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Impressions in the new school year: Between fear and euphoria

2020-09-20T20:41:04.579Z


A high-risk patient who still goes to school. A leader who has to deal with dozens of corona cases. A mother at the end of her strength. People report how things are going at school.


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Limited regular operation: how does it feel?

Photo: Julian Rettig / DER SPIEGEL;

imago images

No minimum distance in the classroom, no lessons in shifts: the new school year has now started in all of Germany in so-called restricted regular operations, largely normal, but not entirely.

Schoolchildren and their teachers have to adapt to the new Corona rules.

How does it work?

How does the much quoted "new normal" feel?

Schoolchildren, parents and teachers told SPIEGEL about their experiences in the first few days and weeks.

Sometimes very emotional emails arrived in the editorial office.

For the minutes in this text, we phoned the senders, had impressions and experiences described in more detail and - as far as possible - checked them.

The result: a choir of individual voices, from which an overall picture of the different perspectives on this pandemic school year will emerge in the coming weeks and months.

How sensitive the topic is is shown by the fact that some interviewees want to remain anonymous - because they are not allowed to express themselves without permission or for fear of negative consequences for their child.

The real names are known to the editors in all cases.

Read the logs here:

"Not only we in the staff, also the students really want to go to school"

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Learning from a distance (symbol image)

Photo: Marijan Murat / picture alliance / dpa

NN, vocational school teacher from North Rhine-Westphalia

"

I've never seen so many students in a new school class stand individually in the schoolyard and not find a connection. This is certainly not only due to personal shyness, but above all to the Corona rules, according to which everyone should keep their distance.

In the first week of school, we always have so-called introductory days, which are about getting to know each other and team building.

This lays the foundation for a good class community.

This year the students had to stay in their seats and were only allowed to exchange words verbally.

Group games and interaction were not possible.

In the past, this created a positive dynamic in cooperation.

Not this year.

Because of Corona, there are also educational and didactic setbacks.

Cooperative forms of learning, for example, are no longer possible.

I usually have to do traditional frontal teaching.

This leads to the fact that we can create lesson content a little faster.

But the social skills that I as a teacher usually promote and also demand in every lesson fall by the wayside.

Corona also shows me once again that we need more teachers in schools, better equipment and, above all, smaller classes.

Due to the distance rules before the summer holidays, we tried out for the first time how lessons with 10 to 15 students can run instead of the usual 30 or so. I clearly noticed that the smaller the group, the more effectively the learning process.

"After just four weeks your nerves are on edge"

Sure, it might be a bit annoying for us teachers to repeat the same thing to several small groups in a loop.

But the positive is: Nobody can hide, everyone gets a turn.

My students also liked it.

After the lockdown, I also noticed how nice it is to be teaching again.

Not only we in the staff, the students really want to go to school - even if they would never admit it.

We now have to deal with new challenges: The mask requirement in class has been lifted in North Rhine-Westphalia, but some students - and myself too - continue to wear the mask, because the virus has not gone.

Masks are still required both in the building and on the entire school premises.

The breaks therefore currently consist of an endless repetition of the prompts: 'Put on your mask.'

- 'Keep your distance.

It's not five feet. '

- 'Only two can sit on the bench.'

- 'No, you're not taking a bite off the other's chocolate bar.'

Or: 'No, you won't share a cigarette either.'

If you just roll your eyes, you can still do it.

Many late-pubescent people want to demonstrate how long 1.50 meters is based on their penis size.

It has something of real satire about it.

But above all, it is annoying and exhausting and makes the relationship with the students worse if you have to constantly regulate and remind and admonish.

It's not nice for everyone.

After just four weeks, your nerves are on edge. "

"I should think about dropping out of high school"

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Maurice Bartz: "I was shocked"

Photo: private

Maurice Bartz, 20, high school graduate and high-risk patient from Berlin

"My small intestine is only a tenth as long as other people. I have short bowel syndrome. My immune system is also weakened due to myocarditis. When I emailed the headmistress of my school after the lockdown that I was a risk patient and was afraid of going to school To return, she told me I had to come. Otherwise, I should think about dropping out or taking a year off because I was shocked that there should be no other option for at-risk patients.

My school and the Senate had six months to spare, but instead of working on a solution, they stood up against each other.

Many teachers also belong to the risk group.

