The SCHÜLER*INNENSCHULE was founded in 1979 and has been based at WUK since 1982. Alongside the Freie Schule Hofmühlgasse and the Schulkollektiv, it is one of Austria’s oldest democratic alternative schools. Thanks to—and also because of—its unique position in the educational landscape, the SCHÜLER*INNENSCHULE has become a model for many public and private school projects.

The association Gemeinsam Lernen (“Learning Together”) is the sponsoring body of the SCHÜLER*INNENSCHULE. It is a non-profit association, a member of the networks Bundesdachverband für selbstbestimmtes Lernen and Wiener Dachverband der freien Schulen, and part of WUK (Werkstätten- und Kulturhaus). Membership in WUK is a prerequisite for admission to the school.

The SCHÜLER*INNENSCHULE sees itself as a comprehensive school, officially recognized from grade 5 to grade 9.

• Teaching is based on the Glocksee curriculum, whose primary goal is the development of socially competent, creative, and self-confident personalities.
• Personal experiences are integrated into the learning process, while social developments are reflected upon and discussed.
• The way this is put into practice is, for us, the very essence of grassroots democracy in action. The SCHÜLER*INNENSCHULE is located in WUK, a building that was once a factory and later a technical college (HTL), and since 1981 has been one of the largest autonomous cultural centers in Europe.

WUK is located at Währinger Straße 59, easily accessible by the U6 subway or tram lines 5, 33, 38, 39, 40, 41, and 42.

The school offers around 70 children more than 500 m² of space, barrier-free access, and a quiet inner courtyard.

Our school is self-governed, which means that parental involvement and student participation are integral to our identity and everyday practice. We are all equally involved in the school’s development processes, working together in a grassroots democratic way.

The SCHÜLERINNENSCHULE has about 70 students. At least three to four teachers are present at any time and offer classes from which the students create their individual timetables. While lessons in some subjects are offered at different levels, there are no grade-level classes. Instead, students participate in the offerings according to their interests and abilities. Instead of grade levels, the school has base groups. Every morning at 9 a.m., students meet in their base group to start the day with discussions about organization, conflicts, and personal well-being.

We are a full-day school: classes begin at 9 a.m. and end at 4 p.m., with the school closing at 5 p.m. Tuition is €505 per month (12 times a year). The fee includes morning snack, lunch, field trips, excursions, and materials. Additional costs apply for orientation days, gender days (both mandatory), and other optional trips. Alongside financial contributions, parents contribute 10 hours of parental work per month.

Daily Schedule

The school day at the SCHÜLER*INNENSCHULE begins at 9 a.m. in so-called base groups, where the day starts in a relaxed way with a short meeting.

Until lunch at 1:30 p.m., students attend 3 to 4 learning units chosen according to their needs and interests, although some subjects are compulsory. After lunch, there is a longer learning unit until 4 p.m., followed by an optional free study period. The school day ends at 5 p.m.

When creating their individual timetables, students are guided and supported by teachers to ensure all subject areas are adequately covered. Throughout the school year, several block projects usually take place, during which the timetable is replaced by a special project schedule. This is also the time for many trips and internships, both in Austria and abroad.

Weekly Schedule

The timetable is developed by teachers based on the Glocksee curriculum and the differentiated curriculum. The framework includes:

• Four different parallel offerings at any given time
• Classes from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. in about four units
• Fridays mainly reserved for projects and excursions

The draft timetable prepared by teachers is discussed with students in the school plenary and, if necessary, in the base groups. Any agreed changes are then incorporated into the final timetable.

Yearly Planning

In addition to the weekly plan, ideas for trips, excursions, and focus projects are collected together with the students in a retreat and ranked according to their interests. Work teams then begin refining the ideas, and student representatives are chosen to take responsibility. They work alongside teachers to further develop, plan, and carry out the projects.

These projects may take place during the designated Friday project day, as stand-alone or block projects, or in special cases even as cross-school initiatives.

5-Year Concept

The concept of the SCHÜLER*INNENSCHULE is designed for five years. During this time, students work through the curriculum, gain extensive knowledge of democratic and political issues, and pursue their creative interests. In exceptional cases, graduation after four years is also possible.

We live democracy

All children participate equally in every aspect of school life—rules, projects, trips, classes, and even the admission of new students and teachers. Once or twice a week, the school plenary meets to discuss all school matters. In addition, a student parliament (plenary) is held weekly.

We take a political stance

Since its founding, the school has been actively involved in social and political issues. Ongoing political projects include the gender project, civic education classes, and numerous initiatives addressing socially relevant topics.

