Germany

Albert-Schweitzer-Realschule Regensburg

Country Germany, Region Bavaria, City Regensburg

Website https://asr-regensburg.de/

Coordinator: Bernd Namislo  

Team: Sandra Sonner (STEM + Dep. Coord.), Ingrid Lachauer (Arts), Sandra Hannweg (MINT-Labs Regensburg - cooperation partner)

Organisation (type, scope of work, areas of activity and if applicable, approximate number of paid/unpaid staff, learners)

Albert Schweitzer, physician, theologian and Nobel Peace Prize laureate (1952) expressed through his ethics of "reverence for life" that it is a fundamental condition for peace in the world that all human beings respect each other and that we also treat animals and the environment, i.e. creation as a whole, with consideration and empathy.

These attitudes of our school's namesake serve as our guiding principle. We put it within the classroom.

We educate the students to become mindful personalities who show moral courage and treat themselves, their fellow human beings, their environment and intellectual content with respect. We attach particular importance to respect for human rights (according to the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948) and children's rights (according to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child of 1989), religious conviction and reverence for creation.

The Albert-Schweitzer-Realschule is a secondary school with grades 5 to 10 (age approx. 10 – 16 years), located in the north of Regensburg. About 80% of the 600 pupils have a migrant background and are not socially and financially privileged.

There are extensive support structures and measures to compensate for the language deficits: all-day lessons, 2 language support classes, 2 integration classes for Ukrainian children, individual language support.

At our school, 75 teachers and school staff work in teaching, supporting, caring for the students, including a school social worker, a school psychologist and a cook.

The school management consists of the headmaster and his deputy as well as three other employees.

Information technology education is a major focus. Many children take a voluntary final exam in IT at the end of their school years and thus receive a certificate of good knowledge in the ICT sector – an offer that is only available at a few schools.

An in-house school medical service, consisting of trained pupils, provides first aid for minor injuries both during school hours and at events. Its members are guided by professional first aiders.

In order to strengthen self-esteem and increase self-efficacy, each child has the opportunity to learn an instrument and participate in various musical activities (in grades 5 and 6 in their own "instrument class"). We also have a special support programme for football.

At the school, fresh food is cooked every day, and the students also learn the basics of food preparation and healthy eating in their own cooking lessons.

From the 7th grade onwards, pupils can choose a further specialisation: mathematics and natural sciences or economics, French as a second foreign language or an artistic focus.

We attach great importance to comprehensive career orientation through close cooperation with local companies, internships and workshops for application procedures.

We are a training school for young teachers after their university studies. Specialized teachers pass on their modern knowledge in methodology, didactics, pedagogy and psychology.

Activities and experience, skills and/or expertise

We are a partner of the national "STEM²¹ Action Plan". Many activities in and outside the classroom support students in the field of mathematics/natural sciences/IT:

• STEM lessons in the 5th grade: Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, ICT (one school hour per week project work)

• Robotics (programming of Lego Mindstorms)

• Regular workshops of the STEM-Lab-Regensburg:

– Biochemistry (joints)

– Virtual worlds (Augmented Reality programming)

– AI systems (e.g. creating a song using AI systems)

•3D-printing

• Soldering courses in cooperation with local companies

• Media „driver's license“ in the 6th grade

• Mental arithmetic competition in the 6th grade

In the "Youngagement" project, students can volunteer for a school year. Every week, the young people spend around two hours with a social, ecological or other voluntary organisation that they have chosen from over 50 institutions and associations in the city of Regensburg.

We have excellently trained and highly motivated colleagues especially in the fields of ICT, social training, individual support for students and language learning.

For 15 years, the headmaster has been organising and implementing Erasmus+ projects (school partnerships with several countries, student exchange programmes with the Czech Republic and Spain, teacher courses), while an employee of the school management arranges the Erasmus+ activities for a consortium (Ministry of Education) as well. Many teachers are members of the Erasmus+ teams of the different international activities.

In this project we cooperate with MINT-Labs Regensburg e. V. ("MINT" = STEM):

In the MINT-Labs Regensburg, students from the age of 8 can experiment and try things out. The focus is on having fun and enjoying all topics related to STEM. Whether it's technology, electronics, crafts, mathematics, pharmacy, physics, programming, chemistry, biology or even art – the MINT Labs have laboratories and equipment that are available to young people and a network of nice people who are at their side.

In an extracurricular setting, we want to encourage young people to try things out and get to know new things. This can be in the morning with a group, e.g. a school class, or in the afternoon when working freely in small and flexible groups on special topics.

Since 2015, the City of Regensburg, the University of Regensburg and the Ostbayerische Technische Hochschule Regensburg (University for Applied Siences) have been working on a concept for the central location of STEM education for children and young people. Today, many other partners are behind the MINT labs. This investment is intended to strengthen the STEM education chain from kindergarten to the transition to vocational training or university studies and also to help maintain the competitiveness and future viability of the region.