Pedagogical approach and concept

Pedagogical approach

The classical school system in Germany is still very much oriented towards frameworks and rules from the last century, and the majority of it has not kept pace with social and technical developments.

At Ocean College, we are convinced that this system no longer comes close to preparing students for the living and working world of the 21st century.

The idea of engaging young people in real challenges with practical relevance and less theoretical content is not new. Accordingly, we are taking our cue from great role models of reform education, whose concepts we can come very close to with a school ship on a route covering more than 14,000 nautical miles and ten countries:

Maria Montessori coined the phrase, “Help me do it myself.” At Ocean College, young people are given full responsibility for running the ship right from the start and experience learning settings with a relevant connection to the environment.

Kurt Hahn developed the “Outward Bound” program. This term from seafaring describes the state of a ship that is equipped and ready to go on the Great Voyage, the “Voyage to Life”. Independence and authentic experiences are not a theoretical concept on a sailing ship, but a daily reality.

From Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi comes the phrase “learning with head, heart and hand”, which we can implement very easily on a sailing ship. At Ocean College, the young people reach their limits and beyond, and it is our claim to accompany this personality development pedagogically.

Current scientists and thinkers such as Gerhard Roth, Gerald Hüther, Richard David Precht, Harald Lesch and Manfred Spitzer also radically criticize the classic school system. They emphasize that the challenges of the 21st century can no longer be met with conventional learning methods.