Education in Wolfsburg

Learning is a highly individual process. In the process, people learn on their own and in community with others, gather experience, develop competencies, and establish social relationships. Neither teachers nor institutions can do this for the individual.

Rather, it is their task in the educational landscape to continually provide the individual with opportunities and incentives to learn.

Educational biographies transcend the boundaries of the individual educational institution.

In the networked, inclusive educational landscape, learning is not thought of in terms of institutions and teachers, but rather in terms of the learner and the individual's needs.

"The Wolfsburg Education ABC" shows you an excerpt of the Wolfsburg educational landscape.

The motto "People form Wolfsburg" should be an important orientation framework on this common path and help to further develop Wolfsburg's educational landscape and position it in the context of a city-wide strategy.

Based on its self-image, this paper is to be continuously reconsidered, updated and supplemented. We cordially invite you to participate in this process:

Help shape Wolfsburg, help educate. Be part of an active understanding of education in Wolfsburg.

To complement Wolfsburg's existing understanding of education, the "MINT understanding of education"(mathematics, information technology, natural science, technology) was developed within the Wolfsburg education landscape for the city of Wolfsburg.

Around 3,000 new immigrants currently live in Wolfsburg - including many children, teenagers and young adults. In order for them to integrate successfully, good educational opportunities are crucial. These offerings in Wolfsburg's educational landscape are presented in detail in a citywide strategy for the education and support of new immigrants. This is updated annually.

"Our education system must enable all children and young people to have a successful educational biography - this is a question of equal opportunities," explains Iris Bothe, City Councilor for Youth, Education and Integration. "Especially for children and young people who have fled to us with their parents or alone, education makes an important contribution to stabilizing their everyday lives" ,Bothe continued.

The aim is to be able to offer suitable support options for every child and young person according to their age: for example, the increased use of "early help" specialists in health care and district mothers as interpreters for parents with children up to two years of age, via the support concept for language education and support in daycare centers for children between two and six years of age, or with the help of numerous programs for language support for adolescents and young adults. In addition, among other things, offers for professional qualification and entry into university studies are also listed.

The city of Wolfsburg today published its second education report. It updates and in some cases expands the data from the first education report in 2011 in the areas of early childhood education, care and education, general education, and vocational education. The areas of higher education and continuing education as well as non-formal and informal education have been added, and inclusive education is the overarching focus topic.

Like the first, the second education report was prepared by Prof. Dr. Hans Döbert from Berlin on behalf of the city's education office. It is based on reliable data that reliably depict developments in a time series. For the still young topic of inclusion, initial data was obtained through a survey of the heads of daycare centers and general education schools. Together with City Councilor Iris Bothe, Prof. Dr. Döbert presented the results and recommendations of the second education report to representatives of Wolfsburg's education community.

An overview of the main findings and resulting recommendations can be found on pages 22 - 32.

Language is an important prerequisite for a self-determined and independent life. And vice versa, when children and young people fail at school, a lack of language skills, in this case German skills, is often a reason.

In Wolfsburg, therefore, an overall concept for promoting language skills "along the educational biography" will be developed over the next few years, which will coordinate and further develop the existing measures in this area. The goal is to ensure that as many children as possible learn German at a level that will enable them to be successful in school and at work.

Close cooperation between educational institutions is necessary in order to support children and young people in developing their language skills in a well-coordinated manner - from daycare to vocational training. In the school sector, however, this also requires the promotion of German language skills not only in German lessons, but also a systematic combination of language and subject learning in all school subjects.

In order to achieve this goal, not only parents but also other players in Wolfsburg's educational landscape are involved.

The language education and support project thus makes a significant contribution to the city of Wolfsburg's overall inclusion project.

Contact person for the overall project as well as language education and support in schools and day-care centers:

Dr. Maren Risch
Language Coordinator
City of Wolfsburg/ Bildungshaus/ VHS Wolfsburg
Tel: 05361 890208-21
E-mail to sprachbildung@bildungshaus-wolfsburg.de

Further information can be found on the homepage of the Volkshochschule Wolf sburg.

