This summer semester, a special project at the Institute of Educational Sciences has brought colour into the everyday life of some primary schools in the Oldenburg region - and provided some students with their first practical experience. The "Primary School of the Future" project focuses on community service, sustainability and creativity.

"It's really fun," exclaims Janne cheerfully. The second-grader and her friend Paulina are wearing paint coats, holding thick brushes and covered in paint. Together with three other children, they are responsible for decorating two table tennis tables in the schoolyard of Osterscheps primary school as the "Kunterbunt group". Supported by two student teachers from the university, they carefully paint large white dots on the already bright yellow table - the fields of a game of Ludo. "The boards looked pretty bleak before, and no one had ever played table tennis," reports Hille Schröder, class teacher of 2b, to which Janne and Paulina belong. The children therefore suggested that the tables could be used for other games.

Schröder's "mouse class" is also busy making the school more colourful this week at the end of May. The pupils are working enthusiastically on several projects under the guidance of ten university students. Some boys are painting white lines on the schoolyard, which will soon form the roads of a traffic course for Kettcars. Another group is making the corresponding road signs, while another team has painted five large wooden panels with imaginative scenes to decorate a tubular steel barrier at the bus stop. In addition, several bouncy games are being created on a concrete surface in front of the school.

The activities at Osterscheps primary school in Ammerland are part of a special project by the Institute of Educational Sciences: the "Primary School of the Future" project, led by Dr Juliane Schlesier, is testing the teaching-learning method "Learning through Engagement". A total of around 250 schoolchildren at four primary schools are taking part - as well as 80 student teachers from the university, mainly from the second semester, who have taken Schlesier's seminar in the "Teaching and Learning" module.

Practical experience as early as the second semester

The project, financially supported by the Barthel Foundation as the main sponsor and the EWE Foundation, has three objectives: Firstly, the primary schools and the children involved should benefit directly from the projects implemented, and secondly, the students are given their first practical experience at an early stage. Thirdly, Schlesier collects accompanying data on how learning through engagement affects the pupils' social skills, personal development and writing skills. The project leader is a research assistant in the Empirical Teaching and Learning Research department headed by Prof Dr Barbara Moschner. Researchers from the University of Greifswald, the University of Hamburg and the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg are also involved in her study.

"The research is more unanimous than ever that this method only has positive effects, but this has not yet been systematically researched for primary schools," says Schlesier, who personally supervises all project days at the four schools. "Learning through engagement" is a concept that originated in the USA, where it is known as "service learning". The method aims to combine commitment to the common good - be it in the social, ecological, cultural or political sphere - with subject-related learning.

Even ploughing weeds is fun

It is easy to see that this combination is well received at Osterscheps primary school. "Children, parents, the students - everyone is enthusiastic," reports teacher Hille Schröder, who radiates great enthusiasm herself. She explains the students' strong motivation by the fact that they can plan the projects themselves and shape their own environment. "They even enjoy doing things that aren't actually that attractive, such as pulling weeds at the bus stop," she says. Or they find fun in previously unloved activities - like Janne, who normally doesn't like painting but is now doing it with enthusiasm. "The children learn without realising it," the teacher is convinced.

Schlesier emphasises that technical learning is not neglected either: "The children read instructions, write plans and make notes in a learning diary - so they acquire reading and writing skills through play." At the end, all groups present their results with posters and sometimes even films at a closing ceremony, which parents are also allowed to attend.

The fact that everything runs so smoothly in Osterscheps is also down to the ten students who work with the children every day for a week to realise the projects. "The students put a lot of thought into it beforehand and made a lot of organisational preparations," says Schlesier. Many chose the seminar because of the opportunity to get a taste of practical work. For example Ineke Klaaßen, who is studying to become a teacher of special needs education and elementary maths: "I think it's really great to work with the children," she says. Lukas Rau, who is studying elementary maths and Protestant religion, also benefits from the experience at the school. After four days in the middle of the hustle and bustle of the schoolyard, he has confirmed: "I definitely want to become a primary school teacher."

Students quickly grow into the role of teacher

Dr Juliane Schlesier

Educational researcher and lecturer Schlesier believes it is extremely important to include more practical elements in teacher training programmes - a goal to which the University of Oldenburg is generally committed. "Prospective teachers receive excellent theoretical training during their studies, but the reality in schools is often different," she observes. The traineeship often comes with a practical shock - which is probably one of the reasons for the high drop-out rate in the preparatory service, which according to a study by the Stifterverband is ten to 15 per cent.

Schlesier first conducted a project similar to the one now being carried out in the Oldenburg region two years ago during her time as a deputy professor at the University of Greifswald. There, she realised that students benefit greatly from early practical experience. "Most of them are initially unsure when they meet the children for the first time, but quickly grow into the role of teacher," she explains. She attaches particular importance to the fact that the students can then process and reflect on their experiences in the seminar. This enables them to learn strategies at an early stage so that they can better cope with stressful situations in their everyday working life later on.

Insights into everyday life as a teacher

Lukas Rau and Ineke Klaaßen quickly realised that everyday life as a teacher requires flexibility and stress resilience. "It's definitely exhausting," admits Rau. "Our planning was a little too imprecise at first, which caused us time problems," reports Klaaßen. However, they were able to improve this by dividing up the roles more clearly. At one point, the weather also threw a spanner in the works. "Because it suddenly started raining, we had to spontaneously take the children from the schoolyard to the gym and quickly think about what we could do there," says the student. The solution: they realised the theme of the course with building blocks and toy cars.

As great as the general enthusiasm for the project is, Schlesier emphasises that the scope would probably have to be reduced if similar seminars were to be incorporated into teacher training as standard. "It only works because everyone involved is particularly committed - not just the children and teachers at the schools, but also the students, my student assistants Lilith Rothmund and Daniela Eckhoff and myself as a lecturer," says the educational scientist. But ultimately, everyone's motivation prevails: "So far, all of the students have always been there, and no one has ever been late for an appointment, even though they are not required to be present," she reports. When a project at one school was in danger of not being completed within the specified time, some students even turned up at the weekend - voluntarily, as Schlesier emphasises .