to quality management play a key role in strengthening a “democracy under pressure”. The work of the PrEval Network makes an important contribution here, the State Secretary underlined.

The afternoon of the first day was dedicated to the PrEval “Zukunftswerkstätten” on a Helpdesk and Knowledge Networks. Colleagues from Violence Prevention Network and i-unito presented preliminary ideas and proposed formats for the implementation of specific support services and put these up for discussion. One prerequisite emerged as fundamental for all formats: they must be geared towards the needs of practitioners, have a low threshold and ideally be accessible free of charge.

The Symposium’s program concluded with insights into the PrEval pilot studies, which are dedicated to civic education on the one hand and cooperation in security-relevant contexts on the other.
First up was a panel discussion on the evaluation of digital formats of civic education and the digital evaluation of civic education. Andrea Prytula (DeZIM), Susanne Johansson (PRIF), Luisa Schmidt (Das NETTZ) and Marcus Kindlinger (UDE) answered questions from moderator Götz Nordbruch. The central challenge of both pilot studies proved to be that not all methods of analog evaluations can be transferred to the digital space and that evaluations in this context are therefore generally more complex. One of many opportunities, however, would be to playfully link digital evaluation with certain digital content – for example in the context of gaming.