**Transfer of innovation - A Concept of Educational & Entrepreneurial Excellence by Prof. em. Dr. Jürgen Zimmer** The School for Life will be a development workshop and the results can be fed nationally also into the international transfer of Innovation ## 14\.1 Basic problems of school and three answers The School for Life can answer to three basic problems of the school. ### **First Problem: Distance to Life** A centralized curriculum development with a rigid orientation towards subjects and a standardization through quizzes and exams leads to the fact that students are increasingly unable to apply academic knowledge to problems in real situations and solve those problems. ### **First answer: The Situational Approach** The curriculum is oriented towards key situations and problems. Scientific and empiric knowledge is focused on those problems in order to contribute to solutions. This way, students learn to meet challenges of reality, solve real problems in a competent manner, and transfer the experiences that they gained in the process. Situations are understood as something that can be influenced and shaped. Learners become constructors of reality. ### **Second Problem: Museum-like Setting** The scholastic setting mainly dates back to the 19th century. Learning in today’s reality is different. School, in its organization and learning methods, trails about 200 years behind modern developments of the learning environment. UNESCO’s 1990 call for ‘Education fro All’ has lead to quantitative spread of the ‘museum of school’, not to its reform. ### **Second Answer: Centers of Excellence** The setting of the School for Life is designed in a way that supports learning that is exploring, researching, problem-solving, and relates to reality. Centers of Excellence that are oriented towards key topics become bases from where students can research, explore, develop, and act in a way that closely relates theory and practice. School is no more ghetto, but an institution that combines learning and community development. ### **Third Problem: Misjudgement of the Labour Market** Most school- and university-graduates hope for the provision of jobs in the labour market. They often chase jobs in vain instead of creating some themselves. They are not equipped with entrepreneurial qualifications. Many of their teachers are in fact economically incompetent and have anti-economic emotions. ### **Third Answer: Entrepreneurship Education** The goal: Educate pupils to develop their entrepreneurial spirit. An innovative entrepreneur is a person without particular resources who develops and refines an entrepreneurial idea and carries it out on the marketplace. His best capital is a good idea. This entrepreneur acts socially and ecologically responsible. The School for Life wants to create a setting for students to develop and attempt entrepreneurial ideas in a playful setting and without the pressure of having to secure one’s existence. ## 14\.2 School for Life as a model The School for Life as a model makes up the foundation for product-development, product-adaptation, and -dissemination. The model serves the development of a transferable product. The operational manual and the related services will contain information regarding the following: -   Curriculum -   Learning methods -   Setting-design -   Construction and furnishing -   Teacher training -   Related laws -   Costs and financing The services will include advice for the adaptation of the model under local circumstances, curriculum development, teacher training, and the guarantee of quality performance standards. ## [Concept](https://phuketer.com/s/00000600/wiki/196/concept) Chapters - **[1. Little History School for Life Chiang Mai](https://phuketer.com/s/00000600/wiki/210/1-little-history-school-for-life-chiang-mai)** - **[2. At First Sight](https://phuketer.com/s/00000600/wiki/209/2-at-first-sight)** - **[3. Characteristics](https://phuketer.com/s/00000600/wiki/208/3-characteristics)** - **[4. The Family Concept](https://phuketer.com/s/00000600/wiki/207/4-the-family-concept)** - **[5. Kindergarten](https://phuketer.com/s/00000600/wiki/206/5-kindergarten)** - **[6. Schooling and Deschooling](https://phuketer.com/s/00000600/wiki/205/6-schooling-and-deschooling)** - **[7. Learning Through Life](https://phuketer.com/s/00000600/wiki/204/7-learning-through-life)** - **[8. The Seven Centers of Excellence](https://phuketer.com/s/00000600/wiki/203/8-the-seven-centers-of-excellence)** - **[9. Think Tank and Master Workshops](https://phuketer.com/s/00000600/wiki/202/9-think-tank-and-master-workshops)** - **[10. The Setting](https://phuketer.com/s/00000600/wiki/201/10-the-setting)** - **[11. Teachers](https://phuketer.com/s/00000600/wiki/200/11-teachers)** - **[12. Guests](https://phuketer.com/s/00000600/wiki/199/12-guests)** - **[13. Partners](https://phuketer.com/s/00000600/wiki/198/13-partners)** - **[14. Transfer of innovation](https://phuketer.com/s/00000600/wiki/197/14-transfer-of-innovation)** - **[15 ](https://phuketer.com/s/00000600/wiki/196/concept#15.-attachments)[Source PDF (external site)](https://school-for-life.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/SfL-Konzept-2003-2016_fin-1.pdf)** School for Life, 185/3 Moo 4, T. Pameing, Doi Saket District, 50220 Chiang Mai, Thailand Tel. +66 53 248194