Top marks, new curricula and more personal responsibility - the schools of the future in Saxony are the subject of controversial debate

Great approval for numerous recommendations for action

Suggestions for student participation in the design of lessons, concepts for self-organized learning and a revision and review of curricula in terms of relevance and skills acquisition were met with great approval. There was also a clear vote in favor of the recommendation to give schools more responsibility and to improve vocational orientation courses in all general education schools. The proposal to align lessons and everyday school life more closely with children's and young people's biorhythms in future was also the subject of controversial discussion.

There was also a clash of views on the topic of head marks and grading. Head grades are much more subjective than other grades and have little influence on children's development. Opponents of head grades explained that people are assessed much more fairly with target agreements than with numerical values on a 5-point scale.

In contrast, it was repeatedly pointed out that head grades could be an important criterion in application procedures for training or jobs, for example. "You should keep and preserve what is tried and tested. But things should also be accepted in order to obtain greater meaningfulness," said Piwarz.