ARGE: English

At the beginning of every school year the parents' advisory councils of all the 55 Hamburg city district schools elect a delegate and his or her substitute onto the Community of Parents' Advisory Councils at City District Schools in Hamburg called GEST (until now: Association of Parents' Advisory Councils of Comprehensive Schools in Hamburg - called ARGE.)

This co-determination body for parents GEST meets every second Tuesday in a month (except for the holidays) in the main conference hall of the education authorities at Hamburger Strasse 41. In these meetings information is being transmitted that may be of importance to parents' advisory councils in city district schools. Besides, the delegate of each school has a chance of reporting on their schools, introducing pedagogic, organisational, and other topics, and putting questions to a representative of the Behörde für Schule und Berufsbildung ("Board for School and Vocational Training", i.e. the education authorities) as well as working on various special issues using different working methods.

The GEST safeguards the parents' and schoolchildren's interests at city district schools and supports

a future oriented education policy: continue to develop and depict city-district-school-style points of view and their outward propagation;
ensure the flow of information between academic experts, political bodies, official representatives, headmasters, parents, and schoolchildren;
ensure the exchange of experience between the city district schools.

Among other things the GEST deals with the following topics:

integration and teaching tolerance;
supply of lessons, shortage of teachers, provision of schools with teaching and learning materials as well as pedagogically furnished classrooms and labs; schoolbooks;
relationship based on partnership between teachers, headmasters, schoolchildren, and parents as well as further education for all of these groups;
opening up lessons: teachers and schoolchildren learn together and together stay curious; inter-disciplinary, project oriented lessons, breaking up the rigid school time structure; age mixed groups, bringing in specialists and skilled people from outside the school.
written reports on what progresses are being made in learning instead of reports with marks (orientation towards "key qualifications" or "key skills").

It won't be as late as tomorrow's school - it is today's school that must be democratic.

We want a child oriented school and we don't want school oriented children. We want a school for the children where learning is fun because it is motivated.

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