Workshop: „Whistleblowing – Of what concern is this to me?“
Whether it is the Ukraine Affair involving Donald Trump, the exposure of world-wide tax fraud, or Edward Snowden’s disclosures regarding the spying of our internet communication – everybody has become aware of a number of cases by now. However, only very few people realise that whistleblowing does not always have to happen on the top secrecy level of the state but can become part of one’s own reality from one day to the next.
Because cases like the one of the pharmacist Martin Porwoll, who exposed the systematic underdosing of cancer medication in a pharmacy, Brigitte Heinisch, who went right up to the European Court of Justice with her publication of negligent care in hospitals, or Juan Moreno, who triggered the biggest SPIEGEL scandal of the last decades, are the less known but equally important whistleblower stories.
This is why we offer Workshops and Presentations for schools, youth organisations and other educational institutions, where the awareness of young people between 15 and 21 years of age can be heightened for this subject. We want to get talking about this subject to young people whose career start still lies in their future; we want to elaborate the significance of whistleblowing together with them and give them a first survey of their own rights in the working environment. With little games, real-life cases and a lot of space for discussions we want to take the participants to this difficult and yet important subject matter in a playful manner and without any special previous knowledge required.
The project is funded by the Berliner Landeszentrale für politische Bildung (Berlin State Centre for Political Education) and supervised by Antonia Peißker, who will be available to you for registration, implementation as well as for further questions about the workshop:
Antonia Peißker
peissker@whistleblower-net.de
+49 162 73 93 65 1
The Importance Of Whistleblowing For Young People
In the long run, Whistleblowers show civil courage – a topic, for which we are sensitized already from small on versatile. Nevertheless, whistleblowing as an important expression of this is rarely discussed in our school classes or other educational institutions.
Whistleblowing is not familiar to many young people. Which school leavers already know about their own rights in the employment relationship or even about reporting possibilities in case they discover crimes and grievances? Probably not many. But where would they get the idea?
We have taken this precarious starting point as an opportunity to talk specifically about whistleblowing and possible conflicts in future employment contracts in our workshops with young people between 15 and 21 years of age. Through small games, real cases and plenty of room for discussion, we would like to introduce the participants to this difficult but important topic in a playful way and without special previous knowledge.
Well-known whistleblowers such as Edward Snowden are often stylized in public debate as enraptured heroes and their cases appear far removed from our own reality. With our workshop we would like to make clear that whistleblowing can affect all of us. Ultimately, everyone can find themselves in the situation of being confronted with serious grievances and at a certain point having to decide: do I say something – or do I remain silent?
Q & A - Frequently Asked Questions About Our Workshops
Basically, our workshop is aimed at people between about 15 and 21 years of age. In addition to high schools, many other interested people can also register for our workshop.
Possible groups of participants:
- School classes from the tenth grade on (ISS, OSZ, vocational schools, high schools, …)
- Study or afternoon groups in schools
- Universities, university groups
- Youth organizations (youth parties, trade union groups, working groups, thematic meetings, …)
- other educational institutions (youth centers, honorary youth care, …)
- Organizers with a thematic focus on young people
- other associations or organizations
Course And Location
How exactly does the workshop work?
Depending on the group of participants and the time frame, our workshops are designed to last at least 90 minutes.
At the beginning, the term “whistleblowing” will be worked out in a joint discussion as well as through a little game. By working on real cases, the proximity of whistleblowing to one’s own everyday life will be made clear. Using the figure of the whistleblower, the participants will examine, among other things, how existing dependencies as well as relationships of power and domination influence action and thinking. In the last third, the participants can decide on their own which topics they would like to explore in greater depth. We would like to give enough space for questions and discussions about e.g. the sometimes ambivalent motives of whistleblowers, their legal protection or the consequences of whistleblowing for society as well as for the individual, in order to shed light on the topic in as many different ways as possible.
Place of the workshop
The workshops take place in the rooms of the inquirers (classrooms, club rooms, etc.). If there is no room available, the workshop can be organized in the rooms of Whistleblower-Netzwerk e.V.
Online-Workshops And Short Lectures
Recently, we also offer free online workshops. There, too, we work on the concept of whistleblowing by means of illustrative videos, quizzes and reflection tasks as well as discussions in group chats together with the participants. At the same time, this format gives the participants more freedom to design and deepen the workshop themselves.
On request or for certain event formats, short presentations of approximately 15 – 30 minutes are also possible.
Preparation
Do the participants need to have previous knowledge?
No, prior knowledge is not required. Already during the registration we will talk in detail about the group of participants in order to be able to adapt the workshop accordingly.
In schools, it may be useful to have a preparatory or follow-up meeting within the class or a discussion between the students and their parents in order to get a deeper insight into the workshop.
Do I have to prepare anything as a registering person?
In general not, since we offer prepared workshop models for different age and participant groups.
However, if special cases, procedures or other special features are desired for a workshop, a joint preparation may be useful.