The school of the future

Professor Sliwka, you co-lead the Deeper Learning pilot project. What is the project’s objective?
Deeper learning is a pedagogical approach that goes beyond simply imparting basic facts and skills and aims to foster a more profound understanding, critical thinking, problem-solving abilities and the application of knowledge in real-world contexts. It is about enabling students to use the knowledge they have acquired and their skills in a creative and effective manner in different situations.

How is this achieved in practice?
First, students acquire a shared knowledge basis relating to a particular topic. That is the instruction or acquisition phase. This is followed by a phase of intensive group work during which they work in more depth on tasks they have set themselves. The third step then involves their using the knowledge they have acquired to develop a concrete product. In the field of deeper learning, this is also known as authentic achievement. And that is also what the students are graded on.

So does that mean no more class tests with deeper learning?
That’s right. The aim is to give students the ability to apply knowledge in concrete situations. Learning is supposed to become more multifaceted, to reflect the real world to a greater extent and to become more relevant. And to foster the acquisition of competencies that we will need increasingly urgently in future given the global challenges: cooperation, communication, critical thinking and creativity. The idea is also to open the learning environment up to non-school and digital worlds. 

Can you give an example of authentic achievement?
It can be all kinds of things. In one of the secondary schools we work with, the students used the results of the research they had done on climate change to stage a conference. Talks were then given on fast fashion, vegan diets and US climate policy. Infographics or podcasts are other possible outcomes. Some classes come up with the idea of running social projects in their local communities - on health education, for instance.

The instructive first phase of deeper learning sounds a bit like a conventional lesson. Isn’t that rather outdated now?
No. Genuine creativity needs a shared knowledge basis. A group of learners will only be able to come up with meaningful solutions to combat climate change if everyone fully understands what the term actually means. Self-organised learning can only be effective once a shared knowledge basis has been established. Deeper learning does not replace old learning methods with new ones, in other words, but rather combines the two in a way that makes sense.

In which German cities is this teaching method already being used?
In our Deeper Learning pilot project for the Robert Bosch Foundation, we are focusing on - and providing expert supervision to - a network of eight secondary schools in Baden-Württemberg. In a parallel step, we have established a network of 16 schools across Germany for German Telekom. Deeper learning is already being successfully applied in many schools in countries such as Canada and Australia. We should also take advantage of the great potential this method of learning offers in Germany. 

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Professor Anne Sliwka is an educational researcher at Heidelberg University and founder of the Deeper Learning Initiative.