Project Description

The term „school culture“ is used in many contexts, but thus far there is no generally accepted definition. The project aims for a clarification and specification of this term on the basis of a comparative study of two Gymnasien [German secondary schools] with qualitative, ethnographic methods. We use open interview techniques and participant observation as well as document analysis and visual methods in order to arrive at thick descriptions of the two school cultures.



We aim to understand and explain how everyday life gets constructed and traditionalized through different frameworks and contexts, traditions and interactions. School culture must be understood as a process: in order to investigate it, it is important to pay attention to the social and cultural system and the actions and interactions among the school’s protagonists, elements of material culture such as the architecture as well as creative elements that are a part of everyday life at a school. Schools operate as a complex whole and this complexity cannot be analysed paying heed only to individual aspects. We consider such a perspective on schools essential for understand the differential impact school reforms have on schools of the same type.