Get involved in climate parliaments, participatory decision-making, and educational initiatives in schools—in a flexible, practical way and with your own ideas.

Schule ein Gesicht geben e.V. is committed to ensuring that students can actively shape their school, effectively represent their interests, and experience democratic participation in their everyday school life. Our starting point is that while many schools offer formal opportunities for participation, these are not yet fully utilized in everyday life. Often, there is a lack of time, knowledge about participation rights, reliable structures, or support for implementing students’ own ideas. This is exactly where our work comes in.

We strengthen student councils, guide participation processes, and support schools in establishing sustainable forms of student involvement. Our goal is not to impose ready-made solutions. Students should bring their own topics and interests to the table, make decisions together, develop projects, and experience that their engagement can actually make a difference. In this way, we combine democracy education with practical self-efficacy.

A particular focus of our current work is on establishing climate parliaments in schools. In a climate parliament, students discuss together how their school can become more climate-friendly, develop their own projects, and oversee their implementation. The topics can vary greatly depending on the school—for example, energy, mobility, nutrition, resource use, waste reduction, greening, or the design of the school grounds. Above all, it is important that climate protection is not merely treated as a subject in the classroom, but that students themselves can help shape decisions and initiate concrete changes at their school.

We support schools in establishing such climate parliaments or similar participatory structures and in embedding them as permanently as possible into everyday school life. To this end, we bring students, teachers, and other stakeholders together, provide methodological support, and guide initial projects. At the same time, we aim to strengthen existing student councils and integrate climate protection into schools’ existing democratic structures wherever possible.

For this work, we are looking for people who would like to volunteer. The nature of the volunteer work can vary widely and does not have to consist exclusively of direct work with students. Possible roles include, for example, facilitating a climate parliament, supporting individual school projects, assisting with workshops and events, conducting research, developing materials, networking with schools and initiatives, or contributing to our public relations efforts and social media channels.

This opportunity is intentionally aimed at a broad group of committed individuals. We welcome students as well as parents, grandparents, students, teachers, educational professionals, and people from environmental, youth, and educational organizations. Even those without prior educational experience are welcome to get involved. What matters most is an interest in schools, an openness to young people’s ideas, and a motivation to strengthen climate protection and democratic participation.

The level of involvement can be arranged on an individual basis. Options range from one-time engagements to long-term support for a school or a climate parliament. We aim to tailor our approach as closely as possible to the interests, skills, and availability of our volunteers.

Those particularly interested in working directly with students and leading workshops can also attend an in-person session in Berlin on September 11 and 12, 2026. There, we’ll teach methods from our student council and climate seminars and prepare participants for practical work with groups. No prior experience is necessary.

In the long term, we want to help ensure that student participation does not depend on a few particularly dedicated individuals, but rather becomes a natural part of school life. For us, climate parliaments are a concrete way to combine democratic participation, climate protection, and practical self-efficacy.

Depending on their interests, experience, and availability, volunteers can take on a wide variety of tasks. It is particularly important to us that volunteers help establish and support climate parliaments in schools.

Possible tasks include, for example:

You don’t have to take on all of these tasks. Together, we’ll figure out which form of involvement best suits your interests and availability. Options range from one-time engagements to regularly supporting schools or projects.

No prior experience is necessary. What’s important is an interest in students, school, climate protection, or democracy education, as well as an open-minded attitude, reliability, and a passion for working together. Knowledge of facilitation, education, climate protection, social media, or project work is welcome but not required.

You can get involved in a flexible way. You can help us on an ad hoc basis with individual workshops, projects, or events, or you can work with a school or a climate parliament over a longer period of time. It’s also possible to start with just a few hours a month. We’ll work together to determine the scope and frequency based on your availability.

We want to support students in developing their own ideas and helping to shape decisions. That is why we place great importance on an appreciative, respectful, and participatory approach. Depending on the task, participation can take place directly at schools, at events, or flexibly from home.