Compass for Jena's schools

The city of Jena is obliged to draw up a school network and school development plan every five years. This was submitted to the city council yesterday for approval for the school years 2026/27 to 2030/31 and confirmed by the council. The 168-page document lists extensive data on all 27 municipal schools as well as the eight independent institutions. Among other things, it shows the current capacity utilization and the expected future demand.

Decline in pupil numbers brings relief for Jena schools

While around 900 pupils are expected to start first grade in the 2026 school year, the number is forecast to fall to around 700 by 2030 and only increase slightly thereafter. "It is understandable that this development is causing concern for Jena's schools," says Johannes Schleußner, Head of Education, Youth, Culture and Sport. "Our aim is to maintain all school facilities in Jena and not to make any hasty decisions on school and location changes." The size of the school is ultimately determined by the actual enrolments - and therefore the wishes of the parents.

Around 80 percent of Jena's schools are currently overcrowded. A temporary reduction in the number of pupils also brings a certain amount of relief and creates space - for example for all-day and differentiated courses, according to the head of department.

Scope for schools in terms of learning group sizes

The minimum size of a class and a school is regulated by the Thuringian School Act and the School Network Ordinance. As an upper limit, the city has set a class size of 20 to a maximum of 23 pupils for primary and community schools and a maximum of 26 pupils for grammar schools in the school network plan. Within this minimum and upper limit, schools are free to determine the number and size of their classes and learning groups themselves.

Focus: energy-efficient refurbishment

One focus of Jena's school planning is on energy-efficient refurbishment. Even though the topping-out ceremony for the new Kulturanum School was celebrated this week, meaning that the last of Jena's schools can move into a renovated building, the buildings will still need to be adapted in terms of energy and climate in the future. Challenges include high temperatures in classrooms during the summer and increased electricity consumption due to the advancement of digitalization.

Different paths for children with special needs

Children with and without special educational needs should have the opportunity to attend classes together in Jena. At the same time, parents of children with special educational needs can choose to attend the special needs center. Both services are to be developed further and exist side by side. In future, the location of the Förderzentrum on Jenzigweg is to be used more for pupils with increased care needs and mobility restrictions.

Free choice of school, even across district boundaries

The city of Jena has a very diverse school landscape and wants to give parents and children the freedom to choose a suitable institution. However, the admission procedure regulated in the Thuringian School Act uses criteria such as the distance to school. With a general decree, the city of Jena wants to give its schools the opportunity to select up to 30 percent of their pupils according to their own criteria - regardless of the district in which the family lives. In the updated school network and school development plan, the education authority is therefore asked to examine and implement the new agreement.

Intensive preparatory work with the involvement of all stakeholders

The plan was preceded by several months of intensive preparations in which representatives from schools and local politics were closely involved. Head of Education Schleußner thanks all those involved for the good and constructive discussion process, which gave the schools a flexible scope for design and took into account the wishes of pupils and parents. "In particular, I would like to thank our school administration, especially Mr. Ehrenberg, and the chairwoman of the newly constituted expert committee for schools and sport for their highly committed and forward-looking cooperation." The plan once again illustrates the desire and common goal of all those involved to promote Jena's educational landscape and create optimal learning conditions for schools and pupils.

The plan that has now been adopted will next be submitted to the Thuringian Ministry of Education, Science and Culture for a decision.