Educational work in rural areas as enabler of participation in structural change

The politically mandated coal phase-out by 2038 is driving profound ecological, economic, and social changes in regions that have historically represented central nodes of energy supply in Germany. Structural policy measures focus primarily on (re-)establishing economic prosperity. At the same time, the accelerated transformation is intended to proceed as “socially compatible” and equitable as possible, in order to avoid a (renewed) structural rupture.

In Southern Saxony-Anhalt, a wide range of responses to this challenge can be observed. Alongside new initiatives supported by specific funding programmes for structural change, there are various established organisations offering opportunities for social participation for the region’s population.

The project focuses on initiatives in rural areas that offer programmes with and for their communities, thus creating specific learning and educational opportunities. It examines the contribution that such educational work makes, or can make, to shaping structural change. Drawing on the accounts of the practitioners involved and their target groups regarding current structural change and developments in the region to date, the specific requirements for educational work in rural areas are identified. In addition to interviews, self-descriptions of the initiatives and their programmes, as well as autoethnographic field notes from site visits, are analysed drawing on a discourse-analytical approach.

In this way, hegemonic interpretations of what is changing, has changed, and should change in the region will be pluralised, and the ‘transformation narratives’ under examination will serve as a basis for developing further initiatives aimed at enabling social participation in the region.