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SHS² - Project Description

At its core, the project is based on coaching school pupils of the Sekundarstufe I and II (secondary school). Upcoming school graduates or pupils taking part in the final school terms of the Realschule and Hauptschule receive extra coaching in small groups of roughly eight pupils. The coaching lessons are 90 minutes long once a week and cover subjects selected by the pupils themselves. The coaching teachers (“Kursleiter”) are mostly students from regional, cooperating universities provided by Chancenwerk e.V. All costs are covered by the organization.

In return, the pupils commit themselves to helping younger pupils in supervising their homework on some other day in the week. This is the form of `payment´. In doing this, the pupils not only boost their academic competence, but also improve their social skills. The appreciation they receive from the younger pupils strengthens their self-esteem and allows them to become role-models. Chancenwerk e.V. provides additional students to help the older pupils in this supporting role. Both students and the pupils take part in regular day-time-seminars, preparing them in the best possible way for this task.

Supervising homework for younger pupils takes place twice a week for 90 minutes each time. The upcoming school graduates (or those visiting comparable schools) are split between these two schedules. The ratio applied is: One older pupils supervises four younger pupils, meaning that eight older pupils can supervise 16 younger pupils in total. These younger pupils pay a monthly membership-fee of 10 Euro.

In summary, this is how it works:

1 Student → 8 older pupils → 16 younger pupils

Of course, this system is variable and can be expanded. It can be offered to any kind of school and be applied to any internal school-structure. Once the project has reached a certain status, it is possible to include primary school pupils as well.