For years, the city of Wolfsburg has been pursuing an intensive and fast-paced program to expand and modernize its daycare facilities.

The aim is to create new childcare places and ensure the highest level of quality and pedagogical excellence. One result of these measures is first-class, state-of-the-art facilities with a wide range of profiles.

The city of Wolfsburg has been massively expanding daycare places since 2008. As a result of this expansion, the number of crèche places has increased by over 500 in recent years.
Hundreds more crèche places are to be added by 2016; in perspective, Wolfsburg's childcare quota for children aged 0-3 will be expanded to up to 75%.

In Wolfsburg, the compatibility of family and career is to go hand in hand. The city's long-standing commitment in this area demonstrates the high value placed on family and the city's great willingness to invest in the area of childcare and to provide helpful assistance to the citizens of Wolfsburg.

The city of Wolfsburg has declared the refurbishment and modernization of schools to be a priority of education policy. In addition to mandatory refurbishments, the priority is to turn schools into modern places of learning. 125 million euros have been available for this program since 2007.

The places of learning of the future need a wide range of options for implementing modern educational requirements through a design geared to this. Today, students and teachers spend more time on school grounds than in the past. The differences between individual students are increasing. Individual support is increasingly becoming the focus of everyday school life. The need for space for parents in the school is increasing.

Self-learning centers as well as libraries are becoming more and more important for the all-important reading skills and as a counterbalance to electronic media, as are multi-purpose rooms for project weeks, class-wide teaching, parent participation, school theater and student representation. The right trend towards all-day schools also requires new space concepts - lunch tables and afternoon offer structures need space.

This has implications for schools and learning spaces. The school of the future will consist not only of classrooms, but also of exercise and quiet rooms, learning and reading areas, and communication spaces. In addition, there is the need to ensure that schools are barrier-free as a result of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The future of the school is an open place of living and learning for all, taking into account health and environmental aspects beyond educational requirements. School buildings are part of educational quality.

For the School and Facility Management business units, the participation of everyone (students, teachers, parents, administration, etc.) in the construction process is of eminent importance in implementing the school modernization program.

These are the measures that have been implemented since 2009:

• Hellwinkelschule: Conversion of the janitor's apartment as a dining room for the all-day elementary school
• Wohltbergschule: Installation of a classroom container for the all-day area
• Laagbergschule: conversion and renovation of wing C; preparation of rooms for all-day schooling and the cafeteria area, fire protection measures, facade renovation, renovation of the basic lines, new windows
• Elementary school Fallersleben, location Eulenschule: Drying and renovation of damp walls in the basement of the building. Complete renovation of the WC facilities; fire protection measures
• Alt-Wolfsburg elementary school: complete renovation of the administration wing and parts of the classroom wings as well as the arcades
• Elementary school Heidgarten Vorsfelde: Renovation of the classroom wings and individual measures
• Eichendorff elementary school: renovation of the classroom wing, WC facilities and stairwell; facade work and fire protection measures, conversion of the former school kindergarten as a dining room and janitor's apartment as childcare rooms for the introduction of all-day schooling
• Conversion of the serving kitchens at several elementary school locations into cook-and-chill kitchens for implementation of the new school catering concept as of October 2010
• Heinrich Nordhoff Comprehensive School: 2nd construction phase of renovation and modernization measures and continuation of fire protection measures in building C; 1st construction phase in building A
• Ferdinand-Porsche-Realschule: refurbishment of the corridor in the east wing
• Eichendorffschule grammar school: construction of new classrooms for the planned SEK II, installation of a teaching container
• Fallersleben School Center: Renovation work and modernization measures - primarily in the area of solar, sound and thermal insulation - as well as fire protection; exterior escape staircases and rescue balconies.
• Kreuzheide School Center: Continuation of refurbishment measures and fire protection; reconstruction of a branch field and gymnasium to replace the sports hall that burned down in 2007.
• Vorsfelde school center: planning room expansion; installation of a teaching container
• Vocational Training School 1: Renovation of the roofs of buildings A and B; construction of a new handicapped-accessible elevator and restrooms
• Vocational training school 2: Renovation of pollutants and windows as well as fire protection in building A; renovation and fire protection measures in building E

The Hellwinkelschule Wolfsburg is planning a conversion of the sixties existing building. After the vocational school moved out of the building complex, the Hellwinkelschule is now a pure elementary school with all-day operation. Accordingly, a new pedagogical concept for the school operation has been developed.

