What opportunity Corona offers schools

"The problem is that we design our institutions to operate in fair weather," says Olaf-Axel Burow, retired professor of general education. But the pandemic turned everything upside down. What was needed were new teaching methods, rapid digitization and students who could learn in a self-directed way. Processes and competencies that had been slept on in previous years.

That's why Burow sees the pandemic as an opportunity for schools to redesign lessons to become more crisis-proof in the future: "We have to move away from frontal teaching," Burow emphasizes. He cites the Alemannenschule Wutöschingen as an example. There, students work at their own pace. The teaching materials are available in analog and digital form, and every student is used to working on a tablet. This meant that it was not a major challenge for the students and teachers to switch to digital teaching during the lockdown.

Through Corona, these skills were required in other schools as well. That's why schools shouldn't simply aim for a return to normality, but learn from the crisis: "That would be a crucial thinking error: the old normality created the problems for us after all. What we need now is future orientation and resilience. That means traditional learning models must be put to the test."

Burow recommends continuing to develop innovative school models out of the crisis. "First, we have to make a cut in the present. Don't get stuck with the old, but really think new: How would we design school, learning and teaching if everything were possible?" he explains. "Take stock and develop a vision from that. The last step is to have a concrete action plan."

Burow has compiled his recommendations in a book: The Corona Opportunity: Through Seven Steps to a "Resilient School."