Pioneer model: Children with and without special needs are taught together in tandem classes

In tandem classes, children with and without special needs are taught together.

The FT answers the most important questions and answers about the model.

Freising

– It would be a pioneering achievement: the middle school at Stein-Park wants to be only the third middle school in Upper Bavaria to offer tandem classes from next autumn, in which children with and without disabilities are taught together.

Should the model actually be implemented, it would benefit the children attending one of the two tandem classes at the St. Korbinian elementary school.

For them there would finally be a smooth transition from elementary school to middle school.

But what exactly are tandem classes?

Primary school teacher Anja Baum and socio-educational support teacher Petra Gmeiner, who have been successfully teaching tandem classes for many years, answer these and other important questions on the subject:

This is what tandem classes look like

A tandem class consists of a maximum of 25 children, seven places are reserved for children with very high special educational needs.

The boys and girls are taught by the eponymous tandem.

This is made up of a primary school or middle school teacher and a teacher for special needs education – a special education teacher or a special needs teacher.

Depending on the need for care, a nanny can also be called in.

All pupils belong to a regular school and are taught together in a fixed class in all subjects.

Class and teachers stay together for four years in primary school.

School development is a priority, special therapies are dealt with at home.

Children with special needs can be exempted from grading.

This is what everyday teaching looks like

On the whole, the school day is structured like any regular class – with a morning group, timetable, breaks and homework.

Differences in the way of teaching result from the special composition of the classes.

In order to enable learning on the same topic, it is necessary to work with highly differentiated tasks.

Example mathematics in the 2 .

Class: While some children are practicing counting to 10, others are already discovering the number range up to 100. Many practical, material-based learning opportunities are therefore necessary in order to do justice to all children and to make the content understandable.

Lesson organization and forms of teaching must therefore offer plenty of space for individual work, but also for experiencing community.

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The tandem classes offered at the St. Korbinian elementary school offer plenty of space for individual learning or working in small groups.

© Lehmann

A tandem class is also a good choice for children without special needs.

Children experience individuality as something normal, learn to deal with heterogeneity in everyday school life and develop a high level of social competence, characterized by tolerance, patience, consideration and mutual support.

This is crucial for a promotion place

Children with the clearly defined need for support “mental development” are given a support place.

Alternatively, the kindergarten or doctors can identify a high special educational need and recommend the tandem class instead of the support center.

The very high need for support can be made up of various needs.

This is how parents can find out more

Parents who would like a special place for their pre-school child can make an appointment with the St. Korbinian elementary school for a meeting and a sighting of the child.

This is the only way to decide whether the child meets the requirements for a support place.

Suitable contact points are also the inclusion advice center in the district office, the respective day care center that the affected child attends, and the MSH, the mobile special educational help.