Why can't they teach high-risk students online, as has been promised by politicians and is also being implemented in some schools?

The teachers at my school take the measures seriously, point out that a mask is required, use different entrances and exits and ventilate the classrooms, but sometimes there are more than 15 people in a classroom.

This is basically not a ban, as Berlin has lifted the distance rule for schools.

In the playgrounds, too, people are often close together.

What i can understand.

After all, we have to sit close together in class.

I'm in 12th grade, and in a year and a half I'll be doing my Abitur.

I don't want to drop out of school and that's why I decided to attend class.

I know that I am taking a big risk: I could get infected and even die with Covid-19.

But I try not to think about it, that would drive me crazy. "

"I go to school every day with a bad feeling"

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Man with FFP2 mask: protection against possible infection (symbol image)

Photo: Mareen Fischinger / imago images / Westend61

NN, teacher and risk patient from Berlin

"I have type 1 diabetes. Before the corona crisis, the disease did not restrict me greatly, but that has completely changed. I belong to the risk group and am a teacher at a secondary school. The rules on infection protection are repeatedly or are not observed there not feasible at all, so I feel abandoned by politics and go to school every day with a bad feeling.

We are supposed to ventilate regularly, and it works halfway in the classrooms.

But there are no windows in the corridors that we could open.

There are also a number of schoolchildren who do not adhere to the minimum distance in the school yard or to the mandatory mask requirement in the hallways and common rooms.

When I warn them, some of them just say: 'Chill out.'

I feel like I am at great risk of infection in school while being very careful in my personal life.

For months now, I've only met a few friends outside in the garden.

In order to feel better protected, I would like to see compulsory masking for classes in Berlin.

There are some students who are considerate of me.

They voluntarily put on their masks in my class and ask how I am - and why I don't stay at home when I'm afraid of being infected.

I have a certificate that I could do this.

But I enjoy working, I want to get involved and feel responsible for my school and my class.

They need personal contact, and distance learning fails due to technical requirements.

I once asked my class: two out of 26 students had a printer and about one in five had a laptop.

I'm now trying to compromise on my own.

I ordered FFP2 masks.

I won't go to school without it.

I do physical education as long as the weather somehow allows, only outside, in case of doubt until it snows. "

"It was important to me that we don't get hysterical"

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Susanne Hilbig-Rehder: "During this time I hardly slept"

Photo: Top Photography

Susanne Hilbig-Rehder, director of the Heinrich Hertz School in Hamburg

"When the first student tested positive on Wednesday two weeks ago, I accepted it for the time being. It's not that unusual, we have had more suspected cases at our school. But a teacher came forward the next day. His test result also: positive. Parents had also reported other suspicious cases. The information linked in my head immediately. For a moment, that really scared me.

I wrote to the health department, my school supervisory authority and the so-called corona mailbox of the school authority.

Meanwhile there was another positive test result from the 8th year.

The health department then asked exactly the question that we in the management team were already preparing for: Who was in contact with whom and when?

Since there were connections between the three people affected, the office decided to immediately quarantine the two affected classes and a narrowly defined group of colleagues.

I informed the college as a whole, the teachers and parents involved, and then all of the parenting.

So the impression could not even arise that we wanted to hide something or make something small.

The next day there were two more positive tests.

The health department decided to have both grades, almost 400 students, and all 200 employees tested.

The preparation for this ran over the weekend and was very time-consuming.

In the case of 12 and 14 year old children, the parents have to approve this, nobody may be forced to do so.

Over the weekend, the health department ordered that the 6th and 8th year of age must be completely quarantined - and half of the staff too.

Organizing school activities on the side was a real balancing act.

A thousand students should continue to come to class - albeit with a mask, until the infection process is cleared up.

Compulsory schooling is not suspended; the hygiene concept with the different cohorts has proven itself here.

The tests took place in our parking lot, and almost everyone took part.

In total, 33 students and three employees were positive.

During this time I hardly slept.

The whole situation was connected with a lot of fears and emotions in the school community, it was important to me that we do not get hysterical.

That's why I communicated an incredible amount.

Parents and colleagues got an update every day.

Nevertheless, there were parents who advocated a complete school closure or more hygiene or, on the contrary, did not want to accept the mask requirement or completely denied the danger.

But overall I got a lot of encouragement during that time.

I've never had so many bouquets before.

