Project Information
Schule macht stark
Objective and Task
As part of the joint federal-state initiative "Schule macht stark," 200 schools in challenging contexts were funded starting in the 2020/21 school year. Originally planned to run for ten years across two phases, the second phase, from 2025/26 onward, was intended to transfer the concepts developed to a wider set of schools. This transfer phase was dropped, however, in favor of the Startchancen Programme, into which the experience gained and the transfer products from SchuMaS are being fed.
The research alliance "Schule macht stark – SchuMaS" accompanied and supported school and instructional development, the professionalization of educational staff, and networking with the surrounding social environment at 200 schools in challenging contexts across Germany, spanning primary and lower secondary education. The project comprised four content clusters: (1) "Instructional Development in German and Mathematics," (2) "Professionalization," (3) "School Development and Leadership," and (4) "Extracurricular Learning and Social-Space Orientation." The work of the content clusters was framed and supported by three metaclusters: (1) "Evaluation," (2) "Assessment and Research Data Management," and (3) "Integration and Transfer." The concepts and strategies developed within the alliance were translated, in close consultation, into concrete development measures at the schools. Co-constructive collaboration between research and practice played a particularly important role in this process (Design-Based Research). Close collaboration with schools on the ground took place through four regional centers of the alliance. The University of Duisburg-Essen led the content cluster "School Development and Leadership" (ScheF, Prof. I. van Ackeren), contributed to the cluster "Extracurricular Learning and Social-Space Orientation" (ALSO, Prof. S. Stöbe-Blossey), and operated one of the four regional SchuMaS centers.
The research alliance was coordinated by DIPF | Leibniz Institute for Research and Information in Education (Prof. Dr. Kai Maaz); participating institutions were the University of Tübingen, the Mercator Institute for Literacy and Language Education, the University of Cologne, the University of Mannheim, the IPN – Leibniz Institute for Science and Mathematics Education, TU Dortmund University, the German Youth Institute (DJI), the University of Potsdam, Ruhr University Bochum, the Institute for Educational Quality Improvement (IQB) at Humboldt University of Berlin, Heidelberg University, and the University of Duisburg-Essen.
Approach
The central objective of the ALSO cluster was to promote extracurricular learning and to network schools with their surrounding social environment. To this end, development potential and resources within the social space were to be identified, and support services tailored to schools' needs were to be developed. Within the cluster, work was linked across several levels: quality development of extracurricular provision (particularly in all-day schooling), multiprofessional cooperation (particularly between schools and child and youth welfare services), cooperation with out-of-school partners, school–family collaboration, and social-space orientation and analysis.
The research and development process within ALSO comprised five work packages:
| (A) Current Status | (B) Resources | (C) Needs / Goals | (D) Concepts | (E) Monitoring | |
| All 200 schools | Survey (online survey, school statistics) | Provision of research findings on concepts; standardized analyses of the survey | Support with goal-setting | Activation; developing and implementing measures | Survey |
| Selection: 35-40 schools in 2 phases | Selection of case-study locations | Case studies with interviews and social-space analyses | Development workshops at case-study sites for goal definition | Development and refinement of action concepts at model sites (development workshops) | Formative evaluation of the action concepts |
The BEST research department placed a particular focus, within the ALSO cluster, on school–family collaboration in primary education. Its content areas included, for example, building structures for multiprofessional cooperation (e.g., between teachers and other pedagogical staff, such as school social workers or social pedagogy specialists in all-day schooling) and adapting, for primary schools, the "Familienzentren" (family centers) concept originally developed for day-care centers in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW). A further focus was on cooperative transition support as part of vocational orientation. This included the opportunity to establish or expand structures that build on the different vocational orientation programs of the various Länder and are geared to the heterogeneous needs of students.
In addition, BEST participated in a regional center. The Duisburg-Essen Regional Center, as one of the research alliance's four regional SchuMaS centers, served as a central link between the participating research institutions, the schools, and the education administration in the Länder. Its task was to closely accompany and coordinate school development and quality-assurance processes on the ground. This took place both through network meetings of the school alliances and through individual reflection and planning meetings.
Project management: Prof. Dr. Sybille Stöbe-Blossey
Project team: Philipp Hackstein (ALSO), Susanne Enssen (Regional Center and ALSO)
Coordination with the department's research work: Dr. Brigitte Micheel and Dr. Monique Ratermann-Busse
Key Project Results
Development of an overall transfer product: The experience gained through the research-practice workshops — including overarching success factors for establishing and expanding structures for multiprofessional cooperation — was brought together into a modular working tool, the "Toolbox: Actively Shaping Multiprofessional School Development" (Figure 1).
