The "Empirie AG" (Empirical Research Working Group) of the Commission for Social Pedagogy of the DGfE took place from Friday, 4 July 2025, to Saturday, 5 July 2025, at Haus Neuland in Bielefeld. For the first time in years, this year's Empirical Research Working Group was preceded by methodology workshops.

In the last two decades in particular, school-related social work has experienced an enormous increase in importance, with the expansion of all-day education and childcare programmes as well as the aim of making schools inclusion-oriented contributing to this.
This establishment of school-related social work, which is also reflected in the increasing number of socio-educational specialists working in the field, can be seen as evidence of an institutional opening of schools. Such an opening witnesses the cross-professional cooperation between social workers and social pedagogues and regular school teachers, and also the cooperation with actors such as special school teachers, school support staff and pedagogical laypersons. At the same time, however, an institutional opening has consequences for the organisational structure of schools: in the course of the social pedagogisation of schools, they are increasingly recognised not only as a space for formal learning, but also as a non-formal and informal educational and living space for children and young people. Against the background of these developments, the lecture series addressed the following questions, among others:

• To what extent is social work as a professionalised practice influenced by its integration into the school organisation?
• How is cooperation with other professional and stakeholder groups organised and how are the associated (non-)responsibilities negotiated?
• What challenges arise for social work as an actor in the school context?

While a large part of the new Child and Youth Strengthening Act (KJSG) came into force on 10 June 2021, the so-called overall responsibility - depending on a federal law still to be passed - is not due until 2028. Both the provisions to be implemented now and the changes expected in the future offer good reasons to continue monitoring and commenting on the process from both a scientific and a political perspective.

As a continuation and realignment of the SGB VIII reform working group in the DGfE Commission on Social Pedagogy, a digital forum has been set up to address the aforementioned need for dialogue and understanding.

Under the label ‘Forum SGB VIII inklusiv’, various academic contributions relating to the challenges of the further development of child and youth welfare were discussed in the summer semester of 2023. Presenters from various locations and addressed a diverse audience stemming from academia, politics, professional association work, local practice and, interested members of the public.

Five specialist forums were held as part of the digital event series ‘Forum SGB VIII inklusiv’ organised by the DGfE Commission on Social Pedagogy.

Starting with the 2026/2027 school year, the legal entitlement to all-day care for children of primary school age will apply in accordance with Section 24a SGB VIII. The quantitative and qualitative expansion of all-day care required in this context is being scientifically evaluated.

For the years 2023 and 2024, the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth has commissioned Prognos AG and ITES (Institute for Social Theory and Empiricism) with the evaluation and the ‘Report on the state of expansion of all-day education and care services for primary school children’, which the Federal Government submits annually to the German Bundestag.

In addition to presenting the need for and expansion status of all-day care for primary school children and the measures taken by the federal and state governments to prepare for and implement the legal entitlement set out in the All-Day Support Act (GaFöG), the report focuses on different qualitative topics each year. The first focus (2023) dealt with the different perspectives of parents, schools, independent child and youth welfare organisations, civil society actors and politicians with regard to the design of all-day education in the future.

Against this backdrop, a nationwide workshop was held in Kassel on 20 and 21 April 2023 with representatives from parents' associations, independent child and youth welfare organisations, school management, teachers' and pupils' associations, foundations, academia, further education and politics in order to gather their perspectives on the implementation of the legal entitlement.