Project info
Operator: Association for the Promotion of Jenaplan Pedagogy at the Jenaplan School Jena
founded in 1991
Association: seven volunteers on the board
Contact person for the association: Volkmar Obst, board of the association
School contact: Frank Ahrens, Headmaster
Location: Jena, Germany
Project: Ethics project week: “Difficulties with the truth”
Our funding:
Contribution to the costs of this project in the amount of 5000 €
Funding period: 2nd half-year 2024
For many years, the Jenaplan School in Jena has had a project for the beginning of the school year for the upper secondary school. This project lasts one week and is dedicated to ethical-philosophical and religious-philosophical issues. It makes something possible that is otherwise often neglected in the educational path of young people.
A central aim of educating young people is to enable them to think and act independently and to support them in such a way that they grow up to be reflective and responsible personalities. An important aspect of this is the development of ambiguity tolerance – the ability to deal with different perspectives and differing opinions while at the same time recognizing the limits of what is tolerable.
The project operator
The Association for the Promotion of Jenaplan Pedagogy (the support association of the Jenaplan School Jena) supports the school holistically by helping families financially with school trips and promoting projects and school festivals. It facilitates further training for teachers and exchanges with other schools. It also finances additional school materials and organizes study groups to expand the educational offerings. The association is also responsible for school social work, supports pupils, families and teachers in conflicts and runs the pre-school area, where children are introduced to the basic Jenaplan forms at an early age.
The Jenaplan School Jena (JPS) offers education from preschool to high school graduation and is based on the ideas of Peter Petersen. The Jenaplan has been further developed at the JPS since 1991. The school promotes individual and project-oriented learning with inter-year core groups in which pupils work together on topics. A culture of appreciation and regular learning reflections support the pupils. The classrooms are open plan and digital media play an important role from middle school onwards. Special features such as the “Responsibility” project and SchülerFAIRma (student company) promote civic engagement and entrepreneurship. The school also offers numerous leisure activities and professional school social work.
Ethics project week: “Difficulties with the truth”
Pupils have the opportunity to spend a week systematically exploring existential questions such as:
Does truth exist, and can we recognize it? What does it mean for society to claim that truth does not exist? Can all things be explained scientifically? What is faith, and how convincing are proofs of God?
For a genuine discussion of these questions, it needs time, space and an exchange with philosophically trained people.
The Jenaplan School has been working together with the Protestant Academies of Thuringia and Saxony-Anhalt since 2006 and with Philosophia e.V. since 2001. Such projects are unique in Thuringia and could serve as a model by helping young people to think critically and find their way in the world. Big questions require trust, time and support – and young people need these questions in order to grow together.
To the video contribution on YouTube about the Ethics Week, created by two pupils.
I think it’s great that we have this opportunity. It creates much more in-depth conversations, even in our free time. I now know the difference to the ethics weeks in regular lessons.
I will take many questions home with me that I can think about for a long time. Perhaps also food for thought about communication between people and how to improve it.
Quotes from participants of the project week
Why we are committed to the project
The objective of this project convinced us, namely to enable young people to think and act independently and also to engage with other perspectives and differing points of view.
The Jenaplan School Jena is an open school with various opportunities for individual learning and development. We would like to support this pedagogical approach and the underlying understanding of education with our foundation.
Outlook
We were delighted to support this project and wish all those involved a lasting impact from the ideas, results and discussions.
