Sustainability is firmly anchored in the curriculum at the Schlägl organic school

Aigen-Schlägl. Nature and the seasons have a significant influence on the timetable at the Schlägl Organic School. This changes almost weekly. Circular thinking is the basis of the entire lesson, which has a modular structure: “In addition to theory, practice is extremely important to us. Our students should experience how sustainable business works,” says Johann Gaisberger, director of the organic school. For example, products that are made in class are sold through the school’s organic food store.

Experience self-efficacy

The students experience a certain level of self-efficacy. The schläglers want to convey what works well within the school to the outside world: “We offer circulatory workshops for other schools and have already been able to reach more than 600 young people,” says the director. Among other things, the appreciation for rural agriculture is conveyed. These workshops have been offered for three years in collaboration with the Bohemian Forest School. The target group is middle schools and high schools.

“It’s about creating awareness of sustainable business and living in harmony with nature. That’s why we see ourselves not just as a school, but as a regional partner and service provider,” says Gaisberger. The organic school with the organic competence center wants to get involved and wants to be part of the solution. That’s why experiments are constantly being carried out, analyzed and incorporated into the curriculum. This is how the first digital textbook for organic farming was created. We are also in constant contact with agriculture through the biocompetence center.

Cooperations with model agricultural businesses from the region create an important transfer of knowledge directly from practice.

Get excited about sustainability

“Our challenge is to inspire students to act sustainably. Daily implementation as a role model is an important factor. By involving as many people of different ages and social classes as possible with different approaches, we achieve a certain broad impact,” explains Gaisberger.

They don’t want to be perceived as missionary: “We don’t want to polarize, we just want to show how it could work. Our job is to inspire people.”

The OÖNachrichten is awarding the prize for sustainability for the second time after its premiere last year. The aim is to bring the topics of ecology, sustainability and climate protection more into the center of society. Companies, associations and initiatives can still apply until February 3rd.