From March 18th to 23rd, the Solling School, the Paula Fürst School, and the School at the Castle came to the wannseeFORUM for a student council seminar. The overarching theme of the seminar was evident from the event's title: "Student Representation." To develop subtopics for the individual workshops and to stimulate the generation of ideas for both artistic work and future school projects, each school began with a detailed presentation outlining its respective focus areas and specific challenges. The presentations specifically addressed the work of the student council, and participants had the opportunity to ask questions about individual projects and ideas. It quickly became clear that many of the student council issues faced by one school were similar to those at other schools, or that solutions had even already been found. These discussions led to the development of thematic clusters for further exploration in the workshops.
Through a collaborative process, each workshop group ultimately agreed on different focus areas, which were then further developed artistically throughout the week. There were a total of five creative groups that began working on the project on the second day of the seminar, culminating in a presentation of their results to an audience
The comic group developed and illustrated the story "The Pond," in which the student council of the fictional Schloss-Fürst-Solling-Schule, together with the teaching staff, campaigns for a redesign of the schoolyard. The replacement of outdated textbooks and the renovation of the restrooms also play a role. Together, they manage to push through their demands at a general assembly, against the wishes of the headmistress.
The song addresses problems in schools, including bullying, prejudice, and racism, contrasting them with a vision of an inclusive school centered on love and solidarity. The group also produced a music video in collaboration with Gigo.
The theatre group developed two scenes for forum theatre based on discussions of everyday situations at schools. In this format, the audience can participate in resolving a presented conflict by replacing individual characters. One scene critically addresses the fact that homosexuality is often used as an insult at many schools. Another scene dealt with the issue of broken and dirty school toilets. In both cases, the audience's intervention successfully resolved the conflict.
The literature group has published the WZ – Wannseezeitung, in which the authors have compiled various articles ranging from information on climate change and the Fridays for Future movement to concrete tips on organizing student council work. Here you can learn, for example, about ways to make the school a more pleasant place, but also find exciting texts and poems that make the WZ worth reading.
The audio group produced various segments for the GSV Radio station, which they founded themselves. These include a survey on the meaning of the abbreviation SV, an expert interview clarifying the terminology and rights of student representatives, and segments featuring students expressing their wishes regarding the start of the school year and school lunches, school restrooms, and homework.
The artistic work, culminating in a presentation, helped develop the students' self-confidence. They grew through their successes as actors, illustrators, journalists, or musicians, and were rewarded with public recognition during the final presentation in front of guests. At the same time, the workshop allowed them to explore various forms of expression, practice public speaking, and learn new forms of presentation and performance techniques.
All participants successfully identified problems, gathered information, and developed ideas for student council work, and presented these as a group. The diverse media used in the seminar allowed participants to flesh out the topic of student representation with concrete content. The seminar thus offered many participants the opportunity to learn more about student council work and to become aware of the influence they, as students, can have at their schools through active participation.
We wish all students every success in implementing the new findings in their schools!
The seminar was funded by the Senate Department for Education, Youth and Family