An insight into small schools in South Tyrol at the Frankfurt Book Fair – South Tyrol News
Bolzano/Frankfurt – Smaller and smaller primary schools in South Tyrol’s villages and mountain villages as innovative and educational organizational sites: Professor Anne-Marie Ogscholl, Head of the Center for Research and Documentation on the Educational History of South Tyrol at UNIBZ, was enthusiastic about this at the Frankfurt Book Fair last weekend. She, in collaboration with two teachers from small schools in South Tyrol, showed at the trade fair’s flagship educational forum how the importance of these model schools in South Tyrol is developing far beyond their actual circle.
More than half of South Tyrol’s primary schools are organized into multi-age classes. In 76 schools, the five grades are taught in three classrooms; In 14 schools, all five grades form a classroom community. Underdeveloped school model for the ocean? On the contrary, professor and founder of the Research and Documentation Center for the Educational History of South Tyrol, Professor Anne-Marie Augschule, was the keynote speaker at the Educational Forum at the Frankfurt Book Fair last weekend. Under the title “Living, learning and working in small schools in South Tyrol”, she provided insights into her research and activities related to education in rural areas.
In collaboration with Manuela Steiner and Florian Thaler, two teachers from the small schools St. Oswald (Castleruth) and Plannell (Males), the unibz professor explained why these small schools are often private as part of the specialist program on learning, media and school concepts at the leading Frankfurt trade fair Implementing Learning Concepts Innovative. “The small number of enthusiastic students and teachers make them special educational places not only for schoolchildren, but also for the entire small social community of the village,” says Annemarie Augschöll.
As part of her research activities, the professor of current and historical educational research also develops innovative concepts that connect these peripheral schools to the world. “An important part of my work is communicating with researchers around the world who work with schools sometimes in remote areas. In Australia, New Zealand or Canada, but also in the Nordic countries and Switzerland. In addition to regularly holding international conferences, so-called “Small School Summits”, this network also aims to bring teachers and children into contact with each other across thousands of kilometres. There are always joint projects in which students in small schools in South Tyrol work together with their peers from all over the world.
On the other hand, the “Guardians of Global Knowledge” project enables interesting encounters at your school. It’s about bringing exciting people to small schools. “These pastors bring children to school a special part of the world that they cannot immediately find in their small social environment, and in this way enable them to expand their understanding of themselves, others and the world,” says Ojshol. It has already managed to win illustrious names as sponsors, such as the person in charge of Audi’s automated driving department, Miklós Kiss, the jet fighter pilot from South Tyrol Hans Hess or the dean of the ETH, Günter Desertori, for specific work with children in small schools. The concepts of schools’ changing self-image and their approaches to current challenges, illustrated by Manuela Steiner and Florian Thaler with concrete practical examples, also received great interest in Frankfurt.
From: M.K