Schools & Families

Meeting the demands of the target group Schools and Families was a task that called for special provisions. Two experts on pedagogical and educational matters, one male, one female, were appointed as members of the project development team, one from September 2007, the other from February 2008. Together they established contacts with schools, evaluated project proposals related to schools and engaged in discussions with teachers and pupils on the ground to initiate and develop specific projects. They also did “translation” work for the programme of Linz09 by selecting projects that were particularly suitable for school audiences and by providing on-the-job training to teachers. ZEIT GESCHICHTE VERMITTELN [Mediating Contemporary History] was the project line that received the most attention in this context.

The basic idea common to all projects in a school context was the involvement of pupils in all phases of the project. Another constant was the requirement for all projects to have beneficial effects with regard to the schools’ structural routines. This intensive work resulted in 26 projects. I LIKE TO MOVE IT MOVE IT , which alone consisted of more than 60 individual projects, represented Linz09’s contribution to the current debate on education.

In December 2008, the “School Book” was published and distributed to all schools in Austria. It presented all the projects that were of special interest to pupils and for which special mediation programmes were available. It was also meant to serve as a statement regarding the importance Linz09 attached to school as a cultural institution.

KINDERPUNKT09, which opened in February 2009 on the premises of the former Citizens’ Advice Bureau in Altes Rathaus, offered specific information related to what cultural programmes Linz and Linz09 had on offer for children and families. Under the well-known motto “Linz. Verändert,” [Say Linz. Say change], it also provided children up to the age of 11 with all kinds of interesting tidbits about Linz. It featured facilities where babies could have all their needs attended to and featured useful things like bottle warmers, espresso machines and children’s toilet seats. KINDER¬PUNKT09 developed into a favourite watering hole for families with children, attracting 18,000 visitors altogether.

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