The pupils were delighted to receive the certificates signed by District Administrator Dietmar Allgaier. Dr. Uschi Traub, Head of Health Promotion at the District Office, presented the certificates at the end of the project. The young people and representatives of the two schools took part in the event.
"Peer Educator": Pupils educate their peers
The project began in April 2023 with an information evening. The selected multipliers were trained and deployed as peer educators for over a year.
Madeleine Braun, Katharina Klenk, Mandy Bronner, Dr. Stephan Döring and Dr. Uschi Traub from the health promotion team, an employee of the "Weißer Ring", representatives from the LGBTTIQ sector and an HIV-positive person taught the participants about sexuality, contraception, sexually transmitted diseases, sexual violence, sex education methods and communication techniques. The peer educators then passed on their knowledge to pupils in grades 7 to 10.
Sandrine Gienger, a health promotion intern, was responsible for the evaluation. The written and oral survey of the peer educators revealed that they felt they had "definitely improved their knowledge, more self-confidence and a more relaxed, open approach to the topics" as a benefit from the project. "A community was created - you realized that you are not left alone and you don't leave others alone either," was the feedback from the peer educators. According to the participants, the assignments were "much easier and more relaxed than expected". There were only problems with individual pupils.
All of them would take part in such a project again. "The self-assessment of their knowledge has greatly improved and the knowledge tested has also increased - for example, the peer educators named an average of five sexually transmitted infections at the beginning, but by the end it was ten," says Traub happily. Chlamydia, the most common bacterial sexually transmitted infection, was only known by 25 percent at the beginning and 82 percent at the end. In terms of contraceptives, more peer educators were aware of various
contraceptives. The highest increase was seen for natural contraceptives - the hormone patch, the femidom and the IUD.
Peer project well received by the majority of children and young people
"The peer project has helped me to talk more naturally about sexuality in general and to use contraceptives more openly," says Marie, a pupil at Friedrich-Schiller-Gymnasium. For Elias from Gymnasium Korntal-Münchingen, the peer project means "preparing young people for their later lives in an interactive way, not as a teacher in frontal lessons, but as a friend and contact person for all kinds of questions in this subject area."
Of the 256 pupils aged between 12 and 18 surveyed in the classes taught at both schools, 79% thought the project was good or very good, and only 3% thought it was not so good or bad. Two thirds of the pupils liked the media and games used very much or well. 87% thought that the peer educators had conveyed the information very well or well. 83 percent of respondents felt that their questions were answered competently. 44 percent of pupils felt better informed after the event. A quarter stated that they are now better able to use contraceptives and a quarter now find it easier to talk about sexuality.