Figure 1: The "Toolbox: Actively Shaping Multiprofessional School Development" (IAQ 2025)
Modular structure of the toolbox: The toolbox is organized into a basic module (analysis of the school's current situation and resources), a structure module (developing structures and processes for multiprofessional cooperation), design modules ("collaboration with Families" and "transition support in vocational orientation"), and supplementary working materials.
Open Access: All materials were prepared for transfer into both research and practice and made digitally available as Open Educational Resources under an open license (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0).
Follow-on potential: The insights gained and concepts developed in the project — particularly on multiprofessional school development — are being incorporated into, and further developed within, the Startchancen Programme, among other channels.
Publications
Enssen, Susanne / Ratermann-Busse, Monique, 2025: Ko-konstruktive Konzeptentwicklung für die multiprofessionelle Kooperation in der beruflichen Orientierung. Ein organisationstheoretischer Ansatz. In: Kai Maaz, Alexandra Marx : SchuMaS – Schule macht stark. Gemeinsam Schule machen mit SchuMaS. Wissenschaft und Praxis für starke Schulen in herausfordernden Lagen, S. 127–144 | Lesen
Hackstein, Philipp / Micheel, Brigitte , 2025: Zusammenarbeit mit Familien als multiprofessioneller Schulentwicklungsprozess. Ko-konstruktive Produktentwicklung in Wissenschaft-Praxis-Werkstätten. In: Kai Maaz, Alexandra Marx : SchuMaS – Schule macht stark. Gemeinsam Schule machen mit SchuMaS. Wissenschaft und Praxis für starke Schulen in herausfordernden Lagen, S. 311–336 | Lesen
Autor*innengruppe ALSO-Konsortium: Schuchardt, Jakob / Bargel, Holger / Bellenberg, Gabriele / Forell, Matthias / Hackstein, Philipp / Kielblock, Amina / Kielblock, Stephan / Micheel, Brigitte / Reißig, Birgit / Schräpler, Jörg-Peter / Stöbe-Blossey, Sybille, 2024: Bildungschancen für Schüler*innen durch außerunterrichtliches Lernen und Sozialraumorientierung (ALSO). In: Maaz, Kai und Alexandra Marx: SchuMaS – Schule macht stark. Sozialraumorientierte Schul- und Unterrichtsentwicklung an Schulen in schwierigen Lagen. Aufbau und erste Arbeitsergebnisse des Forschungsverbunds , S. 271–281| Info | Lesen
Enssen, Susanne / Farwick, Susanne / Kalustian, Anita / Starke, Jana / Kara, Belgüzar / Wendrock, Ruben / Thielmann, Merle-Sophie / Marzen, Laura, 2024: „Die größte Herausforderung ist einfach auch was Schönes“ – Die Wahrnehmung von Schulen in sozialräumlich deprivierter Lage aus Schulleitungsperspektive. In: Maaz, Kai und Alexandra Marx: SchuMaS – Schule macht stark. Sozialraumorientierte Schul- und Unterrichtsentwicklung an Schulen in schwierigen Lagen. Aufbau und erste Arbeitsergebnisse des Forschungsverbunds , S. 175-193| Info | Lesen
Stöbe-Blossey, Sybille / Hagemann, Linda / Klaudy, E. Katharina / Micheel, Brigitte / Nieding, Iris, 2020: Familienzentren in Nordrhein-Westfalen : Eine empirische Analyse. Wiesbaden: Springer VS, ISBN: 978-3-658-30599-4| Info
Born, Andreas / Klaudy, Elke Katharina / Micheel, Brigitte / Risse, Thomas / Stöbe-Blossey, Sybille (Hrsg.): , 2019: Familienzentren an Grundschulen. Abschlussbericht zur Evaluation in Gelsenkirchen. Duisburg: Inst. Arbeit und Qualifikation. IAQ-Forschung 2019-04 | DOI-Link | Lesen
Ratermann, Monique / Stöbe-Blossey, Sybille (Hrsg.), 2012: Governance von Schul- und Elementarbildung. Vergleichende Betrachtungen und Ansätze der Vernetzung. Wiesbaden: Springer VS. Educational governance, ISBN: 978-3-531-18426-5
Lectures
Susanne Enssen, Chantal Mose, Dr. Monique Ratermann-Busse, Sylvia Nienhaus (Ev. Hochschule Bochum): Going digital? Schulsozialarbeit im Spannungsfeld von Digitalisierung und Digitalität in der beruflichen Orientierung, Workshop. Bundeskongress Schulsozialarbeit 2026, Universität Hildesheim, Hildesheim, 06.03.2026 Weitere Informationen
