It sounds utopian and is the dream of millions of children and young people all over Germany who are stressed about learning: a state school where there are almost no traditional lessons and no fixed timetables.
Instead, the students learn in flexitime and have individual work plans and learning goals. You will also look in vain for dilapidated classrooms with worn furniture in this school. There are modern learning studios with digital media, bright creative workshops and a “study hall”.
Anyone who thinks that there is no room for such a progressive institution in the rigid, dusty German educational landscape is wrong!
School in a socially disadvantaged area sets new standards
The Siebengebirgsschule Bonn in North Rhine-Westphalia works exactly according to this concept – and thus provides a ray of hope in times of increasing underperformance and violent crime in German schools. Children with learning, language and behavioral problems learn at the facility in a socially disadvantaged area; the proportion of migrants is high.
“The Siebengebirgsschule takes in children who are overwhelmed by regular schools and enables them to get back into learning, discover their talents and achieve outstanding achievements,” praises Tübingen education scientist Thorsten Bohl. He is also the jury spokesman for the German School Prize.
This year, the main prize, worth 100,000 euros, went to the Bonn special school, where 45 teachers teach a total of 265 students. The award was presented on October 2nd in Berlin.
Rector Achim Bäumer explained the successful method in “Zeit”: “We try to avoid traditional lessons in order to make learning possible. In order to optimally implement our pedagogical ideas, we use digital tools very intensively.”
Rector: “Everyone according to their abilities and pace”
According to Bäumer, the students log in via chip between 7:45 and 8:50 a.m. and work on an individual learning plan throughout the school day. “Everyone according to their abilities and pace, sometimes alone, sometimes in pairs, sometimes in a group.” From the 7th grade onwards there is flexitime.
On the digital learning platform, students would find their weekly plan and the associated material, according to Bäumer, “including explanatory videos, quizzes and competency checks at the end of a learning unit.” Teachers and, in some cases, parents can view the platform and see “what the students are currently working on, where they are making progress, what they are finding difficult.”
The teachers would accompany their students throughout the day, explain things to them and help them. “At the end of the week there is a feedback discussion on which the next week’s workload is based. This means that students and teachers are constantly in conversation.”
According to the headmaster, the students have to devote the first two hours of the day to a main subject, i.e. German, English or mathematics in the higher grades. “Just art every day, that’s not possible for us either.” However, it is possible that students who don’t want to learn one day can work with a 3D printer or build a robot in the creative room. They have to catch up on the material they missed, for example in math.
In the “Zeit” interview, the rector made it clear: “We focus on performance. And of course there are guard rails.” Ultimately, the students should also pass the state qualifications. A few later even switched to high school.
Had “negative experiences” at other schools
Bäumer reports that many children have had “negative experiences” at other schools. “They are used to sitting in a class, switching off or being disruptive, perhaps even in the hope of being kicked out.” There is no such thing at the Siebengebirgsschule. “We train independence right from the start, we are very stubborn and annoying.”
Of course, the system was not introduced overnight, emphasized the rector. “We developed the first materials for self-learning more than ten years ago.” Over time, we realized “that we need to break up the traditional structure more.” And of course there was initially great skepticism among colleagues and parents.
The phase of the corona pandemic, in which all students were forced to work independently digitally, helped the school greatly. “After that, we said goodbye to traditional lessons every now and then, first with two classes, then with more,” said Achim Bäumer in an interview with “Zeit”.
“We hardly have any violent incidents or serious conflicts here”
In an interview with the German School Portal of the Robert Bosch Foundation, the rector also commented on the topic of violence. “We hardly have any violent incidents or serious conflicts here,” said Bäumer. And this despite the fact that the school is located in the middle of a socially disadvantaged area where the youth crime rate is high.
The students enjoy the peaceful, trusting and appreciative atmosphere at their school. “The teachers come up to us, ask how we are doing, they are nice even if we make mistakes, and they trust us,” said 14-year-old Vincent to the school portal reporter. “At the elementary school I used to go to, no one ever asked me how I was doing.”