We also take to the streets to show solidarity with the vulnerable through demonstrations and public actions. We demonstrated against the Iraq war, cleared ivy from Jewish graves at Vienna’s Central Cemetery, carried our classroom chairs to the “Right to Stay” demonstration—and we will continue to take a stand in the future.

Educational concept

Learning must …

• be free from fear—therefore no grades
• be holistic—engaging all senses and experiences
• be interdisciplinary—to better understand complex connections
• be student- and needs-oriented
• involve emotional, social, practical, and intellectual activity equally
• be connected—with other schools and groups, and oriented toward real life and future careers

The aim of our work is to nurture independent, critical, and responsible individuals. Our school is not primarily about preparing students for academic high school (AHS), but instead, as an alternative to the mainstream system, about giving children the opportunity to develop individually and in line with their own strengths and needs.

This means: Many children will achieve AHS eligibility if they choose to. But it is not the task of the teaching team to bring all children to the same standard regardless of their own goals in life.

The approach

Knowledge is power, but free learning is more powerful. That’s why at our school we learn in a process-oriented way. Achievement is not measured by grades but by competencies developed through democratic community life.

Our strengths

Self-confidence, self-responsibility, and self-determination within a democratic community: children learn even when they are free to decide for themselves. Teachers accompany and advise them, supporting them on their individual path and encouraging them beyond the boundaries of traditional school knowledge.

How does it work?

Every morning in small groups led by a teacher, children decide how they want to shape their school day. They reflect together on the day’s activities afterward.

Alongside compulsory units (German, mathematics, English, gender project), children freely choose from a wide range of projects and subjects according to their interests. They can also receive individual support in a small group. Personal learning goals are defined together with teachers.

Teachers regularly meet as a team to reflect on daily life at the school and on the situation of each individual student.

Small groups

• Equal emphasis on social, cognitive, practical, and creative skills
• Project-based learning instead of subject division
• No grades, no exams, no repeating of school years
• Active involvement of parents

The Teaching Concept

The teaching concept differs in many ways from that of a mainstream school. Not only is the Schüler*innenschule designed as a five-year program, but there are also no grade-level classes and no graded report cards as in compulsory schools.

Several months of the year, instead of traditional school subjects, interdisciplinary project-based learning takes place. The learning process is shared jointly by teachers and students.

Daily Structure and Self-Determination

At the beginning of the school day, in the base groups—stable reference groups of students supervised by two teachers—the daily schedule is planned. The choice of subjects and the learning goals are determined within the group.

Great importance is placed on self-determination and self-responsibility, both in the base groups and especially in the weekly plenary. Democracy is not just a subject but actively lived. In the plenary sessions, students and teachers not only discuss school organization but also the learning process itself.

The Role of Teachers

The main role of teachers is to accompany, advise, and support the students in their learning processes. Within agreed boundaries, students are free to decide what they want to learn.

Because learning is meant to take place without pressure, there are no exams. Instead, students write a self-reflection on their activities over the past school year and receive detailed written feedback from all teachers.

Graduation and Assessment

At the end of compulsory schooling, students receive a report card without grades but with written evaluations in the standard school subjects. This certificate is intended to allow a smooth transition to further education.

In addition, students receive a diploma for which they must complete a demanding project in one of the curriculum’s subject areas.

Assessment at the Schülerinnenschule is understood primarily as self-assessment, supported by the teachers. For students coming from mainstream schools, the shift to this level of self-responsibility can sometimes be challenging.

The Task of the School

The school’s primary task is to recognize each child’s individuality and provide opportunities for them to grow into independent, self-confident, critical, capable, emancipated, socially responsible, and politically aware individuals.

New forms of life and learning are to be developed together. The children are allowed to decide autonomously and democratically on all organizational as well as curricular matters.

Student Participation

Children have a say in which new students and teachers are admitted to the school. They also collectively establish the rules that apply at their school. At the beginning of the year, children and teachers decide together on the content of the curriculum and plan school trips, which are particularly frequent in alternative schools.

The children do not simply play a passive role: there are trips that are fully organized by the students themselves—from booking the flights to arranging the accommodations.

Rights, Duties, and the Principle of Consensus

It is essential that all participants are aware of their rights and responsibilities. All decisions concerning the school are made based on the principle of consensus.

The Glocksee Curriculum

The approval of a curriculum for an alternative school is a lengthy process. For this reason, when applying for official recognition, the Schülerinnenschule adopted an already approved alternative curriculum: the Glocksee curriculum (named after a school in Hanover). Its relatively open formulations leave plenty of room for our school to shape it individually.