Prof. Dr. Sybille Stöbe-Blossey: Auf den letzten Metern von Schule macht stark. Netzwerktagung SchuMaS Niedersachsen, Hannover, 25.03.2025 Vortragsfolien
Susanne Enssen, Dr. Monique Ratermann-Busse: Berufliche Orientierung als Querschnittsaufgabe in Schulen. "SchuMaS meets...", virtuell, , 16.12.2024
Susanne Enssen, Dr. Monique Ratermann-Busse: Multiprofessional cooperation in career and study guidance at eye level: A multiperspective approach to co-constructive concept development. 16th Conference of the European Sociological Association (ESA), "Tension, Trust and Transformation", Porto, Portugal, 27 - 30 August 2024, 28.08.2024 Weitere Informationen
Philipp Hackstein: Förderung von Bildungschancen in „Schule macht stark“: Zusammenarbeit von Schule und Familien als Grundlage für besseres Lernen. IAQ-Kolloquium, Duisburg, 24.06.2024 Vortragsfolien
Philipp Hackstein: Zusammenarbeit von Schule und Eltern als Grundlage für besseres Lernen: Potenziale von Familienzentren im Primarbereich. Zusammenarbeit mit Eltern – Familiengrundschulzentren im Fokus, online, "SchuMaS meets...", 13.05.2024
Dr. Monique Ratermann-Busse, Susanne Enssen: Multiprofessionelle Kooperation für die Übergangsbegleitung von Schülerinnen und Schülern partizipativ und reflexiv gestalten – Wie geht das? 11. Tagung der Gesellschaft für empirische Bildungsforschung (GEBF): Bildung verstehen – Partizipation erreichen – Transfer gestalten, Symposium "Von Vielfalt profitieren – Eine ganzheitliche Förderung von Schülerinnen und Schülern durch multiprofessionelle Kooperation gestalten" (Chairs: Dr. Monique Ratermann-Busse, Philipp Hackstein, Susanne Enssen; Diskutantin: Prof. Dr. Nina Bremm (FAU)), Universität Potsdam, 18.03.2024 Weitere Informationen
Susanne Enssen, Philipp Hackstein, Dr. Monique Ratermann-Busse, Dr. Brigitte Micheel, Amina Kielblock, Dr. Stephan Kielblock, Jakob Schuchardt, Dr. Matthias Forell, Holger Bargel: Ko-konstruktive Zusammenarbeit von Wissenschaft und Praxis: eine innovative Form der Schulentwicklung. Posterpräsentation auf dem 29. Kongress der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Erziehungswissenschaft vom 10.03. bis 13.03.2024, Halle (Saale), 12.03.2024 Vortragsfolien
Philipp Hackstein: Sozialraumorientierung als Basis für eine kontextsensible Zusammenarbeit mit Eltern. Sozialräumliche Öffnung - Sozialräumliches Arbeiten - Sozialraumorientierung. Die Bedeutung des „sozialen Raums“ für Kinder, Familien und für die Ausgestaltung von Ganztagsbildung, Jugendherberge Duisburg Sportpark, ISA – Institut für soziale Arbeit e. V., 06.03.2024
Susanne Enssen, Dr. Monique Ratermann-Busse: Berufsorientierung durch multiprofessionelle Kooperation stärken. Workshop auf der 3. bundesweiten Netzwerktagung im Rahmen der Initiative Schule macht stark: „Schule macht stark“ im Schulalltag: Potenziale vor Ort erfolgreich nutzen. Berlin, 22.09.2023
Philipp Hackstein: Familienzentren im Primarbereich: Gelingensbedingungen für eine kontextsensible Zusammenarbeit mit Familien. „Schule macht stark“-Netzwerktagung 2022, 22. – 23. September, Goethe-Universität Frankfurt, , 23.09.2022
Philipp Hackstein: Familien- und Sozialraumorientierung als Ressource - Praxiskonzepte für Schulen. Bundesweite Netzwerktagung "Schule macht stark", 16.11.2021
Philipp Hackstein, Prof. Dr. Sybille Stöbe-Blossey: Schule und Jugendhilfe: „Strukturen verstehen, um Prozesse zu gestalten“. SchuMaS-Akademie , 09.06.2021 Vortragsfolien Weitere Informationen
Project data
Term of the project:
01.01.2021 - 31.12.2025
Reseach department:
Education, Development, Social Participation
Project management:
Prof. Dr. Sybille Stöbe-Blossey
Project team:
Philipp Hackstein, Susanne Enssen
Funding:
Bundesministerium für Bildung, Familie, Senioren, Frauen und Jugend (BMBFSFJ)
