This post is part of a series reflecting on my international study tour to Copenhagen, Berlin and London.

Angelika greets us this morning from the Oberstufenzentrum – Kommunikations, Informations und Medientechnik. The OSZ is a gymnasium offering more career focused education and vocational subjects. It is clear from a tour of the school that they focus on media, with more media equipment than I would expect to find in a TV studio! The school has both full vocational and dual students and offer the university exam, the Arbitur.

We start with Angelika introducing three students from the school aged 25, 23 and 18.  Most schools like this have a small percentage of mature age students.  The first student talks of how he didn’t identify with his first attempt at a Gymnasium and much prefers the opportunity to have lots of options.  The second student, who has returned to study after being musician (he had recently had a top ten hit in Germany).  He enjoys the project based learning which occurs.

Angelika and the students talk a lot about behaviour and how much time is dedicated to managing it.  Sitting in the middle of a deprived district of Berlin it is known for difficult students.  They do a  lot of work on setting rules and expectations, getting to class on time and creating a working climate.  Walking around the school it certainly doesn’t feel like a place that needs working on culture and students seem engaged. When we walk into an editing class, students are working in groups on a project and are assisting each other on their work. The equipment in the room is well planned so they can work in pairs or small groups but still have access to everything they might need.