Excerpt from the Glocksee Curriculum

The curriculum is divided into four subject areas, each based on different perspectives of knowledge and methods of approach. The subjects offered are developed and didactically planned by teachers for their learning groups. The resulting proposals do not set behavioral goals for students but instead provide methodological guidelines for teachers.

Subject Area: Society

Learning in this area has a dual dimension: first, gaining knowledge about the world (analytical dimension), and second, reflecting on the idea of a better world (critical-normative dimension). The goal is to develop “sociological imagination.” This means both the ability to understand seemingly isolated phenomena within their social context and the ability to connect personal experiences with the study of social problems, making learning more meaningful.

Subject Area: Language

The focus here is language in the broadest sense. Language is one of the basic conditions of human existence. Language learning, therefore, can only mean continuing and systematically supporting a process that began in early childhood.

Subject Area: Aesthetics

Subjective experience in this area is often complex and even contradictory. In general, children want to create, produce, and shape something meaningful. Sometimes this takes the form of simple technical or craft activities, or it may be expressed in the desire to create particular consumer items.

Subject Area: Nature

In this area, the material aspect of reality is experienced (empirical dimension), examined (analytical dimension), and worked with (practical dimension). The relationship between matter and the child is dialectical: by acting on matter to make it usable, the child changes it in such a way that the altered matter, in turn, creates new requirements for the child.

Overall, the Glocksee curriculum is very open, allowing for a colorful and diverse approach to teaching.

Report Card

Each year, every child receives a Glocksee report card without grades. Only when transferring to another school is a detailed written assessment of the individual subjects provided.

This assessment is given to those who have regularly attended German, English, and mathematics. All other subjects must be studied for the equivalent of two years, or one year plus a block project. Students who do not meet this requirement write a subject-area paper on a topic of their choice (in consultation with a teacher), approximately 10 A4 pages in length.

The Role of Parental Work

Parental work, alongside the commitment of teachers and students, forms the third essential pillar of alternative education. The Schülerinnenschule also relies heavily on the active involvement of parents, which reflects the school’s democratic foundation. Parental work is not only vital for the functioning of the organization and the upkeep of facilities; it also provides parents with the opportunity to take part directly in school life.

This involvement brings the added benefit of getting to know the daily school routine, the children, and other parents more closely, while also taking greater responsibility for the school and its educational vision, and representing it externally. Ultimately, this is crucial for both the school’s funding and the status of free schools within the educational landscape.

Organization of Parental Work

Parents can contribute by joining one of the existing working groups or by taking on independent tasks. Each group coordinates its own area, while overall coordination and administration help manage the parent work system.

Each working group has a coordinator responsible for organizing tasks within the group. Parents can learn about the different groups at association evenings or directly from the coordinators, and may join one or several groups according to their interests.

Currently, the expected amount of parental work is 10 hours per month (5 hours for single parents), as agreed at the first parent meeting of the school year. In exceptional cases, these hours may be compensated financially in consultation with the board.

Participation in parent evenings (association meetings) is mandatory and counts as parental work. Other internal school events may also be recognized as parental work if agreed upon collectively.

Working Groups

• Maintenance Group
• PR Group
• Cooking Group
• Cleaning Group
• IT Group
• Admissions & Welcome Group (formerly Landebahn)
• Finance Group
• Coordination Group: representation in the WUK children and youth sector, umbrella associations, and networks
• Educational Support: tutoring, workshops, and related activities

Getting in Touch

If you are interested in the school, please first contact our admissions coordinator:

Mag.a Magdalena Wicher
t: +43 650 3834234
e: landebahn@schuelerinnenschule.at

Magdalena Wicher will answer your key questions about the school and talk with you about your options and needs. Please also complete the initial contact form here.

Initial Meeting

In coordination with the teachers, Magdalena will arrange an appointment for an initial meeting with you. This meeting includes representatives of the teachers, parents, and students, as well as you and your child. Initial meetings for admission to the first grade ideally take place in the spring of the year before entry—that is, when your child is in the 3rd year of primary school.

Trial Days

After the initial meeting, you will be informed about the trial week, which usually takes place in autumn one year before the school start. Your child should attend for at least five days to get a real sense of the school and to be introduced to the teachers and students.

Decision Process

The decision on admission is made—by both you and the school—after the trial week. Parents are formally welcomed into the association during an association evening.

Finalizing Enrollment

Once admission has been confirmed on both sides, you will receive an email from our office with all necessary forms. After returning the original “Membership and Contract Agreement” form and paying the registration fee and deposit, your child’s place at the school will be officially confirmed by email.