7. Education System

7.6 Levels 4 to 6

Since the learning content of Levels 1–3 covers roughly six school years, it is now time to explain an important turning point in the children’s school careers that occurs after five school years—halfway through their time at school.

After five school years, the teachers for fitness and foreign language change, and with them the students’ two teacher-advisors. This allows teachers to teach either only younger or only older children, and it reduces the amount of material they need to be able to teach in fitness or foreign language (five school years’ worth of material instead of ten).

•  If the children are native English speakers and have therefore been learning different foreign languages since the first school year:
If a child has the ambition to learn an additional foreign language, this teacher change is the best time for it. This is because switching to a different foreign-language class also means switching to the corresponding fitness class and changing teacher-advisors. As preparation, the child can learn the new foreign language well enough during the hobby and/or introduction time slot to be able to keep up in the new foreign-language class.

•  If all children have been learning English as a foreign language since the first school year:
Here the children have to make an important decision. They can either continue learning English, or they can begin learning a new foreign language in the sixth school year. By doing so, they also choose their class and their new teacher-advisors. The parallel classes are thus reshuffled based on the choice of foreign language (the children who learn the same foreign language also have fitness together).
Children who learn a new foreign language no longer have English lessons. Either they use English enough in everyday life that it does not fade away, or they should choose one of the hobbies offered in English in order to not forget what they have learned.

 

Since at the beginning of the sixth school year the teacher-advisors and possibly also the class composition change, students and teachers in the class should get to know each other again. In the first school year, this happened because module instruction was provided only by the teacher-advisors—this option no longer exists in the sixth school year.

Instead, I propose that the start of normal instruction (with fitness, foreign language, module instruction, and introductions) be delayed in the sixth school year. Instead, the new sixth classes go out into nature with their new teacher-advisors during the first weeks of the school year to take part in Adventure Education. This should give the students’ self-confidence and independence a major boost, and foster cohesion between the class and their teacher-advisors through shared experiences.

Most modules of the previous levels (1–3) had their lunch break early, and thus belonged on the “younger students” side in the daily schedule diagram. All modules from Level 4 onward, by contrast, have their lunch break late and thus belong on the “older students” side. Of course, this does not always correspond to the students’ actual ages. After all, there are no age-based access restrictions for modules. But on average, students who take modules at this level will be at least in the sixth school year. Since the breakfast break is based on which school year the student is in, breakfast and lunch breaks for students are usually about three hours apart, even though this will not always work out.
For students from the sixth school year onward, the breakfast break does not end until 10:15. If they attend a module with an early lunch break (all modules of Level 2 and most of Level 3), that lunch break already starts at 12:00. They will likely prefer to have breakfast before the first lesson rather than during the breakfast break.
The school should therefore offer breakfast tables supervised by school staff before the first lesson, so that these students can also have breakfast at school if they wish (since we want to offer students as many healthy meals as possible).

Let’s return to the modules of Level 4.
All modules of Levels 2 and 3 must be attended by all students over the course of the ten-year school period. For the modules of Level 2, this requirement is enforced by allowing modules of Level 4 (and their introductions) to be attended only once all modules of Level 2 have been successfully completed.

Conversely, this also means that all modules from Level 4 onward are allowed to assume knowledge from all modules of Level 2. This makes lesson planning easier, since the students’ baseline knowledge is more uniform.

Unlike at the lower levels, participation in and successful completion of Level 4 modules is voluntary. From this level onward, students can therefore choose, based on their interests and needs, which additional material they want to learn. Modules of Level 4 may have only modules of Level 3 as prerequisites (whose completion is, after all, mandatory over the course of schooling).

Students are required, over the course of their school years, to attend all introductions for Level 4 modules. This level therefore comprises the modules that society believes students should only decide not to continue after gaining an initial insight into what they are about. As part of these introductions, they are taught the most important fundamentals of the respective module. They also gain an understanding of the situations in their lives in which the knowledge from this module would be very useful or even required.

From Level 4 onward, it is permitted to use laptops in class for note-taking instead of doing so by hand. Certain modules may require the use of a laptop (for example: programming).

To ensure equal opportunity for everyone, the school provides each student who has successfully completed all modules of Level 2 (and is therefore allowed to attend Level 4 modules and introductions) with a laptop. At the end of their school career, the laptop becomes the student’s property. If the laptop is damaged or lost through the student’s own fault, the replacement device remains school property and may not leave the school grounds (the student can pay for the replacement device in order to lift this restriction). For reasons of fairness, it is probably best to allow only these school-issued laptops in class.

