A well-attended panel discussion entitled "The new Berlin education program - (K)eine Antwort der Bildungspolitik auf aktuelle gesellschaftliche An- und Herausforderungen?" took place on 4 December 2025 at the Alice Salomon Hochschule Berlin.
The focus was on the ongoing revision of the Berlin Education Program (BBP). In particular, the fact that key topics such as diversity and democracy education are no longer included in the current draft was the subject of controversial discussion. In this context, the alliance "Vielfalt verankern" warns against a possible deprofessionalization of early education through mechanization and standardization and instead calls for an educational program that is oriented towards social developments and strengthens children's rights, participation and diversity.
After the opening by Prof. Dr. Anja Voss, Vice President of ASH Berlin and professor of childhood education, the current educational policy context was discussed. Afterwards, Thomas Strzalka from the AWO Kita Löwenzahn, Jacqueline Abe and Lisa Hartmann from the childhood education courses at ASH Berlin, Constanze Klunker as a parent representative and founder of the Berlin Initiative for Families, Dr. Franziska Bruder as a trade union secretary at ver.di and ASH professors Prof. Dr. Corinna Schmude and Prof. Dr. Ulrike Eichinger discussed the question of how early education can be professionally designed and what guiding concepts a contemporary education program needs.
The focus was on how content such as diversity, democracy education, children's rights and participation can be sustainably anchored in the education programme and how professional practice and science should be involved in the development and political institutionalization of such guiding concepts.
The discussion made it clear that the further development of professional pedagogy is a key challenge in the face of political and social change.
