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Our school at a glance
German version: Unsere Schule auf einen Blick
Introduction
We see ourselves as a complementary rather than an alternative school. There are many skills and areas of knowledge that are underrepresented both in the public school system and in most alternative schools. These include health education, legal and citizenship education, decision-making skills, applied science, and business skills. These will be taught using the most efficient methods based on international evidence, as well as through practical, hands-on projects guided by experts and professionals from numerous fields. Consistent short-cycle evaluation and development will allow us to continuously improve our program. Our innovative organization as a micro-school and our workshop-based curriculum allow us to keep costs low while offering a high-quality education of unique breadth and depth.
Organization
Our first school will be a micro-school with no more than 30-50 students, based in Vienna, Austria. In the medium term, we plan to expand by founding (or helping to found) other micro-schools, rather than taking on more students. Ideally, those schools would form a close-knit network by sharing resources and experiences, collaborating on evaluation and development, and allowing students to attend workshops or join student projects at other schools.
Target group
Our school is targeted at teenagers between 12-16 years, covering grades 7-10 in the Austrian school system. However, we will accept older or younger students based on ability and interest.
Most of the time, students will come to us after completing 4 years of primary school and two years of middle school. When they leave, they will have the opportunity to either return to the public school system and take their final exams after another two years in upper secondary, start an apprenticeship, or enter a vocational school at grade 9. If students want to go on to university (or other forms of higher education) without taking any of these routes, we can also prepare them for the relevant entry exams.
Within our school, students will not be grouped according to age, but according to interest and aptitude level. Most learning outside of the workshops will be self-paced, with advancement following the principle of mastery learning. Peer tutoring (i.e. more advanced students guiding less advanced students) will be an integral part of the learning environment.
Most of the time, students will come to us after completing 4 years of primary school and two years of middle school. When they leave, they will have the opportunity to either return to the public school system and take their final exams after another two years in upper secondary, start an apprenticeship, or enter a vocational school at grade 9. If students want to go on to university (or other forms of higher education) without taking any of these routes, we can also prepare them for the relevant entry exams.
Within our school, students will not be grouped according to age, but according to interest and aptitude level. Most learning outside of the workshops will be self-paced, with advancement following the principle of mastery learning. Peer tutoring (i.e. more advanced students guiding less advanced students) will be an integral part of the learning environment.
Curriculum
Our school offers an orientation phase followed by a focus phase. By default, two years are allotted for each phase, but students will be allowed (and encouraged) to move on to the focus phase earlier if they are ready, or to take more time for orientation.
The primary function of the orientation phase is to acquaint students with a wide range of human interests, occupations and endeavors. Students will attend workshops held by experts and professionals from various fields (developed in collaboration with the school's own coaches), after a self-paced preparation phase for each workshop. Many of these workshops will include practical, hands-on projects outside the school. Foreign languages (primarily English) and mathematics will be taught in the context of their practical application, e.g. in science workshops and foreign-language learning environments (interactive online courses, foreign-language workshops, etc.). Besides those areas traditionally neglected in most public and alternative schools -- such as health, applied science, legal and citizenship education, and business skills -- there will be a focus on decision-making skills in order to help students determine their focus for the second phase.
The focus phase allows students to pursue their own goals interests in depth, with support from the school's coaches and infrastructure. Students will be required to formulate short-term, medium-term and long-term goals, and the school will leverage all of its resources to help students achieve these goals. This may include internships, online courses, collaborative student projects or practice firms, university courses, etc.
Students will leave our school with an appreciation of the full breadth of options for their future and practical experience in numerous fields, as well as in-depth knowledge of their focus area(s). Because our school ends with grade 10, students will still have all the opportunities offered by the public education system, as well as the skills to forge their own future.
