How to teach community spirit
Event Overview
- Prize Category: Community Collaboration
- Format: Panel discussion
- Country: Germany
- Languages: Streamed live in English with automated captions in Arabic, English, French, Filipino, Hindi, Japanese, Malay, Portuguese, Serbian, and Spanish.
- Learn more about the Top Ten Shortlisted Schools in the Community Collaboration category on the World’s Best School Prizes website.
Watch on-demand
World Education Week 2022 is streaming across social media. We will embed a live stream on this page before the event begins. We are making the live stream available directly on this page alongside the Spf.io platform. Spf.io is one of our partner organisations, and their all-in-one multilingual translation and accessibility platform is embedded and linked below. You can access a range of accessibility features from the menu in the Spf.io player.

About the school
Community School “Johann Wolfgang von Goethe” in Schalkau, Thuringia, Germany teaches its students that the best way to truly learn is to experience working with the community. Focused on vocational training, Goethe School is inspired by the motto: “Together we are strong,” and pushes its students to understand that school is a collaboration with many crucial partners including local companies, kindergartens, institutions, retirement homes, the police and local authorities.
The rural school believes that students take pride in working with outsiders and contributing to community goals. They learn how to tackle real-life challenges, so the staff encourage students to think collaboratively.
One of the school’s initiatives saw students build playhouses for kids, market stalls and outdoor seating for the wider community to use for the local Christmas market at Castle Eyrichshof, Bavaria. The market stalls were then reused for a number of events throughout the year. From that project a close collaboration with staff at the castle was born. Together, students from Goethe School and Castle Eyrichsh are preparing an exhibition showcasing their works. Annually, all year groups search for new sponsorships from community leaders and businesses in order to better understand history, traditions and handicraft techniques. Students also make their own initiatives. One form 8 class restored a local green space not too far from the school grounds. They mowed the grass, swept away the litter and prepped the space for sport activities and made it into a welcoming space for the community to enjoy again.
Join Community School “Johann Wolfgang von Goethe” Schalkau session that imbibes community spirit and shows students to understand that school is a collaboration with many crucial partners.
Speakers
Moderator: Heike Bröder
Heike Bröder is a young, committed teacher who embodies school and captivates the students with her personality. As an English and Economics teacher, she not only imparts theoretical but also practical knowledge. Due to her cosmopolitanism, she always connects her lessons with important topics, such as environmental thinking, recycling and sustainability.
Speaker 1: Pascal Börner
Pascal is a former student of our school, who was not only part of our school companies but led two school companies in his school career. With these projects, he was very successful and won regional and national competitions and took part in international competitions. He became a friend and lifetime member of our school through his engagement and dedication to our school’s matters and creative work. He is a valued student as he never complained about work and always is a reliable person and has a stunningly creative mind.
Speaker 2: Simon Schick
Simon Schick is a dedicated teacher who works at our school. He completed his University degree in the subjects of English, Latin, Italian. He combines theory and practical knowledge in a great way because he worked as a painter + varnisher for a period of time. Moreover, he worked as freelancer, translating for businesses and private people. His hobbies are ancient languages and cultures/civilizations as well as modern foreign languages (English, Italian) + cultural studies. He is interested in automobiles, in particular vintage/classic cars and the restoration of cars.