Initiative on training in the protection of minors

Schulungsinitiative Jugendschutz - SchuJu
Working Group on Alcohol and Responsibility / Bundesverband der Deutschen Spirituosen-Industrie und -Importeure e.V.
Germany
2007 > Ongoing
#AwarenessRaising #Offtrade #On-trade #StaffTraining

Objective

To ensure more rigorous enforcement of the law on protection of minors with regard to the sale of alcohol.

Description

The BSI Working Group on Alcohol and Responsibility launched “Schulungsinitiative Jugendschutz (SchuJu)” – Initiative on training in the protection of minors in October 2007.  The initiative is currently supported by 24 cooperation partners in the retail, hospitality and filling station sectors.  “SchuJu” materials are also used by the German Crime Prevention Programme (ProPK) at regional criminal investigation bureaus. 

“SchuJu” targets catering, hotel, retail and filling station trainees and workers, plus teaching staff at vocational schools and other occupational training institutions.  It includes various printed training material for vocational school instructors, three leaflets (for shops, catering establishments and filling stations respectively), an information card for bars, an age control disk, a badge, and an accompanying website with a web-based training (WBT) module.

  • The age control disk makes it easier to verify that people are of legal age to buy alcoholic beverages.
  • The 10-15 minute training module (WBT I) covers the main provisions of the German Protection of Young Persons Act in connection with the sale of alcohol. Trainees who pass a final knowledge test are awarded a personal certificate for presentation to their employer.  So that employees can further their training on the important subject of the protection of minors, an extension module (WBT II), online since 1 June 2012, goes over the content of the initial training module with added practical examples.  As with the basic module, the extension module can be completed with a test.  Since mid-October 2018, trainees have also been able to complete the online training course on all mobile devices. The menu navigation and the design of the training content were also improved in the technical relaunch.
  • The “SchuJu” initiative website underwent a complete overhaul and was relaunched in December 2014.  It was again redesigned and relaunched in November 2022.  The design of the, site in the style of a news feed, is tailored to the four relevant sectors, and, is clear and responsive. 
    • Three videos featuring examples set at a bar, a retail outlet and a filling station have featured on the website since 2013.  The entertaining clips show workers how to conduct themselves in situations where protection of minors is an issue.  

The filling station sector has implemented its annual action plan on protection of minors (“Aktionsplan Jugendschutz der Tankstellen-Branche”) since 2015.  The target is to complete 5,000 initial and refresher training courses per year.  The training uses the “SchuJu” online training website. 

Elements of the initiative form an important part of a guidance booklet, “Aktionsleitfaden des Handels zur Sicherung des Jugendschutzes” (Retail Industry Guidance to Secure the Protection of Minors), issued for many years by the German Retail Federation (HDE) in consultation with the Federal Drug Commissioner.  A joint position paper was developed with the German Association of Towns and Municipalities (DStGB) in 2018 (see).  The “SchuJu” initiative is also presented as a practical example on the “Jugendschutz aktiv” website promoting the protection of minors operated by the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth (here).

 

Partners

In the order in which they joined:

Results

November 2022: Since the initiative was launched, more than 222,000 participants have successfully completed the online training courses and received a certificate.  Also, a further 8,500 went the "extra mile" and completed the more extensive advanced course (WBT II). 

Until December 2021:

  • Certificates: 216,882 WBT I and 8,288 WBT II certificates have been awarded.
  • Workshops: 429 face-to-face training workshops with around 6,031 participants have taken place.
  • Printed materials: 332,800 leaflets for retailers, catering establishments and filling stations; 52,500 bar cards; 45,200 age control disks for cashiers and 3,200 badges have been printed.
  • Schu-ju website (including WBT): The website has had 1.4 million users and 14.1 million page views (page views for www.schu-ju.de were unable to be reported for the period 01/2013 to 06/2014 due to a technical problem on the part of the provider).
  • Videos: 49,812 views of the retail training video; 45,056 views of the bar training video and 54,306 views of the filling station training video.  The videos have been well received by their target audience.
  • Also, the “SchuJu” leaflet, “Informationen für den Handel” (Information for Retailing) was again distributed to retail trainees in print runs of 10,000 each in 2020 and 2021. It was also sent out with a magazine for retail trainees, “Grips&Co”.  

Measurement & evaluation

The online training provided as part of the ‘SchuJu’ initiative results in stricter age checking – as an evaluation towards the end of 2013 shows.

Catering, hotel, retailing and filling station staff who had successfully completed the online training were more alert to the protection of minors than colleagues who did not take the training and were more cautious in the sale of alcoholic beverages: Staff who have taken the training are significantly more likely to question that young customers are of legal age and – by their own account – are correspondingly more likely to ask to see identification.  

In the online survey, staff who had taken the training question a customer’s age on average 5.4 times a week, compared with only 2.1 times for staff in the control group.  The greater caution shown by those who had taken the training was likewise established statistically.  According to their survey responses, they asked significantly more frequently to see proof of age – on average 7.7 times a week, compared with 3.4 times for respondents without the “SchuJu” training (stated figures statistically significant at less than five percent margin of error).

Website

http://schu-ju.de

Downloads

Videos

Petrol Station
Retail
Catering

Photo gallery

Documents

Petrol Station leaflet (2021) (pdf - 0.44 Mo)
Retail leaflet (2021) (pdf - 0.58 Mo)
Catering leaflet (2016) (pdf - 1.3 Mo)
Online sales (2014) (pdf - 2.85 Mo)