In August, about 860 children and young people started the new school year at Dresden University Community School. After the welcome week, they begin project learning in heterogeneous groups with a daily structure tailored to the different age groups. Experienced parents, pupils and teachers support the new members of the various levels to ensure a successful start to the school year. The growing school experiment will continue to be supported by the University School Dresden Pilot Project Research Unit ForUS at TU Dresden in the implementation of the didactic concept and adaptation of the concept modules for successful learning at a "school of the future". The school registration dates for the coming school year are just around the corner.

Since its foundation in 2019 with 200 children in grades 1, 2, 3 and 5, the school community has grown continuously. Every summer, around 75 children start school in Year 1 - the equivalent of three classes - in the mixed-grade groups of the primary school. During the welcome week, they learn from their classmates in Years 2 and 3 how everyday school life begins here: with digital registration, slippers and breakfast for everyone before the start of shared learning times.

Shaping level transitions and strengthening cohesion

The children who start middle school in year 4 have a very similar experience. Last year, they were the experts themselves; now they are being introduced to the rooms and processes by the Year 5 and 6 pupils and guided by the learning guides into more independent learning in the project. As the Saxon School Act stipulates that there must be a four-grade upper school at a community school, a class of newly registered Year 5 pupils and their parents are also accepted into the school community as lateral entrants.

Individual lateral entrants will also be integrated into the core groups in years 2-4 and 6-10. The permeability of the core groups, as laid out in the school concept, enables a relatively stable community. However, the groups are not as rigidly structured as year groups and level-differentiated classes in mainstream schools. In deliberately heterogeneous groups, pupils at all levels learn together and also from each other in mixed age groups and regardless of their future qualification - remedial, lower secondary school leaving certificate, intermediate school leaving certificate or Abitur.

Vocational orientation in the youth level

In year 7, the young people move to the youth level and thus also from the mobile room units to the old GDR building. Together with Year 8, career guidance is a new topic for them alongside increasingly self-regulated learning. They were already preparing for the start of the Friday work placement in spring 2025. One day a week, they learn about real-life problems at an extracurricular learning location.

At another extracurricular learning location, the youth school in Dresden's Prohlis district, the young people experience learning with a strong connection to life and the world of work through very practical tasks in their mentee group: managing a garden, catering for the entire group, renovating the listed buildings, cleaning the rooms, making tools and other objects in the workshop. Every seven weeks, they take on these tasks with the support of specialist teachers from the Business, Technology, Household (WTH) department, among others, and thus also implement project learning at this learning location.

They also include some of the Ukrainian pupils who have been at USD since 2022. Following the dissolution of the language support classes, they are now learning in the middle, youth and qualification level. Two teachers from Ukraine are now a permanent part of the learning support team in the subjects of English, music and sport at the various levels.

First numerical grades in year 9 for the final examinations

With the change to the so-called qualification level, students at the University Community School receive numerical grades for the first time from year 9 onwards. In addition to verbal feedback and the presentation of the level of learning achieved in percentages from the intermediate level, the grades required for the Hauptschulabschluss and all other standardized final examinations are introduced. By participating in regular skills tests by the research center for the ForUS university school trial, the children and young people are already familiar with regular test formats in the younger grades, even if these are used to assess learning levels and as a basis for feedback that promotes learning rather than for performance assessment.

After the first Realschule examinations in spring 2025, 30 graduates left the school, while three Hauptschule graduates and one special needs school graduate continued their professional careers in a pre-vocational year, voluntary service or vocational training. In the 2025/26 school year, about 15 students from the first larger graduating class will return to Year 10 in the first so-called loop year.

Loop year in year 10 - intensive preparation for upper secondary level

The students who entered the year 5 at the University Secondary School in the founding year 2019 do not formally meet the requirements for studying up to the Abitur. This has only been the case since the introduction of the university community school without a division into primary and secondary school and with the upper secondary level. Even those who have studied at secondary school level up to year 10 need further preparation for upper secondary school. The so-called "Schleifenjahr" in year 10 is the solution to this problem in the school year 2025/26. Pupils with the prerequisites (including a final grade) for the upper secondary school level supplement this knowledge and skills - an example of the permeability built into the school concept, which also enables a different school-leaving qualification at a later date without changing schools.

