I came away in awe at just what is possible within a public school system when a community has a different idea of what constitutes "education".
The school serves a primarily immigrant population from grades 1 to 4 and follows a Montessori/Inquiry approach to education. This school was an early adopter of full day education, something that is new to Germany, and the school was fully renovated in 2008 to accommodate full day students.
It was summer holidays when I visited, so the school was in cleaning mode and the children were not present. Some furniture was covered, some was moved for cleaning and most classrooms had not yet been set up for the new school year. The pictures, however, give an idea of what the rooms are like. I also highly recommend visiting the school website for pictures of the school in action.
Classrooms
Each classroom space is beautifully designed with large windows for lots of natural light. There are about 26 students per class and each class has not one, but two large rooms with an open doorway in between. There is ample storage space, work space, and group space as well as spaces for individuals.
 |
| Cubbies for student work and backpacks |
 |
| The chalkboard opens, is adjustable to the height of the students and slides up to reveal a whiteboard. |
Each classroom has a fully equipped kitchen including (on the left) a food warmer. Each morning the children prepare a nutritious breakfast. At noon, a catering company provides a hot, nutritious lunch. Lunch room supervisors are there for two hours each day for distribution and clean-up.
Each classroom has a separate sink for hand-washing and teeth cleaning.
 |
| When you teach young children, it is practical to have laundry facilities. |
Staffing
One of the most significant differences I noticed between public schools in Ontario and what I found in Germany is how schools are staffed and how teachers are paid.
First of all there is no Teachers Union and no perceived need for one. It seems to be a given that employees need to be paid a decent wage and provided with benefits such as health care and pension plans. The idea of teachers going on strike to fight for decent working conditions or salaries was peculiar to my cousin, principal of the school. There is also no large educational bureaucracy taking dollars away from classrooms. Each region has its own autonomous education system. There are mandated subjects, but communities and schools determine their hours of operation, programming and staffing needs. They seem to have a great deal of flexibility and local control.
In the Richard Strasse school there are two principals - one for the entire school and one for the educational assistants. The principals are expected to teach at least 1 class per week. There is also a full-time secretary, a vice-principal and a full-time social worker. Each class has one certified teacher and one educational assistant who supports learning as well as addressing and supporting the social needs of the children. Because there are so many adults in the school, children at Richard Strasse have the luxury of going outside to play if they have finished their work. There is always someone outside to supervise. The school also has two full-time music teachers.
The school receives additional funding for supplementary programming - 12 000 Euros per class to hire other people to work in the school and the principal has control over how this is done. The school determines a need or a program they wish to run and someone gets hired. At RS there are 6 additional music teachers, a gymnastics teacher, a pottery teacher, a ping pong teacher, an outdoor education teacher who takes classes to the forest to learn about plants and animals --- and the list goes on.
Schedule
Classes at the school are multi-age (grades 1-4) and follow a Montessori/Inquiry approach to learning. Students know when it is time for academic subjects and have individualized schedules to follow. It is not unusual to find a grade 1 student working on grade 4 math and students are expected to teach and learn from each other. Once students have finished their core work, they are free to go to the music room to get their instruments to practice or to read or to go outside to play or work on their inquiries or ...
All parents know that on Thursday afternoons students do not work directly with teachers. They can play or continue their work independently and are supervised by the educational assistants. Thursday afternoon is planning time for teachers - all teachers at the same time - and teachers are expected to work in collaborative teams.
 |
| Daily Schedule |
 |
| Math Schedule for Numeracy Students work their way independently through the steps to master skills, take tests when they feel they are ready and can move beyond grade level if they wish. |
 |
| Manipulatives for numeracy. Some are Montessori, some have been designed by collaborative teacher teams. |
 |
| Literacy schedule. Students work through steps towards mastery. |
Creativity
And then there is Jurgen. Jurgen has been hired to run the maker space in the basement - he is not a certified teacher, but he certainly knows how to work with children and how to build things! The large room is filled with tools and projects. These pictures, of course, were taken during the summer and the room has not yet been organized for the new school year.
 |
| Scroll saw |
 |
| Building cars and guitars |
Jurgen doesn't just work in the maker space. He also conducts building projects with the children in the school yard. At the back of this photo is a teepee and a concrete river - a project that will continue once school starts in the fall.
