Class council

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The term class council goes back to the “class assembly” from Freinet pedagogy . Célestin Freinet organized his class like an (agricultural) cooperative. Just as the farmers there plan the cultivation and marketing of their products together and manage and market them with mutual support, so the pupils also plan and manage their own learning. The class council is a lively self-determination body in which all members of the class participate equally. It is an instrument of democracy in the class.

Since the end of the last millennium, the class council has been used in other contexts. To this end, a model of the class council was used, as developed by the Alfred Adler student Rudolf Dreikurs (1987) on the background of individual psychology in America - without reference to Freinet. The main difference is that forms of the class council, which refer to the ideas of Alfred Adler further developed by Dreikurs, are no longer understood as self-administration within the framework of the class cooperative, but are problem-solving instruments and arbitration bodies.

In Freinet pedagogy

Tasks and fields of activity at Freinet

The class council can:

  • advise about explorations
  • advise on teaching methods
  • advise on learning content
This strengthens the sense of community , promotes a democratic attitude as well as communicative, social, moral and democratic skills and supports independent ( self-effective and responsible) learning.

In the class council, concerns, projects and current topics are discussed. Priority is given to what interests everyone. That can be B. be:

  • planned the social life of the class
  • self-chosen learning projects presented
  • Cooperation decided
  • Research assignments and questions from the class to a working group
  • Learning outcomes presented
  • Discussed learning outcomes
  • the expenses of the class fund decided (enabling learning projects and explorations, purchase of communal property and / or consumables, ...)
  • Any problems that arise discussed with other classes and, if necessary, measures to solve the problems initiated
  • Discussed self-governance issues in the class and made decisions about them

Indispensable institution of the class

The class council is one of the indispensable institutions of the class through daily practice in democratic life. Since the class is run in the form of a cooperative, it is a necessary instrument to coordinate the vital interests of the members in a common activity. The children's learning interests are just as important as the social interests of the members of the cooperative. Since learning projects such as B. Explorations, also have to be financed, the self-administration of the cooperative extends to economic interests.

Since the specifications of the material distribution plan and the learning interests of the students usually do not match, the teacher is supposedly in conflict. In fact, however, experience with consistently dispensing with a given material distribution plan (which the school creates from the guidelines) has shown that students want to learn a lot more than the curriculum requires.

Head of the class council

In the introductory phase, the teacher or older peer sponsors can lead the session. The leadership changes (choice by the students, or another procedure that the students agree on). Students also regulate the order of the contributions, adherence to time agreements and the visualization of the discussion contributions themselves.

Agenda

The agenda for a class council meeting is prepared by the students themselves. The wall newspaper is helpful here , with different categories: I criticize - I think it's good - I suggest collecting throughout the week. Every pupil in the class can write in what is important to them. The public wall newspaper also gives a feeling for the time that is required for the class council meeting - or, in the case of fixed times, of the amount of time that is available for each point.

Teaching role at the class council

Like every class member, the teacher is a member of the class council. It should be noted that every member has the option of voting. Teachers should take a back seat in leading the class council to give the children time for democratic and social processes. This time is needed because the solution process should always come to the fore in the class council. A responsible class council only develops when the teaching staff is ready to give up the leadership role and allow the children to participate.

regulate

All rules that the students set themselves are suitable as rules, provided they do not violate applicable law. Foreign rules can be helpful, but undermine the responsibility of the students for current events. You have to be aware that the ideas of an “orderly class council” from the children's point of view and from the adult point of view can be quite different. However, children have to learn democratic behavior and for this they need time and the freedom to make their own experiences with rules they have created themselves and how to change them.

Criticism of today's class council from the perspective of Freinet pedagogy

Today the class council is also detached from its pedagogical context in Freinet pedagogy and carried out in a modified or elementary form. Freinet educators complain that the class council loses its democratic and emancipatory effect in this way and becomes the extended arm of the teacher and the school administration. Even in the democratic building blocks of the BLK, the class council functions primarily as an instrument for problem solving.

literature

  • Eva Blum, Hans-Joachim Blum: The class council: goals, advantages, organization . Verlag an der Ruhr, Mülheim an der Ruhr 2012. ISBN 978-3-8346-2289-1 .
  • Birte Friedrichs: Practical book class council: Promote community, resolve conflicts . 2nd Edition. Beltz, Weinheim 2014. ISBN 978-3-407-62824-4 .

Web links

Class Council - Freinet Pedagogy

Class Council - BLK Democracy Module and Education Server

Class Council - School Practice

Class council - various

Literature on the subject of the class council