The first year 11 class will start at the Dresden University School in the 2026/27 school year. The scientifically supported school trial will then reach the halfway point, the eighth of 15 years of accompanying research will begin and the new building for a learning center of the future near the current location will begin. In the 2027/28 school year, the school community will then fully grow to around 1,000 pupils in grades 1 to 12, accompanied by around 110 learning guides. The move to the learning building at the Höckendorfer Weg site is planned for 2029.

Scientific support from the ForUS research center

The Dresden University School was opened in 2019 as a joint project of the TUD Dresden University of Technology and the state capital of Dresden: a school experiment on the "School of the Future" with scientific support from the TU Dresden over 15 years at a school run by the city. With the founding of the University School Dresden Pilot Project Research Unit ForUS in spring 2022, TU Dresden gained an interdisciplinary scientific institution for excellent educational research in the school trial, which is unique of its kind in Germany.

On the one hand, the Chair of Educational Science with a focus on inclusive education enables student teachers in Dresden to test and research innovative teaching-learning formats at the TU Dresden training school. On the other hand, the educational researchers regularly conduct and evaluate learning assessments with pupils at the USD and at comparative schools in Dresden. Here, too, future teachers can participate and gain practical insights into educational research.

Educational research for the university school community and beyond

In fall 2024, three research projects were launched at the University School ForUS research center in the context of accompanying research for the University School Dresden. With the support of the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR), the aim is to work with other research partners and pilot schools to explore the possibilities of digital technology for school and teaching development that is conducive to learning and geared towards the individual needs of students. One project focuses on the demands placed on local authorities as school authorities in providing a corresponding infrastructure.

An initial transfer of the findings from the school trial is taking place as part of the project "Alternative teaching placement at selected schools in eastern Saxony" (ALSO). Following initial experience with a semester-long school internship at the University School Dresden, student teachers at TU Dresden can gain practical experience with innovative teaching-learning formats at an early stage of their studies. The Chair of Education / Inclusive Education and the Educational Science Teaching and Research Workshop (ELF) based there prepare them for their work in schools, but also provide them with close support in reflecting on the theory taught at the university and their practical experience.

Adults also learn in the school trial

Before the start of the school year, the new learning guides were able to get to know their colleagues at all levels during the preparatory week and are now beginning their work in the "School of the Future" school trial run by TU Dresden and the state capital Dresden. At the Pedagogical Academy, the learning support team regularly undergoes further training on topics relating to teaching and school development and takes part in the accompanying research by the ForUS University School Research Center.

Parents also learn from the school trial and share their experiences. The Parents' Academy working group of the USD Parents' Council first invites parents to familiarize themselves with the school and learning management software. This enables communication between all members of the school community, as well as digitally supported documentation of attendance, individual learning paths and target agreement discussions in the higher grades - transparent for students, teachers and parents - and thus facilitates the focus on the next learning steps for each individual child and young person.

The regular Parents' Academy invites parents to learn more about the didactic concept, its implementation and progress, as well as to exchange ideas. The format, which is always supported by the school management team, accompanying research and learning support, also provides exciting insights into the accompanying research and findings from the ForUS research center.

Registration for school start 2026 in September

At the public community school in the south of Dresden, registration for Year 1 in the 2026/27 school year will take place on September 4 and 9 from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. without an appointment. A declared aim of the school trial is for the student body of the Dresden University School to represent the population average in terms of gender, multilingualism, support needs and parents' highest vocational and educational qualifications. To select the children accepted, parents also complete a TU Dresden questionnaire on these criteria when registering. The ForUS University School Research Center regularly publishes an overview of the current composition of the student body.

About the University School Dresden

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 academic supervision. In addition, it is a training school for future teachers and prospectively, a further education school for teachers. The ForUS - University School Research Unit at TU Dresden is providing scientific support for the school trial.

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