"Why would you build a school yard without great spaces and things for children to do? That would be stupid," was a common response I received from teachers in Germany when I described the barren wastelands that most school yards in Ontario are. I have seen several school yards now and all of them are well-designed. My own school, Dundas Central, is having its school yard rebuilt this summer. It has been a painful and bureaucratic struggle for the organizers who took on this project to accomplish what in Germany is just part of standard school design. Sigh.
 |
| A play house. |
 |
| Outdoor ping pong tables and seating areas. |
 |
| The bread baking oven in the school yard. |
 |
| Large windows and natural light everywhere! Music 
Music is a central element of the school. The children receive vocal and instrumental music lessons - 3 per week. Once a month the entire school gets together to sing in the foyer and when the weather is nice, they go outside to sing. Children learn one main instrument but because they are able to take out instruments during free time, they often teach their friends how to play the other instruments. The school is renowned for its music program and has one national competitions.
|
Decision Making
Two interesting things to note about decision making in the school.
1. The school has regular meetings with all of the social services in the community so that a coordinated approach to family support occurs.
2. The children are very much a part of decision-making in the school, including determining how some of the money gets spent.
Community Support
One of the oddities of schools in Ontario, and perhaps elsewhere, is our uneasy relationship with the business community. There is often unease about accepting corporate sponsorship and a worry that students may be unduly influenced by corporations if we allow their logos to appear in our schools or we worry that the academic agenda will be taken over if we allow corporations to have more direct involvement in our schools. It's a love hate relationship, and sometimes an illogical one (Google accounts are ok but a scoreboard with a corporate logo may not be).
This angst is not part of the educational communities that I visited. It is a norm that local businesses and in fact, the entire community supports the local school. It also seems that the community is very much aware of the goings on of the local school. In one community that I visited it was the talk of the town that the school caretaker was lazy and not keeping the school in proper condition.
The RS school needed musical instruments, a prominent local company bought them instruments - no logo required. An individual read about the needs of the school in the local paper and now donates monthly to the school.
Quiet Spaces
There are several spaces in the school where children who need quiet, who are feeling anxious or who need to let loose can go.
 |
| The Quiet Room - a small room painted in soothing colours with bean bag chairs. |
 |
| The Punching Bag - soon to get its own room The Snoezelraum - a sensory room for special needs students |
It was very inspiring to see that a public school that truly meets the needs of children can be built and funded. As I left, I couldn't help but think about my own experience as an educator and what would have to change for this kind of school to operate in my community. There is a great deal of rigidity and bureaucracy within our system that makes such an adaptable and flexible school seem an impossible goal. Regulations control much of what we do. I could never in a million years imagine students being allowed to build a bread baking oven and have a fire in the school yard, for example, even if it is supervised. I cannot see unions being willing to allow non-certified teachers into our schools, even if the programming is desperately needed and would enhance the lives of children. Other changes such as nutritious hot lunches don't seem that unreasonable.
So what's the downside? It will be interesting to see whether the current lack of need for a teacher's union will continue. Germany is spending a great deal of money bailing out other EU countries. This means cutbacks to benefits and services within Germany. At what point will people say enough and begin larger protests?
This school is certainly not representative of most schools in Germany. Many are still very teacher directed. In most schools students don't begin conducting oral presentations until 7th grade or later - some not until the last year of high school. This school is definitely at the leading edge of education and it has taken determined effort to transform teaching practice - often through trial and error - within the school. It has not been easy.
Finally, with so much autonomy comes inconsistency. It seems that quality of education can vary from region to region and that no national standard is sometimes problematic for those wishing to have credentials recognized outside of Germany.