Fortunately, there were no bad courses in the sick.

The last students and teachers should come back to face-to-face classes on Monday. "

"We have started a large-scale corona test procedure"

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Clemens Becker: "Just no homeschooling, please"

Photo: Julian Rettig / DER SPIEGEL

Clemens Becker, 64, chief physician and father from Baden-Württemberg

"My wife and I are doctors, one of our children, ten years old, goes to a Protestant school in Stuttgart. We started a large-scale corona test there, as well as at two other schools of the same provider. A few days before the end of the summer vacation All pupils as well as all teachers and other employees of the school can be tested, around 2000 people.

To save time and money, ten samples from one class were always tested together in a pool process;

We would only have evaluated the individual samples if something was noticeable.

Almost everyone took part, and so the results were available on the first day of school: All were negative.

I hope that we have been able to relieve many teachers, students and parents who were afraid of being infected in school.

Anyway, there is a huge relief.

For me as a father there was another reason to get active: Homeschooling in the past few months has been a challenge for us that we actually couldn't cope with.

We cannot work from home, and so do many parents who work in medicine and nursing.

So no homeschooling, please.

At the same time, we would like to make our knowledge and skills available.

We asked other parents with specialist knowledge if they would participate, and in less than two hours I had a few dozen colleagues.

Everyone knows what is important.

It is important, for example, that the helpers also get tested.

If they are infected, samples are contaminated.

The school board took over most of the costs, a sum in the lower five-digit range.

I know that the results are only a snapshot and that students and teachers can get infected somewhere all the time.

But we have shown that such a school test is feasible, and there is acceptance.

If the number of cases increases regionally, schools could carry out a random sample and at least temporarily have certainty. "

"There is still no concept for digital teaching"

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Learning at a distance: "During the crisis, the school showed itself from a different side" (symbol picture)

Photo: Jose Luis CARRASCOSA / imago images / Westend61

Michael T., father from North Rhine-Westphalia

"I'm still in my bones before the summer vacation. My 16-year-old daughter sat crying on the bed and told me she wanted school back. For months she only had two hours of online lessons a week and she was missing that Every Friday she received emails with tasks. Once there was a slip of paper with 180 math problems on it. She freaked out. She only received feedback on all the work she submitted. Lessons can't look like that.

We have always been satisfied with the school, but during the crisis it showed a different side.

My daughter didn't learn anything new, at most repeated old material.

If the school management had at least admitted that classes didn't go well during the lockdown, I could have shown more understanding.

But it was always pretended that everything was under control.

That makes me angry.

In the meantime, my daughter is going back to her high school.

She is now in 10th grade and wears a mask in the classroom.

That's not nice, but it's the price that students have to pay so that the school can stay open at all.

About 15 percent of the lessons are canceled, however, sometimes at very short notice.

Can't the school regulate this differently?

What really upsets me: The high school did not present us parents with a conclusive concept on how to make up for the material that was missed from the previous half-year.

We also don't know what would happen if the school had to close again because of the infection.

The high school had six months, but there is still no concept for digital teaching.

In my opinion, nothing happened there. "

"I am at the end of my strength"

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Monika Gotthart with son Marcel: "Marcel has compulsory schooling, and I don't want him to miss so many lessons. So I have to keep calling afterwards"

Photo: private

Monika Gotthart from Düsseldorf, mother of Marcel, 16, special needs pupil with severe disabilities

"The first day of school after the summer holidays could have been the last for my son Marcel. My mother picked him up on that day and told me later that from now on we would either have to drive Marcel to school ourselves or he could no longer go to class, that's what the class teacher told her.

Usually Marcel is taken by the school's handicapped transport.

But the school authority LVR has decided that only students who wear a mask are allowed.

Marcel can't do that.

He is severely handicapped and epileptic and always takes off the mask immediately.

It was quite a shock to me.

Driving Marcel through the Düsseldorf city traffic for almost 45 minutes twice a day is pure stress.

I am a migraineur and a single parent.

I can no longer do my mini-job, which for me is an important balance to caring for my son.

The LVR justifies its decision with the fact that there are many high-risk patients among the students who need to be protected.

And that the promotion is a voluntary offer anyway.

I don't think that's correct.

After all, the LVR advertises taking the children to school.

And he had a few months to think about how to protect the health of all children.  