Member

European Coalition of Cities against Racism: ECCAR The European Coalition of Cities against Racism is an initiative launched by UNESCO in 2004. The initiative was intended to form a network of cities to improve their policies to combat racism, discrimination and xenophobia.

On December 10, 2004, the "European Coalition of Cities against Racism" was launched in Nuremberg. A "Ten-Point Action Plan" was adopted. To take into account the special conditions and to consider priorities of the different regions of the world, further regional action plans were established and developed in the following years.

Since 01.01.2011, the city of Wolfsburg has been a member of the European Coalition of Cities against Racism of UNESCO and is thus committed to the successive implementation of the projects of the Ten-Point Action Plan.

Further information can be found on the homepage of the European Coalition of Cities against Racism.

The report on the implementation of measures within the framework of the "Ten-Point Action Plan of the European Coalition of Cities against Racism" is available here in German and English.

What is School without Racism - School with Courage?

Schools without racism - schools with courage

It is a project by and for students. It offers children and young people the opportunity to actively help shape the climate at their school by consciously opposing all forms of discrimination, bullying and violence. It is the largest school network in Germany. More than 1,500 schools belong to it, attended by around one million students. (As of June 2014, www.schule-ohne-rassismus.org)

The Diversity Charter is not a legal basis, but a voluntary commitment that views diversity as a corporate culture and promotes value change.

As the 2011 leo. - Level-One study showed, illiteracy is a phenomenon that affects large segments of our population. Overall, 7.5 million adults did not have the minimum written language skills required by our society. This represents 14.5% of the total population.

The majority of those affected are employed, and many have completed high school or vocational training. In order that the deficits in reading and writing are not noticed by the environment, those affected develop strategies to circumvent and avoid certain situations, which is one of the reasons why illiteracy is hardly noticed as a social phenomenon in Germany.

The Adult Education Center offers those affected a space to overcome difficulties in reading and writing and to have positive learning experiences. In small groups, participants learn the basics of German grammar and spelling, improving their spelling, reading and expression skills step by step. We provide information and advice free of charge and discreetly!

Physical and mental well-being are crucial prerequisites for successfully mastering the challenges in your professional and private life. Health literacy is essential if you want to strengthen your health on your own responsibility.

In our educational offerings, you as a citizen of Wolfsburg will learn and experience how to develop a healthy yet enjoyable lifestyle, counteract stress, perceive your body positively and eat a balanced diet.

Acquire the ability to deal with stress constructively and overcome crises successfully. This strengthens your mental and physical resources, makes you fit for everyday life and work and promotes your health in the long term.

Current research repeatedly points to the positive influence of emotionality, stress management, balanced nutrition and exercise for the success of lifelong learning processes. The health education offerings at Wolfsburg Adult Education Center take these findings into account.

Factual information and learning are linked with all the senses, learning is action-oriented, related to the group and taking into account their biographical points of contact.

The spectrum of the Wolfsburg Adult Education Center includes diverse health education offerings, such as:

• Movement

• Relaxation

• Cooking courses

• Individual nutritional counseling

• Offers for expectant parents and young families

• Health care

• First aid

• Educational vacations

• target group specific health offers and company trainings

• as well as lecture evenings on various health-related topics

Mrs. Marina Simanski

Hugo-Junkers-Weg 5
38440 Wolfsburg
Phone: 05361 8939080
E-mail to info@bildungshaus-wolfsburg.de

Further information can be found on the VHS Wolfsburg homepage.