Integration & inclusion

Over the last twenty years, a diverse school landscape has developed in Jena that is oriented towards holistic learning, reform pedagogy, the strengthening of grammar schools and the fulfillment of parents' wishes.

School education in Jena takes into account the idea of inclusion, understood as the right to full social participation of each individual with their specific requirements.

Inclusive school concepts, which understand social and individual diversity as an opportunity and enrichment, are a priority. The aim is to create optimal learning conditions for every single pupil - regardless of their individual circumstances.

High level of integration

The city of Jena supports efforts to teach all children together. For this reason, 89% of children and young people with special educational needs at general education schools in Jena are being taught together in the current 2018/19 school year. In Thuringia, the inclusion rate was 42% in the 2017/2018 school year.

Joint teaching put to the test

The city administration therefore has a great responsibility towards all pupils and their parents, as well as teachers. The question of how joint teaching can be designed and further developed so that all pupils - with and without special educational needs - can benefit from it must be clarified. As part of a two-year research project at Friedrich Schiller University and Humboldt University in Berlin, the quality of joint teaching is therefore being examined.

Inclusive education in early childhood has a long tradition in Jena.

As early as the 1970s, there were educational programs in kindergarten and in a special educational day care center for children and young people with mental disabilities. In 1991, the "Schwabenhaus" day care center and the "Kindervilla" day care center were established as integrative day care facilities that focus on living and learning together.

In the years that followed, more inclusive daycare centers were established. However, the legal foundations for inclusive early education were not laid until later.

New childcare law 2010

Childcare law was amended in 2010. This established new standards for early childhood education, care and upbringing in Thuringia.

One of the most important innovations is the implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and thus the improvement of support for children with disabilities and children at risk of disability.

INKLUSION" initiative

The "INKLUSION" initiative was founded in Jena as part of the German Children and Youth Foundation's "Anschwung für frühe Chancen" program. In addition to providing information and raising awareness of the issue of inclusive childcare, one of the main objectives is to create a sustainable network of stakeholders in the early childhood sector.