But at the LVR I couldn't reach anyone with whom I could discuss the problem.

The person in charge didn't call me back for days.

I then made an urgent application for individual transport to the city, but it was rejected.

The reason: The LVR is responsible.

There I could apply for a single transport to be covered.

But the requirements are very high.

I then wrote again to the superiors at the city and the school management.

But all I had was to drive Marcel back to school.

After almost a month there was at least one ray of hope: The city has reported that Marcel is getting an integration assistant for the trip who will put the mask on him again and again when he pulls it down.

It was two weeks ago that it was announced, but nothing happened.

However, in the middle of the week, a lady from the LVR finally got in touch: She had my applications and now bring me the happy news that Marcel is getting a single transport.

I am relieved, but I find it impossible that it took so long.

I am at the end of my strength.

And unfortunately the subject is not yet through: The transport company wants to bring Marcel there and pick him up earlier than usual.

Marcel has compulsory schooling and I don't want him to miss so many classes.

So I have to keep calling afterwards. "

"We are thinking about private teachers and private schools"

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Video conferencing with schoolchildren: Questionable in terms of data protection law?

(Symbol image)

Photo: Giorgio Magini / imago images / Westend61

Gesa Schwerdtfeger, mother of two children, 7 and 11 years old, from Baden-Württemberg

"From my point of view, our children did not go to school because of the school closings in the four months before the summer vacation, and my concern is that they will not learn anything for the next four months either. As soon as a corona case appears at their school, lessons will fall again Digitization would offer many possibilities, but they are not being used.

When asked whether the teachers could give video lessons from home, at our son's high school, which he has been attending since this school year, it was not possible for data protection reasons.

But as a mother, I'm really not interested in data protection at the moment.

It is important to me that my child learns something now.

Before the Easter break in Baden-Württemberg, when the schools were closed, my husband and I took turns taking a day off to work through the weekly and daily plans with our children.

We started studying with them at 9 a.m. and finished by 3 p.m.

Then there were corrections and discussions.

We were only finished in the evening.

That is not feasible again.

I am now absolutely in favor of keeping my distance and complying with the anti-corona measures.

We really don't have to celebrate big parties.

But good teaching has to run in schools, if not on-site, then at least digitally.

It is sad that this is not guaranteed at every school.

We think about private teachers and private schools because we don't know how to deal with the situation again when in doubt.

It is absurd.

Before the Corona, my husband and I often wondered how nice it would be to be able to take the children out of class for half a year to travel.

But that is not possible due to compulsory schooling, and now it seems as if she has suddenly been exposed. "

"I am annoyed by the sometimes massive criticism of school policy"

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Holger Schmenk, Headmaster: "I feel a great responsibility"

Photo: private

Holger Schmenk, headmaster at a high school in North Rhine-Westphalia

"I am otherwise rather relaxed, but was concerned shortly before the start of the new school year. I take Corona very seriously and feel a great responsibility for the around 1200 students and the staff at my school, who should start again in the classroom with a full classroom Fortunately, we started school without any problems.

In the old school year, the ministry sometimes made announcements at very short notice, for example on Saturday, by email, which we should have implemented on Monday.

That was a nuisance.

For the new school year, on the other hand, there were quite clear guidelines in good time, for example on the use of masks in class and on the topic of ventilation.

We can do this well.

All colleagues have received keys for our lockable windows.

They also leave the doors open.

There is a one-way system to avoid crowds in the hallways.

So far, sport has only been carried out outdoors.

An IT team has developed a concept for digital teaching.

For example, we connect quarantined students via video and post tasks on our new learning platform.

Unfortunately, some things fail because we sometimes have no WiFi and the school is not connected to the fiber optic network.

All in all, we certainly cannot work perfectly, but I am annoyed by the sometimes massive criticism of politics.

When you consider that we have a special situation, a lot is going remarkably well.

And what would the alternative be?

Opening up schools is absolutely the right step for me.

Children and young people have to learn, and during the lockdown some threatened to become lonely.

I am very happy that most of them are back now.

I know that not everyone sees it that way.

We have the whole range from over-concerned parents to a few corona deniers.

In order to take away fears and to clear them up, we try to communicate a lot with everyone involved, be it via the website or in person.

Transparency is the only way to go here. "

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Source: spiegel

All life articles on 2020-09-20

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