Children and young people are our future – encouraging and supporting the next generation is always at the very centre of dsj’s work. The mission of securing, extending and enhancing spaces for physical activity in and outside school plays a decisive role in this context. After all, sport, games and physical activity make a fundamental and indispensable contribution towards the physical, intellectual and emotional development of children and young people.

In view of the current developments in the education system, such as full-day support and a reduction in the number of years spent at a Gymnasium [grammar school], also known as G8, this mission is becoming increasingly more important. The ever-increasing length of time that teenagers spend at school provides a new job for organised sport and brings new challenges, along with the many possibilities and opportunities.

The increasing cooperation and networking of schools, sports clubs, parents and other child and youth welfare organisations is in itself an important contribution to the solution. But it is important to continue to strengthen organised sport through partnerships in the future, so that it can act as a competent and confident partner.

For many years there has been a partnership between the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs of the Länder in the Federal Republic of Germany (KMK) and the DOSB/dsj in the context of sport. Once a year, the KMK and the DOSB/dsj meet in a contact committee and deliberate on current topics in the field of action of sport and school. Questions relating to the structure of all-day school with sports programmes offered by not-for-profit organised children’s and youth sport, and the joint jury for the German School Sports Prize awarded by the DOSB and dsj are on the joint agenda, along with quality assurance for elite sports schools and measures for improving the dual career pathway for top sportspeople. Furthermore, joint action is also required in relation to the continued development of the Bundesjugendspiele (Federal Youth Games) and the joint organisation and continued development of the two national competitions for schools, JTFO and JTFP, under the umbrella of the German Foundation for School Sports. Most recently, the constructive collaboration has also been evident in the joint “agreements on the organisation of sports competitions for children and young people by schools and sports organisations” and joint “recommendations for action for the further development of school sport”, which illustrate the shared concern of wanting to improve the quality of school sport for all schoolchildren.