Hauptschule,
Realschule, Gymnasium... In Germany, the educational system creates early
differences in school careers. In a few Länder, some links have progressively
been established between these different educational possibilities.
Nevertheless, social representations die hard. A youngster who studies in a
Hauptschule – the least prestigious school – and one of his or her fellows who
studies in a Gymnasium – the school which brings most of the people to
university – have hardly any contact with each other. According to the school
to which the youngster goes, his or her views on the world and his or her
chances of success in life are not the same. To trigger more equity and
solidarity, Christina and Elisabeth decided to arouse friendships and
mutual aid between youngsters from these different worlds. Rock your life! offers
mentoring and coaching programs. This experience proves to be really profitable
for the pupils and the students involved. Christina really convinced me.
© Christian Klant
Christina
meets her friend Elisabeth by the Lake Constance, at the Zeppelin University. She
has warm memories of her two years of Master in this extraordinary university.
“We had seminars in small groups, we really had the possibility to choose what
we wanted to study”: a perfect work environment for reflections, exchanges and
creativity.
An education system with different rhythms
During one
of their conversations, the two students discover they have the same view about the
way education is organized in their country: with a selection at the age of ten, the system restricts straight away some pupils' field of possibilities, mainly
because the selection is often more influenced by the parents'
socio-professional status than by the children's aspirations and skills.
Moreover, there is nearly no communication between the teenagers pushed to do
short-term education and the ones predestined to go to university.
Aware of
the fact that they themselves have been supported by their environment,
Elisabeth and Christina wish to contribute to the creation of more equity and
social mobility. They start to think of a mentoring system in which students support pupils of Hauptschulen, helping them to be more confident in
their potential and in their possibility to carry out their own choices.
After
taking an inventory of all the existing associations in this field, the two young women decide to found a new
organisation that would be strong and attractive enough to have a quick impact.
One statute: social franchising. A name full of energy: “Rock your Life!”.
One team: twelve people in the beginning, in 2009. With the support of some
experts, they set up a pilot project. A school of Friedrichshafen and several
students agree to give it a try. During one year, 40 pairs (meaning 80 pupils
and mentoring students) experiment this method.
Walk a bit together
The
principle : Rock your life ! recruits volunteer students
trained to be mentors and then offers the program to some Hauptschulen. Among
the pupils of the two last classes (who are supposed to be between 14 and 16,
but in reality are often older), volunteers register and pairs are then
constituted. Throughout the year, the pupil and the student meet and work on a
program on which they have agreed. This program may be sometimes linked to
school or work placements or it can also be about seeing each other,
talking or going out together. “Things of everyday life”, sums up Christina.
© studio sieben, sauerbrunn & wirth, Düsseldorf
From the
first year, Rock your life! wins a prize and gets good media coverage. Thanks
to this support and to student networks, this initiative grows quickly: 10 local branches in Germany and 400 pairs in 2010, 27 local branches and 1000 pairs
in 2012. The program is for free for the schools that strongly encourage their
pupils to take part in it. The team does not struggle to recruit “coaches”
among students.
Is
everything really so simple? Christina admits that the beginning was not easy,
“particularly when we started to work full-time on the project but still did
not have enough resources. It was necessary to work beside the project.” This financial stress quickly decreases thanks
to some partnerships with different firms that also take part in the
learning process. Indeed, some of them have to face difficulties to find skilled
labour. Consequently, Rock your life ! is seen as an intermediary
to help the recruitment of motivated and well-guided youngsters, particularly
for apprenticeships.
Impacts
- The youngsters of Hauptschule, who are often from families of foreign origin and underprivileged background, become more confident in themselves and in their future, thanks to an individualized coaching that helps them to find out their talents and skills and to make suitable choices.
- The mentoring students develop relational skills, such as listening and patience. This experience widens their horizons and make them aware of the stakes of social cohesion in society.
- The partner firms are supported by Rock your life! in the process of recruitment of well-guided, skilled and motivated youngsters.
Bridges
Between:
- youngsters aged between 14 and 18, finishing their degree course in a Hauptschule and who are often not supported by their environment,
- students who enjoy quite favourable conditions,
- and firms which, through this program, forget some negative prejudices against pupils of Hauptschulen and discover their potential.
- What can we learn from Christina's experience?
- “If one has a real opinion, strongly believes in it and starts with small things, it is possible to convince people in it”.
- It is really important to dedicate oneself entirely to a mission: “Be focused only on one thing. I never did it before, not entirely. It requires a lot of conviction. But I really like it!”
I will go
back deeper over this topic later, but I find it useful to refer here to the
“flow” of Mihály Csíkszentmihályi. This
concept denotes the state of being totally immersed in an activity, being
strongly focused on it and having the feeling that the different steps are perfectly clear and linked together. In this state, sense of time disappears and one feels to be part of something larger. I advise you to listen to the TED conference of this
great psychologist who concludes by challenging us - “How to put
more and more of everyday life in that flow channel?”- , while admitting
that we are not equally doted to do it. Peer coaching has most probably a
role to play.
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