School Systems – Different but Interesting; Hedda and Niklas explain their discoveries

Motivate! Blog > Tandems > School Systems – Different but Interesting; Hedda and Niklas explain their discoveries

15/12/2022
Posted by: MOTIVATE students

School Systems - Different but Interesting; Hedda and Niklas explain their discoveries

It’s our turn to write the blog post, yey! Who are we, you’re probably wondering. So here is a short introduction of us. First out we have 22-year-old Niklas from Germany, studying Arbeitslehre at TU Berlin. Most importantly, his favorite food is Sushi. Secondly, we have Hedda. A 24-year-old Norwegian girl studying at NTNU Trondheim. Her favorite food is the national Norwegian dish – Taco. So now that you have gotten to know us a little better, let’s move on to the main topic of this blog post.

During one of our workshops, we heard an interesting fun fact from Lena: in Switzerland the kids go home in the middle of the day, to have a warm lunch made by their parents. What??? How is this possible? How can the parents leave their workplace for a couple of hours in the middle of the day, every day? We are amazed. This inspired us to talk a little bit more about the school systems, and how it varies.

We are going to focus on the school systems of Norway and Germany. The school systems are both using technical devices differently. It is common in both Norway and Germany that schools have Smart Boards in the classrooms. This is a great way for teachers to use digital tools during the lessons. In Norway, the pupils also get I-Pads from the school. In Germany, this is usually not the case.

Another difference in the school system is the curriculum. In Germany, there are regional differences in the school. The curriculum is decided by the states, while in Norway the curriculum is nationally applied. The difference in the curriculum in Germany is not that big between the states, but it is still a difference. There are pros and cons to why it is like this, and it will be interesting to see if this changes in the future.

There are so many more things we could comment on in this blog post, but we will save that for a later discussion. We definitely see a difference in the Norwegian and the German school systems and how they operate. This is very interesting to learn and compare, and at the same time, it gives us a better understanding of our own school system. Looking forward to learning more!

Niklas and Hedda out. 🎤

"In a diverse world, my thoughts should also be diverse, and I have only achieved this by exchanging ideas with people whose thoughts and experiences enrich me. Through the exchange at MOTIVATE! I have come up with completely new thoughts and developed new ideas for myself as a future teacher and also as a person. Celebrating the now of education and having courage and visions for the later is what I have found for myself this year."

Sophie Beer

Student at TU Berlin and former MOTIVATE! student

"MOTIVATE! is a great opportunity if you want to think outside the box as a teacher student. You get to know facets of the teaching profession together with international students, make contacts and form friendships. It really is a good first step if you want to engage with education internationally!"

Jelle Oellrich

Student at TU Berlin, former MOTIVATE! student and exchange student at NTNU

"In any case, it is very valuable to get to know a different culture of teaching. The interaction with lecturers and students in Norway is more on an equal footing, so you get the impression that you are working on something together instead of just solving an impersonal task to generate points. A personal project is created."

Dag-Maximilian Dannehl

Student at TU Berlin and former exchange student at NTNU

"MOTIVATE! provides students with distinct benefits as they develop acceptance for cultural diversity, self-confidence, initiative and curiosity through cross-cultural learning."

Katrine Dalbu Alterhaug

Head of Internationalization at the Teacher Department at NTNU

"Move it again, MOTIVATE! and lets be creative and constructive with all we learned during the pandemic…"

Prof. Markus Cslovjecsek

Project Coordinator at PH FHNW

"MOTIVATE! enables students to freely exchange thoughts and ideas on relevant topics while also gaining important intercultural skills and knowledge."

Lina Schmidt

Student and staffmember of MOVE IT! at TU Berlin

“In the world today, schools can only succeed with an international approach: the diversity of pupils in Berlin and elsewhere, the social and technological challenges of the future, all this is globally and locally connected and we need a reflexive, well-informed and open-minded view across any borders.”

Prof. Dr. Susann Fegter

Director of the School of Education SETUB