The primary function of the orientation phase is to acquaint students with a wide range of human interests, occupations and endeavors. Students will attend workshops held by experts and professionals from various fields (developed in collaboration with the school's own coaches), after a self-paced preparation phase for each workshop. Many of these workshops will include practical, hands-on projects outside the school. Foreign languages (primarily English) and mathematics will be taught in the context of their practical application, e.g. in science workshops and foreign-language learning environments (interactive online courses, foreign-language workshops, etc.). Besides those areas traditionally neglected in most public and alternative schools -- such as health, applied science, legal and citizenship education, and business skills -- there will be a focus on decision-making skills in order to help students determine their focus for the second phase.
The focus phase allows students to pursue their own goals interests in depth, with support from the school's coaches and infrastructure. Students will be required to formulate short-term, medium-term and long-term goals, and the school will leverage all of its resources to help students achieve these goals. This may include internships, online courses, collaborative student projects or practice firms, university courses, etc.
Students will leave our school with an appreciation of the full breadth of options for their future and practical experience in numerous fields, as well as in-depth knowledge of their focus area(s). Because our school ends with grade 10, students will still have all the opportunities offered by the public education system, as well as the skills to forge their own future.
Staff
The regular staff of our school will be 3-5 coaches, plus the administration and support team. The function of these coaches is to guide, support and evaluate students' self-paced learning. (Students will make use of various tools from interactive online courses to hands-on learning material at the school or in project venues.) In addition, the coaches will develop workshops together with the external experts, help students prepare for these workshops, document the results and perform the evaluation (see below).
Most of the experts holding the workshops will be given short-term service contracts; however, there are also quite a few organizations and individuals who offer educational workshops, particularly in the usually-neglected areas which are the focus of our school, for free.
This model, together with the comparatively small amount of space required, will help keep tuition fees comparatively low.
Most of the experts holding the workshops will be given short-term service contracts; however, there are also quite a few organizations and individuals who offer educational workshops, particularly in the usually-neglected areas which are the focus of our school, for free.
This model, together with the comparatively small amount of space required, will help keep tuition fees comparatively low.
Evaluation and continuous development
Wherever possible, we will base our teaching methods on the best evidence about effective education available.
In order to continuously improve our methods, we will use short-term evaluation cycles as well as longer-term comparative studies. For workshops, precise goal statements ("what will students be able to do?") as well as testing specifications ("how will we be able to tell?") will be part of the development process between coaches and experts. For online courses and other self-paced learning activities, coaches will formulate goal statements and evaluate these against what the courses and activities purport to achieve.
In addition, we hope to generate enough interest in our school that we can choose applicants through an admission lottery. This would provide us with a (randomized, nonblinded) control group against which we could compare our students' overall progress relative to our school's goal statement.
In order to continuously improve our methods, we will use short-term evaluation cycles as well as longer-term comparative studies. For workshops, precise goal statements ("what will students be able to do?") as well as testing specifications ("how will we be able to tell?") will be part of the development process between coaches and experts. For online courses and other self-paced learning activities, coaches will formulate goal statements and evaluate these against what the courses and activities purport to achieve.
In addition, we hope to generate enough interest in our school that we can choose applicants through an admission lottery. This would provide us with a (randomized, nonblinded) control group against which we could compare our students' overall progress relative to our school's goal statement.
Current status
As of July 2016, concept development and evaluation are mostly complete. We are currently experimenting with different existing digital learning and administration platforms to find one that meets our particular needs; failing that, we have a rough draft for creating our own platform from scratch. Work on the curriculum is in progress; our current focus is on designing individual workshops and evaluation procedures as well as figuring out which (types of) workshops go where in the sequence, how much emphasis to put on individual skills and attractors, etc. We are still looking for a way to get a reliable market analysis; as a consequence, we have not yet finalized our business model. We are in the early stages of contacting potential sponsors and supporters, and scouting for staff (coaches and administrators) and experts or institutions to collaborate with us on workshops. In addition, we are reaching out to universities and research institutes to help evaluate our concept (and, ultimately, its implementation). We welcome any and all feedback, questions and referrals.
For more information, visit our new website: komplementaerschule.org
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