Feb 06, 2025
New building for the Dresden University School delayed - structural commission sounds the alarm
Die Schülerinnen und Schüler der Universitätsschule Dresden lernen seit 2019 in einem DDR-Altbau und seit 2022 in einem ergänzten Containerbau. Die Kapazitäten sind erneut überausgeschöpft.
The start of construction for a building for the Dresden University School (USD) has been postponed once again. A new building is to enable the public school trial by TU Dresden and the City of Dresden to test and research the school of the future in appropriate premises. The school and learning space plays a central role in the USD concept and its design, as it has a significant influence on learning and the organization of the school.
The current situation has prompted a public statement from the Dresden University School trial's Structure and Evaluation Commission. The committee of renowned educational scientists and experienced practitioners is clearly concerned about the stagnation with regard to the announced new school building. In addition to the tense space situation, there is also a lack of specialised rooms for biology, physics and chemistry, as well as a sports hall appropriate for the number of pupils, the rooms required for the tied all-day program and work rooms for the learning facilitators.
Planned growth has already led to cramped conditions
The classrooms for grades 1 to 6 and the canteen for all students are located in the container building (left), while the old GDR building houses the rooms for grades 7 to 10. An extension up to year 12 is planned.
The school opened its doors at the Cämmerswalder Straße site in August 2019 for 200 children in grades 1, 2, 3 and 5 in a building from the 1980s. In the following years, it grew to three classes per year level as planned. When it became one of the first two public community schools in Saxony in the 2022 school year, 650 children and young people were already studying here. Even then, the old GDR building had already reached its capacity limits, but the new building had not yet started with the design planning already completed. In the 2022/23 school year, the primary and middle school with grades 1 to 6 moved into a container building instead, which had to make way for the school garden and areas for break times. Since then, the higher grades have been studying in the GDR school building, which is in dire need of renovation, together with the Ukrainian groups.
In a publicity-effective fundraising campaign, the school community drew attention to the precarious situation and was able to raise a double-digit million amount in 2021. The old GDR building and the container building will once again become too cramped for around 900 pupils in the coming 2025/26 school year. By the time they take their first Abitur in the 2027/28 school year, the student body will have grown up to 1,100 children and young people. There will also be around 90 learning facilitators.
New building not in sight until 2029/30 - research and learning under precarious conditions
The current deadline for the future school building is summer 2029/2030. On the one hand, this means unfavorable learning conditions for the pupils and staff, and on the other, it makes research into the conditions for successful learning and the role of space as a "third educator" impossible. The investigation of this factor, a declared goal of the public school trial, is therefore hardly possible for the first 10 years of the 15 years of scientific monitoring by the University School Research Unit at TU Dresden. The current surveys can only show that learning can succeed despite unfavorable conditions.
Since the commission began its work, the Gemium has repeatedly appealed to the "Dresden University School Community of Responsibility" to secure the necessary resources for the future, always in the hope of finding amicable solutions and a corresponding commitment. In view of the very precarious situation, which significantly impairs school life and hinders the further growth of the school community, the Structure and Evaluation Commission urges that "appropriate construction measures should finally be started and planning security established."
Comprehensive overview of the building situation in the statement and reports of the Structure and Evaluation Commission, specialist article and media review
The statement is available for download:
Challenges School Building University School Dresden - The current situation as an occasion for a public statement by the Structure and Evaluation Commission of the University School Dresden,
Cologne, 17.01.2025
The reports of the Structure and Evaluation Commission since 2020 can be found on the website about research at Dresden University School.
On the school website "A learning building for the University School", an overview of the media coverage of the new school building traces developments since 2019.
In the specialist article Raum schafft Struktur und Strukturen schaffen Raum: Schulraum aus Sicht der Universitätsschule Dresden ("Space creates structure and structures create space: School space from the perspective of Dresden University School"), the initiator of the school trial, Prof. Anke Langner, and the project team member Dr. Matthias Ritter describe the development of the University School Dresden in more detail along the struggle for the school building. It was published in December 2024 in the WE_OS Yearbook, an online series of the scientific institution Oberstufen-Kolleg at Bielefeld University. The Bielefeld University School has been conducting practice-oriented research in close collaboration between teachers and academics for over 50 years.
About the University School Dresden
The Dresden University School is a joint project of the city of 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.
- Information on the research project at TU Dresden: https: //tu-dresden.de/gsw/unischule
- Information on the Dresden University School: 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 GSW newsletter.