Where does the Jenaplan concept come from?

The founder of the Jenaplan concept is the educator Peter Petersen. The professor of educational science at the Friedrich-Schiller-Universität in Jena was also head of the university school. At this school Petersen developed his reform-pedagogical concept, which he presented in 19 27 to the London committee preparing the New Education Fellowship conference.

With regard to Petersen's place of work and the conceptual character (Eng. plan), the committee coined the term Jenaplan. Today Jenaplan schools are often also called Peter-Petersen schools after their founder.

20 basic principles as a foundation:

The Jenaplan concept met with great approval especially in the Netherlands. In the 1980s, teachers within the framework of the Utrecht seminar for Jenaplan pedagogy developed, on the basis of their teaching experience, 20 basic principles that were generally recognized as guidelines for pedagogical work according to the Jenaplan concept.

'A starting form for a new school life':

With these words Petersen presented his school concept when it was published in 1927. The focus is the effort to move away from conventional year-group classes and subject lessons and to promote independent, committed group work within a school community.

What distinguishes Jenaplan schools from conventional schools?

At the center of Jenaplan pedagogy is the view of school as a living space for children. Instead of a neutral, rigidly structured educational institution, a Jenaplan school aims to create a place where children can develop individually and enjoy learning. Therefore there are some fundamental differences compared to everyday school life at regular schools:

• Home groups instead of year groups:

  At Jenaplan schools there is no division into classes of children of the same age, but cross-age learning groups. This is intended to promote the children's willingness to help one another.

• Weekly work plan instead of lesson periods:

  Teaching at a Jenaplan school is not divided into 45-minute sections, but follows a weekly work plan within which the students can learn independently. The required basic knowledge is conveyed within the weekly work in compact courses.

• Self-designed 'school living room' instead of a bare classroom:

  The school should be experienced as a living space and also be shaped that way by the students. The classrooms should provide incentives to learn.

• Learning development reports instead of grades:

  At a Jenaplan school no grades are given, and repeating a year is also not possible. Instead, individual learning development is documented and mutually assessed among the members of a home group.

• Daily group instruction:

  The entire learning group is taught together for 100 minutes a day.

• Interdisciplinary project work:

  Project-based lessons incorporate various areas of knowledge and promote the independent development of content.

• Monthly celebrations for community building:

  Monthly celebrations, such as student, parent, or teacher celebrations, give everyday school life a rhythm and promote the school community. Often the project work is presented at these celebrations.

Isolated elements of Jenaplan pedagogy are also found today in conventional school concepts. Especially primary schools increasingly rely on learning development reports instead of grades from the first grade on, or adopt the concept of cross-age learning groups.

A school concept that involves the whole family

Jenaplan is a school concept based on community and shared responsibility. In practice this means that parents also regularly participate actively in everyday school life and help shape school celebrations. Typically parents lead group activities such as reading groups or movement and creative offerings. Like many other reform-pedagogical concepts, a Jenaplan school is therefore only suitable for families who are willing to invest a lot of time and to contribute to the shaping of lessons even during teaching time. In some Jenaplan schools it is common practice for parents to sit in class as observers and give feedback on the design of lessons. Parental engagement is on the one hand due to the pedagogical concept, and on the other hand to the school form: a large proportion of Jenaplan schools are privately run and therefore also rely on voluntary work by parents and volunteers.

Criticism of the Jenaplan concept

Criticism of Jenaplan is expressed less against the actual school concept than against its author: some historians see strong parallels in Petersen's approaches to the National Socialist mindset and in particular to the concepts of education and upbringing. However, the fact is that during the National Socialist regime the already existing Jenaplan schools were closed because the concept of self-determined, ostensibly unstructured learning and the understanding of school as a living space did not fit the NS ideology. It was not until the 1960s that Jenaplan pedagogy revived, first in the Netherlands, later also in Germany and throughout Europe.