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The following text extract from Enja Riegel shows us how this looks in reality: "There is a great deal to do in a school: messenger services to the secretariat, work sheets that need to be copied, material that someone needs to collect for children who are absent, video recorders and OHPs that someone needs to know how to use. It is not to be accepted that only the teachers are responsible for such tasks at many schools.
At our school we have a long list of offices hanging in each classroom which details specific tasks and work that needs to be carried out. The name of the pupil presently responsible for carrying out this task is printed adjacent to the respective office. The offices are distributed anew every six months and the following applies here at all times: each pupil adopts at least one office.
In the beginning much would probably get done more quickly if the teacher did it himself. It would be less bother than convincing the pupil to take over the office, giving him instructions and making sure that he carries out his responsibilities properly.
However everyone profits at the end of the day from pupils who have learnt to take over tasks for a communal body. Those who clean at school will also probably have an eye for their surroundings later, and hopefully will think twice about leaving their rubbish in the park."
[source: Enja Retainer, "Schule kann gelingen"! (School can Succeed!) "Wie unsere Kinder wirklich fürs Leben lernen" (How our Children Really Learn for Life). Helene-Lange School Wiesbaden,"Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung" (Federal Centre for Political Education), Publication Series Volume 446, Bonn 2004, pp. 63-64] |
