NEOS Study – Scientific Monitoring of the New Upper Secondary School in Schleswig-Holstein

Project Description

From the school year 2021/22 onwards, the state of Schleswig-Holstein is implementing a reform of the upper secondary school at grammar schools and community schools, which focuses on expanding the opportunities for students to set their own individual priorities and profiles. The two main innovations in the upper secondary school in Schleswig-Holstein are: (1) the introduction of level-differentiated teaching in the core subjects (basic and advanced courses in German, mathematics and foreign languages) and (2) the newly designed profiling possibilities for schools – especially on the newly created profile seminar.

The guiding question of the NEOS study is how the innovations in the upper school are perceived at the schools, in what way the school staff make use of the new teaching options and where challenges, additional support needs and optimisation potential exist.

The NEOS study consists of several components. The main component is a standardised online survey of the school administrations of all public grammar schools and community schools with an upper secondary school in the state of Schleswig-Holstein in the second school semester of 2022/23. Parallel to the school administration survey, an online survey of teachers teaching the core subjects (German, mathematics and foreign languages) in the upper school is conducted at about one third of the schools. As a third component, at selected schools semi-standardised interviews with school administration and teachers are conducted to deepen and contextualise the findings from the online surveys. In addition, evaluations of school statistics – such as the course selection behaviour of students in the core subjects – are included.

Project Objectives

The NEOS study focuses on gaining knowledge on acceptance and implementation of the innovations of the upper secondary school in Schleswig-Holstein. Furthermore additional support needs and optimisation potentials in the implementation of the reform should be identified.

Funding

Ministry for General and Vocational Education, Science, Research and Culture of the State of Schleswig-Holstein.

The third-party funding has expired (11/2022 - 12/2023); the project is still being evaluated.

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