In the sold-out lecture hall on Kolpingstraße, teachers and interested citizens from Osnabrück and the surrounding area discussed the future of schools in the context of social transformation.

The first speaker was the former principal and educational reformer Stefan Ruppaner, who has set standards throughout Germany with his Alemannenschule in Wutöschingen (Black Forest), which has twice been awarded the German School Prize. In his lecture, provocatively entitled "Teaching is the beginning of all evil", he presented a school concept that consistently focuses on self-organized learning and fundamentally questions traditional teaching structures.

This was followed by two panel discussions with experts from the fields of practice, politics and science, which explored key issues in greater depth. The panel included Osnabrück's Lord Mayor Katharina Pötter, the District Administrator of the Osnabrück district Anna Kebschull and the state student representative Matteo Feind. Together, they discussed the framework conditions for modern schools and the question of how educational institutions can respond to challenges such as artificial intelligence, sustainability and democracy education.

"We need bolder structures," demanded Mayor Katharina Pötter. "Local authorities should not just continue to construct buildings and hire janitors. I hope that we as a city can also set educational priorities. Osnabrück has its own profile as a city of peace - and also as the start-up capital of Lower Saxony. It should be possible to bring this profile much more strongly and directly into the schools."

The role of university teacher training was also discussed controversially. Prof. Dr. Sven Thiersch, Professor of School Pedagogy at Osnabrück University, emphasized in this context: "If we really want to rethink schools, we also need to realign teacher training. The aim is to professionalize future teachers so that they can reflect on social developments such as digitalization, support self-organized learning processes and shape schools as democratic spaces of experience."

The evening was characterized by lively participation from the audience. It became clear that Osnabrück has great potential to further raise its profile as a city of education. Close cooperation between politics, administration, schools and the university can initiate a variety of school developments - for the benefit of the next generations.

Further information for the media:
Prof. Dr. Sven Thiersch, Osnabrück University
Institute of Education

E-mail:  sven.thiersch@uni-osnabrueck.de