A Study of Community School in the German New Education Movement : Focusing on the Practice of "Comprehensive Learning"

Abstract

This paper aims at examining the educational concepts of the Hamburg community schools', that, during the German new education movement, tried to children with a cooperative learning environment. Through analyzing the practice "Comprehensive Learning" of the Telemannstrasse school. The common concepts of a community school are (1) collaborating intimately with a child's close community, (2) supporting a child's inner creative individuality, and building new relationships in the classroom, and (3) building interactive relationships between teachers and guardians via the day school system. As an educational idea based on the concept of "cooperation", the idea of simultaneously realizing the child's autonomous/creative activity and intellectual learning was brought up. The teacher is permitted a large amount of discretion, and a flexible education was developed according to individual needs. In the Telemannstrasse school, as regards general learning inside and outside school, this concept has been implemented by flexible study plans and free compilation of teaching materials from the child's side. This is built up based on a dialogue between the child, teacher and guardian. In this case, from a fresh viewpoint, (1) the curriculum is not a fixed plan, but rather a flexible project, and (2) the significance of general learning is not a collection of subjects, but collaboration between purpose-oriented teaching and activity.