Good education needs projects! - Maxi Heß at the symposium of the German Association for Project Management

"Good education needs projects!" This was the motto of the 3rd symposium on the topic of schools as a place of learning in the digital transformation - education for a sustainable society held by GPM - Deutsche Gesellschaft für Projektmanagement e.V. in Rostock on April 17 and 18, 2026.

Maxi Heß, Head of the University Community School Dresden, showed in her keynote speech "Thinking school from project work - experiences at the University School Dresden" what it means when learning in projects becomes the starting point of a didactic concept: Project work in the school trial University School Dresden enables meaningful learning that is individual, cooperative and action-oriented at the same time. It shows how learning becomes particularly effective when pupils become active themselves in meaningful contexts and collaborative work becomes the starting point for personal development and professional consolidation.

In the subsequent bar camp "Experimentation makes sense - school development in the university school trial - impulses for leadership and learning culture" , she invited the participants to understand schools as learning organizations - and to redesign them. Because if schools want to develop further, they need the courage to change - and structures that make innovation possible. The Barcamp will shed light on how school development is being rethought at Dresden University School: dynamically, systematically, as a team. Conference and work formats become spaces for creative thinking and sustainable development.

Maxi Heß heads the University School Dresden - an innovative community school on a trial basis. With a passion for change and in close collaboration with TU Dresden, she shapes school development at the interface between practice and science. Her focus is on the transfer of future-oriented concepts: new learning settings, alternative forms of assessment, changed daily structures. With formats such as the Parents' Academy, the Academy for Educators and the Youth School, she creates spaces for learning, participation and development - even beyond the school itself.

Scientific Support for Data-Driven School Development

The ForUS Research Center supports the implementation and further development of the pedagogical concept developed at TU Dresden. Part of this support involves annual assessments of learning progress, which are conducted to evaluate math and spelling skills across all grade levels and at comparable schools in Dresden. The wealth of data collected forms the basis for data-driven school development in collaboration with the team at the Dresden University School.
To this end, an infrastructure is provided that develops and performs the necessary data management and from which applications for third-party funding can be submitted. 

About the University School Dresden

The Dresden University School is a joint project of the state capital Dresden and the TUD Dresden University of Technology. It is a public and free community school run by the city, where innovative forms of teaching and learning are tested under scientific supervision. In addition, it is a training school for future teachers and, in the future, a further education school for teachers. The school trial is being scientifically supported by the ForUS research center at TU Dresden.

Read more about TU Dresden’s research project: tu-dresden.de/gsw/unischule
Read more about the University School Dresden: universitaetsschule.org

You can find insights into the research project and everyday school life on various social media channels under @unischuleTUD: Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and LinkedIn. News from the University School Dresden project can be found regularly in the TU Dresden GSW newsletter