Adlershof goes back to school
Rethinking learning – at the new comprehensive school, the architecture and teaching methods create plenty of scope for individuality, community and modern education
The new school year can begin: Standing in front of the impressive new building at Eisenhutweg 129, anyone can sense that a special place of learning has been created here. A place of the future in the middle of a site generating future innovation.
The new comprehensive school follows a concept that aims to organise learning differently. This is also reflected in the school’s spaces. Long before the foundation stone was laid, the school’s current headteacher, Martina Schulz-Brüssel, together with a project group, developed the vision of a school where architecture and pedagogy are considered together. “We had the opportunity to contribute our educational ideas to the architectural competition,” says Schulz-Brüssel in retrospect.
The result is a spacious school building divided into twelve so-called compartments. Instead of long corridors, the building is characterised by small, clearly defined learning areas. Four classrooms – only three at primary level – are grouped around a shared forum, which serves not only as a meeting place but also as a place for learning. “This creates a small school within the big school,” says the headteacher as she walks through the building.
The spaces create opportunities for individual and collaborative learning, for withdrawing as well as for exchange. “This gives me a protected area where the children can feel at home for several years,” says Schulz-Brüssel.
In the long term, more than 1,300 children and young people will be able to learn here, from Year 1 through to the Abitur. The new comprehensive school offers enough space for everyone, bringing together primary school, lower secondary and upper secondary education under one roof. In addition to the compartment units, the ground floor has communal areas including a cafeteria, teaching kitchen, library, and multi-purpose spaces, as well as student laboratories and a wood workshop. The campus is complemented by two sports halls in the basement, with a total of six hall sections, a large sports area outdoors, and a school garden with a pond and green outdoor classrooms.
The spatial design supports the planned teaching concept. In mathematics and German, lectures, seminars and independent study alternate. The teacher introduces new material, after which students continue working according to their individual pace of learning. Those who need additional support receive it; those who progress more quickly can work independently. “But we don’t want to take independence too far either,” says Schulz-Brüssel, who teaches chemistry and geography. The current year groups have been socialised differently within the school system, she says. The experience of recent years has shown that independence has to develop step by step. “Coronavirus taught us that children cannot teach themselves certain things.” Mathematics, German and foreign languages in particular require in-depth guidance. At the same time, not every child arrives from primary school with the same foundations. That is why responsibility is introduced gradually.
For the time being, the comprehensive school is also dispensing with traditional grades. Up to and including Year 8, students receive competency-based feedback; grades are only introduced from Year 9 onwards. “We believe this is more appreciative and motivating—and more transparent for parents,” says the headteacher. Instead of a single number, the feedback shows the areas in which a child has strengths and where there is still room for development.
Another new feature is interdisciplinary learning. Up to Year 8, the natural sciences are taught as a combined area of study. Schulz-Brüssel explains the idea with an example: “With the topic of forests, I can cover areas of biology and chemistry, but also some physics, for example, when explaining how a microscope works.” The same applies to history, geography, political education and ethics. Here, too, there are topics such as migration that bring together content from different disciplines–with the aim of making connections visible.
Digital education is, of course, also part of the concept. Tablets and digital whiteboards are a permanent part of lessons—but used in moderation. The devices remain at school, while writing is done on paper. “Writing by hand is cognitively important,” emphasises the headteacher. At the same time, artificial intelligence cannot simply be ignored: “We have to equip children and young people to question how AI is used.”
As a full-day school, the comprehensive school offers periods for learning and relaxation throughout the day. Clubs, study periods and lessons dovetail with one another, while traditional homework is largely eliminated. In the age of AI, homework outside school is no longer meaningful, Schulz-Brüssel argues. Practice takes place at school—where support is available. For her, this is also a matter of equal opportunity, as children benefit to different degrees from support at home.
At the start of the school year, around 540 students will initially fill the new school building with life—including Year 1 pupils, Years 7 and 8, and two Year 11 classes. Over the years, the comprehensive school will grow upwards through the year groups. Much else will also develop gradually, including cooperation with the Technology Park Adlershof in the form of school career fairs, work placements and guidance on university and career choices. The potential offered by the science and technology location is considerable. The teaching staff will also grow. “We want to develop the school together,” says Martina Schulz-Brüssel. The headteacher is looking forward to the task ahead: “It will be an exciting time—we know where we want to go.”
Heike Gläser for Adlershof Journal