Training seminar for student representatives: Changing schools

Student Council (SV) means "Changing Schools." This was the title of a recent student council congress at the Friedrich Ebert Foundation. And from February 12th to 18th, the focus at the wannseeFORUM was once again on how schools could be improved. Students from the Wilma-Rudolph-Oberschule, the Paulsen-Gymnasium , and the Willi-Graf-Gymnasium came together for a week at the wannseeFORUM to gather ideas for their future student council work and to acquire the necessary skills for articulating and implementing their projects in various workshops.
The week began on Sunday in the Theatersaal with a World Café, where students could discuss at different tables what they disliked about their school, what they thought the school should be like, and what they urgently wanted to change. After this, they went to their respective workshop groups for an initial introduction to the group and the medium.
There, they worked on their various projects and products throughout the week. black and white photography focused intensively on the topic of accessibility in schools, taking numerous photos which they developed themselves in the darkroom.
the theater group explored a campaign code for student council elections, aiming to ensure that the candidates with the best ideas, rather than the most rhetorically skilled, would win. They developed a play about a fictional student council election featuring two completely opposing candidates.
A digital photo story on the topic of exclusion and prejudice was created by the working group of the same name. Within a week, a storyboard was developed, photos were taken, and the music was composed.
The comics group produced a booklet about the conditions at a fictional school in the past, which were improved with the help of the student council. The artists left no prejudice against teachers untouched, and the booklet was aptly titled "Horror School."
The rap group addressed shortcomings in our school system, calling for "change" in their song. Their concerns included reducing performance pressure and improving the treatment of students by teachers.
Finally, on Thursday, the day of the presentations arrived. In front of numerous guests from the various schools, each workshop group presented their results and was rewarded with thunderous applause. Afterwards, the students and teachers were able to chat over coffee and cake and discuss what they had learned during the week.
On Saturday, the large-scale student council simulation took place. Each workshop group submitted a proposal to the student council of the fictional "School at Pohlesee." Each proposal was called by the meeting chair, presented by the respective group, and then debated together. Every student had the right to participate and vote. The vote then determines whether the proposal is adopted as is and forwarded to the school conference, or whether it is amended or rejected. After the evaluation, the seminar program ended on Saturday, and the students looked forward to the closing buffet and party.
Thus ended the first student council seminar of 2017. Hopefully, it left with many good ideas and resolutions for the coming year.