Must-reads on lifelong learning, democracy and inclusion
Rudolphina: Your vision for the school of the future – What should we learn when everything is changing?
Barbara Schober: Finding your way in a rapidly changing and rather "uncertain" world and being able to actively shape it. This requires, self-confidence, competent use of media and AI, self-regulated learning and courage. School cannot teach everything. However, it should provide the basic prerequisites in technical matters and the personal "tools" needed to develop further. Technical skills and knowledge remain important, but so does a positive view of oneself and one's own possibilities.
The school of the future should focus on individuality and social equality, and will be a space for individual learning. It should make use of digital tools and AI to address complex topics. Teaching should be project-based, at least partially interdisciplinary and should not take place in fixed 45-minute slots. Teachers will be highly skilled professionals, work in teams and feel competent and appreciated. All the while, schools will remain open to change and able to act autonomously.
Dirk Lange: I consider the ability to scrutinise, criticise and shape processes to be essential skills in a democratic future. It is important that students develop sound political judgement which allows them to take action and shape democracy instead of merely being a passive player in the game.
Therefore, democracy education should be established as a separate school subject in the curriculum and should be taught in all age groups for two teaching units per week. At the same time, universities have to educate teachers who have a sound social sciences basis to teach the subject of political education.
Edvina Bešić: The crises of our time cause tensions within society. Children should learn to show solidarity and deal with diversity. In an inclusive setting, they need to be able to actively participate in group processes, take on responsibility and constructively shape the community, while also showing empathy, taking charge of their learning process and developing self-confidence and interpersonal skills. These skills allow them to cope with uncertainty and to remain able to act in a wide range of social situations.
Participation, respect and solidarity should not only be taught in theory in schools but should be part of everyday school life. Education and organisation at schools should consider diversity not as a problem but as a resource for teaching and learning. There should be a commitment to inclusive education which should also be embedded in all subjects in teacher education.
Current research: What supports well-being at school?
The team behind the project "100 Schools, 1000 Opportunities" (with Barbara Schober, Julia Holzer und Marko Lüftenegger) examined what factors relating to teachers and teaching methods are relevant in ensuring that pupils perceive school as a positive place. Publication: "Shedding light on relations between teacher emotions, instructional behaviour, and student school well-being – Evidence from disadvantaged schools."
Rudolphina: What is your must-read tip relating to the semester question?
Barbara Schober: Psychologist Carol Dweck and her cooperation partners have shown in numerous studies how enormously important it is for lifelong learning whether we believe in our own ability to change and strive for growth or whether we primarily strive for superficial acknowledgement from others. The growth mindset is an important part of our self-image, as it has a great impact on how we deal with success and failure and, therefore, has a major effect on our development. In her book "Mindset", Dweck translates her research into a language that is very accessible and helpful for interested people with no specialist knowledge on the subject.
Dirk Lange: In "Hatred of Democracy", French philosopher Jacques Rancière analyses democracy as a complex phenomenon which includes different, even contradicting logics. Used by the ruling class, democracy is a form of power and oppression in the name of which imperial wars are waged. In their view, democracy is a set of ruling instruments to make the population governable and countable. By atomising or individualising people, it excludes the dimension of collective agency. In the book, considering these dimensions of democracy, Rancière develops an understanding of democracy as a subversive praxis of the many, subverting exactly these power structures.
Edvina Bešić: Choosing just one is challenging because many have influenced my thinking. One of them is "The Cat I Never Named: A True Story of Love, War, and Survival" by Amra Sabic-El-Rayess with Laura L. Sullivan. As a person with a refugee background from Bosnia and Herzegovina, where this book is set, this was an essential read. Although written for young adults, it offers a profound, highly personal narrative of a teenager's survival in a war zone.
The author describes fear, hunger, loss and the small moments of hope that allow a person to endure the unimaginable. Given current global conflicts, the book offers rare insight into experiences most people are fortunately never forced to endure. It is both profoundly moving and educational, reminding readers of the fragility of peace and the resilience of young people when confronted with the brutality of war.
Recommended for primary school children: "The Boat"
"The Boat" is targeted at primary school children and addresses fleeing your home, a topic which is often fraught with uncertainty when being discussed in the classroom. Edvina Bešić says, "Conversations with school students revealed that they felt particularly drawn to the illustrations. These (take a look inside the book) triggered a wide range of emotions and offered room for personal interpretation. This led to deep conversations in which the students made references to current events and developed empathy. The book avoids stereotypical representations and tells the story in few words but using powerful images."
The publisher provides teaching materials for the book on their website. The book was translated into German by Edvina Bešić.
He has been Head of the Democracy Centre Vienna since 2018. He also conducts research and teaches at Leibniz University Hannover.
Her current research interests and projects include motivation development and promotion, self-regulation, gender-specific educational trajectories, lifelong learning, and the development, evaluation, and implementation of evidence-based interventions.