School as a state

The neutrality of this article or section is disputed. A reason is given on the discussion page . You can get more information here .

The following important information is missing from this article or section:

History, where does the concept come from, who is promoting it

Help Wikipedia by researching and pasting it .

School as a state ( SaS or SalS , incorrectly also SAS ) is a school project in which the organizing school is transformed into a “ state ” inhabited by students and teachers for a certain period of time .

preparation

Most of the time - if not always - a democratic form of government is chosen and developed in the planning phase by a group of interested students and, if necessary, teachers, the organization team (Orga-Team or OrgaTeam). The student body gives itself a constitution , an economic system is worked out and finally parties are founded, whose members are recruited from students and teachers and which lead an election campaign for power in the new parliament .

execution

Although the attraction of the “school as a state” idea lies precisely in the fact that, unlike in everyday school life, there are no guidelines, some common similarities between the emerging states can be determined.

• The state gives itself its own currency , which circulates inside it, an economic microcosm is created . The students experience terms such as the monetary cycle and inflation by being part of the economic system that has emerged or by having created it.

• During state opening hours, students and teachers have equal rights . They are also subject to the laws passed by parliament . If it comes to a " court hearing ", everyday school life ideally plays no role. In the context of the game, penalties can also be imposed.

• When entering the state, visitors often have to purchase a visa (“entry ticket”) and are, in addition to sponsors and donations, an important source of income for the project.

• Another source of income for the organizers is the currency exchange from euros into the project's internal currency.

Unlike in normal lessons , the students get to know the otherwise only abstract structure of a state model "from within". A - rudimentary - feeling and understanding for economic relationships, for decision-making processes and information flows develops. The biggest difference compared to frontal teaching in the classroom is the active participation in state affairs - as a voter , member of parliament , business owner, etc. - which puts the pupils in an experience situation that is only remotely related to school during the project days. However, the relatively small group of students who are entrusted with the creation and management of the state benefits particularly. Depending on the commitment of those involved, this is a task that can never occur in everyday school life in its complexity and duration, which goes beyond the extent of the usual SV work . Management software or a computer system can support the organization.

The project requires broad support from the student body, the teaching staff and the school management in order to be successful and remains mostly a one-off event in the respective school history. Due to its rather open task, everything is from the model of the “compulsory state”, in which it is often less the student body than chaos, to the freestyle with fundamental discussions that extend into the classroom, interstate alliances, tight and well thought-out organization and a five-figure euro profit in the end possible.

See also

• Children's republic
• Children's town
• Democratic school

literature

• State Center for Political Education Baden-Württemberg (Ed.): Elevia, ... You almost think of Utopia! . LpB BW, Stuttgart 2001.
• Michael Marker: Competence in Democracy through Learning Action - The “School as State” project. In: Teaching and Learning. Journal for schools and innovation in Baden-Württemberg. 7/2009, Neckar-Verlag, Villingen-Schwenningen, pp. 14-19, ISSN  0341-8294 .
• Michael Marker: The school as a state. Democracy competence through learning action. Wochenschau-Verlag, Schwalbach am Taunus 2009, ISBN 3-89974-549-3 .
• Michael Marker: "School as State". A business game - and yet more than a simulation? In: italic. Journal for Political Education. 2/2010, Wochenschau-Verlag, Schwalbach am Taunus, pp. 72–77.
• Volker Reinhardt: School as a Polis. In: Volker Reinhardt (ed.): Research and educational conditions. Handbook for Social Science Education. Basic knowledge of political education, Volume 4, ed. by Dirk Lange and Volker Reinhardt, Schneider Verlag Hohengehren, Baltmannsweiler 2007, pp. 251-256, ISBN 978-3-8340-0209-9 .
• Karl-Ulrich Templ (Ed.): Ostralien. School as State , State Center for Political Education Baden-Württemberg, Stuttgart 2011.

Web links

• Detailed information on "School as a State" with an interactive map for distribution in Germany