Laborschule Bielefeld

University Street 21

The Laboratory School in Bielefeld is an experimental school of North Rhine- Westphalia. In 1974, it was based on the ideas of educators Hartmut von Hentig founded together with the adjacent sixth-form college Bielefeld.

The experimental school in the country it has a mandate " to develop new forms of teaching and learning and living together at school ." Complementary to experimental school exists the scientific equipment Laboratory School, which monitors and evaluates the work of the school as an institute of the University of Bielefeld.

At the Laboratory School students of vintages 0 ( preschool years ) taught to 10, where the transitions from one year to the next are fluid. The school is divided not by years, but by stages that combine several vintages, partially overlap and form mixed-age groups. Note shall be issued only in the age groups 9 and 10.

Students' Union

The Laboratory School includes vintages from 0 to 10 and comprises a total of 660 students. Each year 60 students are re- enrolled in school. The school is formally divided into four stages. Level I includes the vintages 0-2, the stage II, the vintages 3-5, stage III vintages 5-7 and stage IV, the vintages 8-10. The vintage 5 is in a linking function between primary and secondary education.

As a " school for all " will reach the laboratory school children from all layers according to their distribution in society. Despite a host key and efforts of the school to attract more children from disadvantaged backgrounds for itself, this goal is not achieved. The laboratory school supplies this back, among other things, that reform schools are particularly attractive to parents from the academic milieu.

Around 1.6 % of students have parents who are " unskilled and semi-skilled workers " fall into the category and 3.2 % of students have parents who are both skilled workers.

The proportion of pupils with non- German mother tongue at the Bielefeld Laboratory School is below average. It is also striking that at the Laboratory School Bielefeld 44% of the parents have a college degree (compared to the high school there are only 35%). 19 % of the parents of the student lab ( and 14.6 % of parents of high school students ) have a college degree. After all laboratory students have 6.3% slightly more likely than high school students (3.2%) parents who have no education. According to Waterman et al. provide the laboratory students " based on the socioeconomic status of their parents practically a grammar school clientele is ".

Staff

In addition to around 60 teachers at the Laboratory School Bielefeld are about 40 other professionals available. These are mainly about social work, craftsmanship or administrative staff. A total of 100 employees are registered for the school.

Scientific Institution

The school as a laboratory is scientifically by a research unit of the University of Bielefeld supported (currently five posts ). This creates the regular research and development plans for the school, relieving the teachers of the school who are involved in research projects, to an extent of 90 hours per week, corresponding to about 5 teachers.

Assessment system

The reports of the learning process are the instrument of the laboratory school for performance evaluation. They are in contrast to normative evaluation systems recognize the students as individuals and consider their performance in individual and group-based development process. Unlike grades they should be no clear judgments but are used for communication between the people involved ( students, parents and teachers). They depend in general on the child itself and are in plain intelligible language. The reports will also advise, assist and encourage. They may therefore contain no " immutable " things such as character traits. Confidential information (eg special features of the home situation ) should not be included as well. Regular meetings with parents to prevent the reports contain surprises. The gradual transition related planning documents and qualifications can be attached to the reports as an attachment.

• In the preschool years, children receive no reports. In the input stage ( cohorts 0-2) the reports at the end of the 1st and 2nd school year will be awarded. In stage II (born between 3-5) come at the end of the first half added mandatory and detailed consultations with parents that are logged and open in the rule in a learning agreement. Children who leave school now, get no note testimony, but at the request of secondary school is a transition report.

• In stages III and IV (born 6-10), there are also written reports of the faculty advisor for the half-year end (Group report and a description of each student in their learning and social behavior). For school year, students receive by all teachers subject-specific assessments of their performance, including a description of lessons. After the 10th school year, students will receive a final report, which is written by the faculty advisor.

• From the end of the 9th school year, the student will also receive a grade certificate. After the 10th year of secondary school or High school will be awarded.

PISA test

The Laboratory School Bielefeld was tested separately in the PISA studies in 2002 by researchers in the MPI ( Max Planck Institute for Human Development ), Berlin. The analysis showed that students in reading and science, the achievements reached, which are achieved by pupils of similar social origin also in mainstream education. This was also true for pupils of secondary school levels. In mathematics, however, the laboratory students lagged behind the performance of students of similar social background of the standard school system. The study also validated that the school reinforces students from favorite social layers attracts higher educational background and, as requested, in their pupils a social cross-section depicts how the school would have to do it by self-definition, to get as experimental school on communicable results "These differences are partly due to the fact that the student body of the laboratory School has tended to more favorable conditions for learning. So have for example, the parents of 15 year olds in the school laboratory, on average, significantly higher education and vocational qualifications than parents of young people in other schools. To obtain evidence of the effectiveness of the laboratory school, the test scores achieved there must be compared with those of students from other schools that have a similar family background and similar basic cognitive skills. "

In addition, significantly better results were in the area of ​​taking over responsibility, the political understanding and a willingness to integrate foreign students achieved than in mainstream education. Especially for Girls offers the Laboratory School good learning conditions. Students and parents show an above-average satisfaction with the school and the teachers.

Principle at the laboratory school act the same selection mechanisms as in the regular school system: The school 's success is closely linked to the social origin. Students from modest backgrounds rarely come to good or very good performance. However, it must be considered that the laboratory school is successful in bringing children from modest backgrounds, at least until graduation.

More

The school is a member of the school network ' look over the fence '.