Dagesh | Review: 4. Qualification Days for this Year’s Dagesh on Tour Freelance Staff

On 10 and 11 December 2025, the fourth and final qualification days for this year’s Dagesh on Tour freelance staff took place. Two intensive and enriching days offered a varied programme of physical practice, professional input, educational exchange and artistic discussion.

Krav Maga workshop with Felix Jokesch

The event kicked off with a one-day Krav Maga workshop with Felix Jokesch. The workshop offered participants insights into self-defence and self-assertion practices while strengthening the group’s physical presence and sense of community.

Technical input & practical reflection

The second day took place at the offices of Dagesh and DialoguePerspectives e.V. A particular highlight was the input from psychologist and psychotherapist Greta Golbereg on the topic of ‘Building relationships and communicating with children and young people’.

The focus was on the different developmental stages of children and adolescents and their central motives with regard to implications for educational work:

• Children (6–11 years): sense of accomplishment vs. feelings of inferiority
• Adolescents (12–18 years): identity vs. identity diffusion
• The zone of proximal development

The group then discussed how a good balance between acceptance and change can be achieved in educational processes. The participants identified three key attitudes for their work: empathy, unconditional appreciation and congruence.

Case Intervention using the Balint Method

Afterwards, the freelance staff had the opportunity to reflect on specific incidents from their everyday work in small groups. Using the Balint method, they analysed challenges and jointly developed solutions. This revealed a clear need to continue this form of reflection in the future – something we will take up in the supervision sessions next year.

Best Practice: Making Identity Artistically Tangible

In the afternoon, artist Adi Liraz and educational workshop leader Kristina Omelchenko led an inspiring session on the topic of identity.

An introductory ball of wool exercise created a ‘network’ – both physically and figuratively – and gave participants space to discuss their affiliations and self-images.

Adi Liraz then presented her own textile artworks, which deal with her family history. Building on this, the participants created their own self-portraits on fabric using textile dyes, embroidery techniques, collages and other artistic means. In a short time, an impressive gallery of powerful and individual works was created. These works will now be combined to form a joint Dagesh flag.

‘How to Dagesh?’ – Review of 2025 & Outlook for 2026

To conclude, the Dagesh education officers presented a ‘How to Dagesh?’ unit developed specifically for new freelance staff, which provided basic information on working methods, formats and processes within the programme. A review of the successful and eventful year 2025 and an outlook on planned activities for the programme in 2026 rounded off the training days.

We are delighted to be able to conclude this intensive and successful year with the training days. Our sincere thanks go to all the speakers, artists and educational and artistic workshop leaders who shaped and enriched these days with their expertise, creativity and openness.

We are starting the coming year with new inspiration and a strengthened team spirit – full of anticipation for further exciting projects with children and young people as part of Dagesh on Tour.