BBS Alice Salomon certified as a level 3 ESD school
On Wednesday, 07.05.25, the school building at the Linz school site was full: 200 visitors from all over Rhineland-Palatinate attended the 4th ESD Conference RLP, which was organized under the auspices of the Pädagogisches Landesinstitut and hosted at our school.
The event was opened in the Linz town hall: Jan Hendrik Winter, ESD officer from the Ministry of Education, welcomed the guests from the schools and extracurricular learning locations, the Ministry of the Environment, the State Institute of Education, the guests from Greenpeace Germany, representatives of the ADD Trier and Dr. Sundermann, the head of department from the Ministry of Education.
Mayor Helmut Muthers and principal Doris Schulte-Schwering were also given the opportunity to give a short welcome speech.
Ms. Schulte-Schwering introduced the school, as many visitors from the general education sector were not familiar with the vocational school system. She referred to the school’s mission statement and quoted that the humanistic view of man can move mountains when working with people. She also addressed the second part of the mission statement: “… and take responsibility in school, work, society and the environment.” Since it was founded 125 years ago, BBS Alice Salomon has always been committed to taking responsibility, so to speak, and there is now even a subject called “Responsibility and Commitment” at the school. And last year, our school finally dared to apply for certification as an ESD school – successfully, as we will see today.
Doris Schulte-Schwering took the opportunity to point out a few things that our students and their teachers had prepared for visitors in the foyer:
“When you come in, you immediately see a colorful raised bed with herbs, which the students of the language vocational preparation year have prepared for you. There are messages on the raised bed, some in German and some in their native languages.”
Or: EMMA – Just do it. A project by curative education nurses on accessibility in social spaces.
Also: competition in home economics: “Rethinking consumption”
And: art postcards that were created in class and are for sale. The proceeds will go towards the next ESD project.”
In his speech, Helmut Muthers emphasized the good cooperation between the city of Linz and BBS Alice Salomon: “I love the implementation of joint projects where you don’t know at the beginning what will come out at the end,” said Mr. Muthers. And he hit the core of the attitude at the BBS. He was thrilled by the sight of the packed city hall at today’s ESD symposium, as the topic of “sustainability” is also an important concern for the city of Linz and the city is very committed in this area.
This was followed by two specialist presentations. Dr. Johanna Kranz and Dr. Ulrich Matthes from the Competence Center for Climate Change Impacts used vivid images and studies to explain that the increasing heat caused by climate change will affect people’s health and everyday life in educational institutions, and that we need to act now, draw up heat action plans and adaptation measures, but at the same time strengthen constructive hope among young people.
And then came the ceremonial highlight of the event in the Stadthalle: the awarding of the new ESD schools and learning locations for sustainability. And BBS Alice Salomon was there. The representatives of the ESD working group, Marco Gilles, Anne Gasper, Iradet Bajrami, Alisa Krämer, Marie-Therese Syllwasschy and Annette Simon, proudly accepted the certificate. This has only been possible thanks to their tireless commitment over the past few years. Ms. Schulte-Schwering thanks them for this and at the same time emphasizes that this is a commitment and a mandate to continue working with young people on the SDGs and sustainability issues.
Then it was down to the school, where a wonderful lunch and Alice’s Cafe awaited the visitors. Of course, there were also numerous workshops and a market of opportunities. The offer was overwhelming, many conversations and inspirations took place, networks were formed and deepened.
Many guests gave our school the feedback that they felt extremely well looked after here and could sense the positive spirit and atmosphere. We would therefore like to end this article with a very special thank you to our school’s home economics department. Pupils from BF 1a and BF 1c as well as some pupils from BF 1b and their teachers Birgit Kessel, Gertrud Buslay, Helene Vlajnic and Kathrin Birmanns made a significant contribution to the success of this wonderful event with their good catering, beautiful decorations and great service.