Interview 2/3: Wiltrud Thies about Inclusive Education in Germany, the projects Sophie-Scholl-School & Sophie-Scholl-Inklusiv
Thu, 29/11/2012
Since 2004, Wiltrud Thies has been the Head of School at the award-winning Sophie-Scholl-School in Gießen (Germany), an inclusive primary and secondary school with over 400 pupils, among them about 105 children with all types of handicaps.
incluD-ed invited Ms Thies to speak about inclusive education in Germany, about the Sophie-Scholl-School and also the project Sophie-Scholl-Inklusiv, which was created to share the school concept as well as ideas and experiences related to inclusive educational practices.
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incluD-ed: Can you describe the concept of the Sophie-Scholl-School in a few sentences?
Wiltrud Thies: The Sophie-Scholl-School is an all-day inclusive primary and secondary school with pupils aged from 6 to 16. The responsibility lies with the Sophie-Scholl-Schools gGmbH, a subsidiary of the Lebenshilfe Gießen and Wetterau counselling centres, in partnership with Convivatus, a Social Capital Partner.
In the Sophie-Scholl-School, each class consists of about 22 students, including 5 students with various disabilities. Classes have a mixed age-group structure, so disability is not the greatest or only form of being different. Just the different ages of the students makes any thought of a homogeneous study group impossible. The mixture of the individual class levels is thus a means for an education that focuses on individual development in a heterogeneous framing. Our guiding principle: "At the Sophie-Scholl-School everyone is different in a different way. We meet each other in appreciation and recognition, and we learn from and with each other“. This describes our school culture very well. We have been working with it successfully for many years.
incluD-ed: Who initiated founding of the school and supported its beginning stages?
Wiltrud Thies: The founding of the school can be traced back to a parent’s initiative, created in the different kindergartens owned by the Lebenshilfe Gießen. The parents asked us: "If it is possible that children with and without disabilities learn and play together in the kindergarten, why should this not be possible in a school?" They turned to the then chairman, who today is the current Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Lebenshilfe Gießen, Maren Müller-Erichsen. In her, they found a tireless campaigner, first for integrative, and then for inclusive, education.
incluD-ed: What problems have youhad to cope with over the years?
Wiltrud Thies: The early years in particular were formative in many ways. That is why today we provide assistance to other school development initiatives as part of our project Sophie-Scholl-Inklusiv: so not all of our mistakes have to be repeated! It’s very important to have clear financial accounting and adequate spatial, material and personal equipment. In particular, the financial loss during the first years due to lack of public funding needs to be known and calculated in advance - then it loses its terrifying effect.
incluD-ed: To what extent have the various awards encouraged you in your work and proven that you are on the right track?
Wiltrud Thies: All of the staff at the Sophie-Scholl-School has worked hard for several years and continues to do so. Since we have been an integrative school from the beginning, we didn’t have to discuss the status quo of the school or decide whether or not we wanted integration or later inclusion. Everybody that works at the Sophie-Scholl-School works with a maximum mix of different children - and he or she does not work alone with a class, but always in a team of adults. To do this and to always do this better was our ambition for ten years as a primary school. Only then did we receive the awards and only then did we dare to expand as an inclusive, integrative, secondary school – again as an answer to the question of dedicated parents, about why we did not dare secondary education, if inclusion works in primary school.
The different awards we have received for being an outstanding school with regards to physical, musical and health activities, and in particular the Jakob Muth Award in 2009, have spurred us on and still do so today. Awards signify the recognition and appreciation of work done. Of course, we are very pleased!
incluD-ed: Children with which kind of special needs are currently represented in the Sophie-Scholl-School?
Wiltrud Thies: We currently have a total of 402 different students in our school, 235 attend our primary school (years 1-4), and 167 students aged up to 16 (years 5-10) attend our secondary school, since we just started to offer secondary education.
Among the 235 primary school children, a total of 61 students have special educational needs. The special needs are diverse, from being slightly overweight to having disabilities in mental development, learning difficulties and physical disabilities. There are a few children with severe multiple disabilities. All other types of special needs are distributed with slight fluctuations. Often, there is also a combination of special needs.
At secondary level 45 out of 167 students have special educational needs. The high number of children with mental or physical disabilities as well as learning difficulties is as evident at secondary level as atprimary level. All other special educational needs are similarly distributed in number and intensity.
incluD-ed: How do thestudents of the Sophie-Scholl-School evaluate their school?
Wiltrud Thies: The students enjoy coming to school because it’s not only learning, but also a living environment. Sometimes, questions about other schools come up. For instance, at the Sophie-Scholl-School there are no grades until year 8. Our students know that everyone has different strengths and weaknesses, and they know their own and those of their classmates, too. Students at the Sophie-Scholl-School meet in a culture of respect - and they are able to appreciate this. Most of the students appreciate the autonomous interdisciplinary learning as much as doing research in our scientific workshop. Last, but not least, and especially at the primary level, the range of workshops offered in the afternoon is highly appreciated by the kids. This, in addition to the option of free play with “thematic open-play islands”, leads to active and enthusiastic participation. So each and every child finds his counterpart to play with.
incluD-ed: The school as a polis, the integration of the reform pedagogical approaches and the creation of optimal learning and environment conditions; in your opinion, does an inclusive school only or mainly function when it is conceived holistically?
Wiltrud Thies: Actually, an inclusive school thrives thanks to the interaction of very diverse factors.
The "old" school concept is turned upside down; the inclusive school is fair to the individual while taking care not to neglect social responsibility. The fundamental change is not only in the teaching, which can no longer provide development in “cadence”, in a linear learning process for everyone, but also on the culture of mutual interaction. A person who cannot appreciate diversity might have difficulties hearing others being praised for something that, in his or her case, naturally forms a part of their personal characteristics and so is hardly worth mentioning. But someone who is able to appreciate the diversity of others, and that they have different possibilities and limitations, will understand that everyone is open to different things, and in different ways - in workload, and in their own willingness to cooperate, to help and to respond.
From reform pedagogy we can learn a lot for the inclusive school, because it is child-centred and takes into account principles such as self-education, responsibility for selfand the need for independent and autonomous learning. From reform pedagogic schools, we can also replicate the pleasure of working with children and adolescents no matter what kind of problem they confront us with as adults.
Of course, an inclusive school needs more than a change in culture. It needs interaction and teaching, and above all, adequate learning and environmental conditions. This means small, manageable classes, well-trained poly-dynamic teams, various support options depending on the systemic need, a variety of teaching materials, individual support, a well-accompanied, exciting and high-quality full-day for all students. Inclusion is not an austerity plan - it is a quality concept for schools!
Click here to read Part 3/3 of the interview with Wiltrud Thies about the project Sophie-Scholl-Inklusiv:
