«Anyone who wants to be loved is lost in the teaching profession»

Ms Plath, you worked for several years as a teacher at a school in Neukölln, a district of Berlin known as a «social hotspot». How did you experience your time at this school?

For me, the situation after eight years at a music-orientated comprehensive school near Hamburg was absurd in comparison. In my perception at the time, 90 per cent of the young people at the Berlin school were of «non-German origin» and the overall situation was chaotic. It seemed to me as if the teachers were trying to «play school», but the young people were no longer playing along. What I would have called «lessons» were not possible. The young people didn't care about grades, they refused to go to class, ran riot in the neighbourhood, bullied each other and were barely approachable. Violence was in the air, furniture flew out of the window from time to time and things were broken.

There are repeated calls in the media for schools to take tough action in such situations in order to teach young people respect.

I think it makes sense to ask yourself why young people «don't fancy» school and to scrutinise your own perspective on the «chaos». These young people at the Hauptschule felt labelled as second-class citizens, and not necessarily by individual teachers - with some of whom they even had a good relationship - but by the school system.

What do you mean?

I believe that these pupils are constantly amazed and bored by the way and what they are supposed to learn. They resist the constant patronising and what they see as irrelevant learning content because they see no chance of being successful in this system anyway . In my experience, many young people see their time at school as a phase that they have to get through somehow, but which doesn't do much for them personally or even for their future. The teachers at my school also suffered from this. They had the feeling that they couldn't do justice to the pupils individually.

And this results in a hostile atmosphere?

That's right. I see the aggression or inner emigration of young people as a reaction to the humiliation of being treated as a failure. In their helplessness, the teachers often treat the young people in an authoritarian manner, which only reinforces the feeling of humiliation. Their reaction to this - at the hotspot school at the time - was in turn to insult and humiliate the teachers, creating a vicious circle in which everyone involved in the school was constantly busy compensating for the humiliation, frustration and offence: both the pupils and the teachers.

«A rebellious child is a healthy child.»

Teacher and author Maike Plath

So the students are fighting back against oppression, against society, the learning opportunities, the future they are promised and the way they are treated?

Yes, at some point I realised that a rebellious child is a healthy child, because it is still defending itself against the constant violation of its dignity. There were also children who had already given up, just sat around apathetically or skipped school. I found that much worse. But in this whole systemic dilemma, I found it impressive that despite everything, individual human relationships between teachers and pupils developed time and again, and that only then were small moments of constructive learning possible. However, these successes were often cancelled out by the fact that the teachers then had to give grades again and the cycle of humiliation was set in motion all over again.

What does it take to make cooperation possible?

I believe that teachers have a great desire to act humanely and to open up real opportunities for a self-determined, fulfilled life for the young people entrusted to them. I believe that we have to make a fundamental distinction between authoritarian, norm-based «ruling» on the one hand and humane leadership on the other. The famous and desired level playing field, through which appreciative and democratic interaction with each other and, as a result, learning is possible, is not possible if we rule from above through fear, punishment and reward or grades.

What would be the alternative?

The most important thing is to show solidarity with the children and young people - and their parents - and to adopt their perspective. It's not about pigeonholing people, but about finding out where their individual needs and strengths lie and seeing ourselves - as teachers - as experts in enabling successful biographies.

How do you manage this as a teacher?

By fulfilling our leadership role. This means being able to be both strict and loving, depending on what is individually and situationally necessary to enable a child to take the next developmental step. Above all, however, pupils need to be more involved! Democracies around the world are currently under threat. In my opinion, our most important task in the field of education at the moment is to teach the foundations for democratic thinking and behaviour in a very changed world in a new and at the same time concrete way based on experience. To achieve this, the leadership style must also be democratic and participatory.

How can you imagine this in everyday life?

In our work, for example, there is the «veto rule»: every person in the room can say «veto» at any time and refuse an instruction - without giving a reason. This creates the inner freedom to engage with new and unfamiliar things and to dare to take risks.

The topic of leadership responsibility takes up a lot of space in your books.

The teaching profession requires leadership skills. This means: the ability to meet other people individually and in an attentive manner and to empathise with others, as well as to set clear boundaries and take responsibility for decisions that may sometimes trigger great resistance from young people.

To what extent are you prepared for this during your training?

In their training, teachers often only learn that they should treat pupils in an «appreciative» manner, which is of course correct, but often leads to teachers not daring to lead consistently. What we all need to ask ourselves is: where is our empathy due to a need for harmony? Am I friendly because I want to be «loved» or because I can justify it in relation to the overarching goal? Anyone who wants to be loved is lost in the teaching profession. I learnt that personally in Berlin-Neukölln at the latest.

What do you want for the school?

Teaching is one of the most important professions of all. It is absurd that teachers, of all people, feel overburdened, frustrated and controlled by others. They should realise that our future depends in no small part on their individual day-to-day actions. Teachers should no longer see themselves as victims of a system, but as actors in the next relevant emancipation movement. To this end, we should join forces and co-operate instead of trying to do the impossible on our own every day.

Read more:

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