All modules from Level 4 onward should, in their second half (14:00 to 15:00), offer the option to work independently on part of the learning material on a laptop. Joint learning is therefore voluntary during this time. With the covered outdoor eating areas, the common areas, and the quiet rooms, the school offers many places students can retreat to during this time.
In addition to the three perspectives of each module, this also allows children to learn in the way that is easiest for them. Beyond the learning method itself, this is also a temporal flexibilization: it is possible to play, rest, or sleep during the lunch break and the second half of the module, and then study on a laptop for an hour in the evening instead.

From Level 4 onward, introductions may have completion tests. In this case, passing the test of the introduction is a prerequisite for attending the module. It is not, however, a prerequisite for the introduction to count as attended.

As soon as a student has successfully completed all modules of Level 3 and attended all introductions of Level 4, they have acquired the entire mandatory education. Although they must continue to attend school until their compulsory schooling ends with the tenth school year, acquiring all mandatory education is still an important achievement. This is certified to the student, and they will receive more rights in society as a result, regardless of their age.

Modules from Level 4 onward need not be offered as frequently, since not all students enroll in them (fewer places are needed). It then depends on a module's popularity how many school weeks per year it is taught.

In order to still allow flexible learning durations of modules for students (number of attended module segments until passing the understanding assessment), modules are generally taught for at least six segments (two cycles) in a row. Since modules have three different segments, this means that students can join in segments 1–4 and still hear all three perspectives before the module ends.

 

Starting as early as Level 2, field trips may be part of the instruction. These originate from modules (in one of their three segments) and always relate to the learning content of the module.

Short field trips run from 10:15 to 15:00 (just under five hours), filling the module time slot and the lunch break. The school has its own buses for this, so that even within this short time a large radius can be reached.
Longer field trips are possible as well: an earlier start is unproblematic, and it is not a problem if students miss a day of foreign language and fitness. This would make 07:00–15:00 feasible (8 hours).

Even longer trips are then typically overnight: departure on a Friday, return on Saturday. Students miss the introduction time slot on Friday, but since it is optional, that is unproblematic.

Week-long class trips organized by the class and their teacher-advisors are of course also possible. It seems easiest to me to have these class trips take place for the entire school at the same time (with rented buses and drivers), so that modules can be suspended for that week.

What can the introduction time slot be filled with?

•  module introductions: first all mandatory ones (up to this Level 4), then the optional ones of Levels 5 and 6

•  introductions to hobbies: at a time ratio of 1:3 to module introductions

•  modules Swimming, Lifesaving: in order to make better use of the swimming pool

•  learning a new foreign language: as preparation for switching the foreign-language lesson and thus the class (and the teacher-advisors)

•  Competency Version of modules: While attending them, there is no introduction, in order to increase learning time within the module itself

The less remaining school time a student has, the more restricted their options for the introduction time slot become if there are still too many module introductions left to attend. The number of modules in Level 4 is low enough, however, that this will only become a problem if a student really sets out to make it one.

If a student has attended all mandatory introductions and sufficient introductions to further modules not yet completed, and has nothing else they currently want to take during this hour, there is also the option of using this time at school for independent work.

 

From Level 5 onward, attending introductions is no longer mandatory, and modules may have any other modules as prerequisites (instead of only modules of Level 3). The modules of Level 5 comprise the majority of the optional knowledge that the school offers its students.

Modules (and their introductions) of Level 6 may only be attended after all modules of Level 3 have been successfully completed and all introductions of Level 4 have been attended. They are thus modules that can only be taken after students have already completed the entire mandatory education of the school. Here I would, for example, place modules that offer guidance in career choice, insight into the activities of a social year, or preparation for moving out of the parental home. In general, everything that makes the transition from school into subsequent phases of life easier fits well into this level.

In Levels 5 and 6, specialists come into play. These are people who are not trained as teachers but who have the necessary pedagogical skills and subject-matter expertise to teach a single specialized module. They regularly move between schools in order to offer this module at different locations. This might, for example, involve knowledge that is needed in a particular industry so that students can see whether it interests them. Or simply people who have accumulated a great deal of life experience in a particular field and want to pass on their knowledge.