Humanistic life skills have existed in Berlin for around 25 years. It is a denomination-oriented lesson under the responsibility of the HVD as a worldview community, especially for non-religious pupils, with the task of educating them to live together in solidarity from the perspective of secular humanism. In Berlin, around 45,000 pupils currently take part in this subject. In the state of Brandenburg, the subject was introduced in 2007 following a decision by the state constitutional court and immediately had around 500 pupils.
Applications to establish the subject have already been submitted in NRW, Lower Saxony and Bavaria. Other HVD member associations, including those in Hamburg and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, and the Humanists in Saxony-Anhalt, who will soon be founding a state association, are currently preparing to submit an application.
The President of the HVD, Dr. Horst Groschopp, explains the great acceptance of the subject Humanistic Life Studies among the population:
“The pleasing result of the representative survey encourages us to ensure that Humanistic Life Skills is introduced as a school subject in other federal states as soon as possible. We were surprised that not only non-denominationals, but also a relatively high proportion of Catholics and Protestants would rather have their children attend life skills lessons than religious instruction (19% and 24% respectively). This roughly corresponds to the number of those who are only pro forma, merely paying church members.
In a few years, humanistic life skills will be on a par with religious education as part of a pluralistic educational program. At the same time, we are campaigning for ethics lessons to become a compulsory general education subject for all pupils – as they already are in Berlin and Brandenburg.”
