21. August 2017

We are at the crossroads of history once again. The choices we pick now, are going to effect our children either way. It is the education’s duty to provide the youth with as much information and facts as possible and provide them with the respective tools to read these facts. The times to repair the status quo, or better yet, act like there is nothing going seriously wrong, are over. But what am I talking about?

12. Juni 2017

What should have become a clear mandate, turned into a political defeat. Theresa May’s Torys may have won the elections but lost the absolute majority. Now, May will form a government based on a coalition to lead a divided country. But in the big picture, does not failing to reach the goals set out before the elections generally mean that one would resign?

29. Mai 2017

The fashion industry is the second largest polluter in the world after the oil industry. Also, in one year, 250.000 people working in production in India killed themselves because of their hopeless circumstances of life. Buying in Europe, we actually have an impact on people’s lives elsewhere. Apart from buying fair food, fair fashion is the easiest way to act responsibly when it comes to using consumer products.

16. Mai 2017

The educational system is a mirror of the democratic challenges. France, the USA and Austria face very different but structural identical challenges.

13. April 2017

For the educational system, Donald Trumps victory was one of the worst things that could have happened. After a few months in office, things do not get any better, as far as I am concerned. The latest proof for that was Sean Spicer’s lack of historical perspectives. To compare Bashar al-Assad to Adolf Hitler is one thing, to call concentration camps <<holocaust centers>> another. No matter how far right the government in any European country is, such a statement would be off...

03. April 2017

Working in education and writing about a lot of innovative approaches to teaching, I often meet the ones who always find excuses rather than ways to implement innovation. The so-called naysayers. You will find a lot of them, especially in Austria. Being frustrated with the educational system or the funding of it, they will always be reluctant to find ways to implement innovation in the classroom. And it is almost always the same excuse: money. Granted, things are tough at times and a lot of...

27. März 2017

Last week, it has been 60 years. 60 years since the first founding contracts of the European Union had been signed in Rome. 60 years of peace followed and a process of integration started that has not finished yet. Sometimes we have to remind ourselves that this Europe we live in, this European Union, is not ordinary. Yes, it has hiccups due to its structure. But like my president said, it takes 60 years to build something like the EU but it takes just a few minutes - or a referendum - to...

20. März 2017

In many ways, a country’s health care says a lot about the society of the respective country. One can even argue that principles of the health care directly translate to the educational system. If that is true, the USA are losing it. They are losing it all - at least from a European perspective. Republicans fired at the <<Affordable Care Act>>, also known as Obamacare. Under Donald Trump, it is going to be replaced by the <<American Health Care Act>>. The consequences...

13. März 2017

Working in education, we are bound to see the potential rather than what could go wrong. We see room for improvements and not the political battles to get there. We do not understand why anything that could enhance the pedagogical interaction would be too pricy. In a word, we are idealists as we should be. And idealism is needed more than anything right now. Especially in education. There are a lot of trends and new features which could and should be integrated in class and every respectable...

06. März 2017

The latest developments concerning the relations between Germany and Turkey raise the question whether the concept of democratic rights is fully understood. Because democracy is not solely defined by the citizens’ vote but by basic rights that apply to everyone. For instance, the separation of power or the human rights. Talking about the separation of power, a free and healthy press is an essential part of it. Two powerful politicians seem to ignore that and either call respectable press...