Important fields of action

The section “Preparation” provides you with four buttons guiding you to different questionnaires for the reflection on important fields of action concerning democratic practices in schools.

1. Involvement of students, parents and the community
2. Teachers and principals (practice and cooperation)
3. Decision-making, communication and power
4. School atmosphere, transparency and initiative

These questionnaires can be used in various ways to get a clear overview about a potential starting point for action at your school.

Possibilities for working with the following materials

a) Fill in all questionnaires yourself as principal and find out which fields of action are well-established and which require additional support and development at your school.

b) Let the school staff fill in the questionnaires and analyze them together. Then, you initiate a discussion on the basis of the results. Try to understand better what surprises or strikes you. In so doing, prioritize the fields of action for the practice of democracy at your school.

c) Note: In the section « checklists, action plans and methods» there is a description of a free online survey-tool (Google driven). You can copy the questions into this tool and start an online survey with your teachers. The system immediately shows the results, which can be further discussed with your teachers.

d) Use the questionnaire or some questions thereof as a basis for observations. Familiarize yourself in detail with the current practices in your school and in the classrooms. You can make regular observations over a period of time to collect more information. Crosscheck with your staff if necessary.

e) You can select specific fields of action or questions from the questionnaires. Use them as a starting point for discussions with the teaching staff and to raise awareness about a specific issue.

Note 1: Instead of choosing just one variant, you can also combine several variants. For example, you can fill in the questionnaires yourself, then conduct a survey with the teachers, followed by a discussion of the results. Finally, you observe and gather information about specific aspects in your school.

Note 2: For help with work in the fields of action you have identified for your school, consult the “action” section.