Prizes for Commitment to the Common Good

10/07/2025

Inclusive encounters, generations in dialogue and sustainable consumption: these are the topics that P-seminars at secondary schools in Lower Franconia have been working on. They have now been honoured for their work at the University of Würzburg.

The winning teams of the TaC Awards 2025. (Image: Christoph Weiß / PSE)

Four P-projects from secondary schools in Lower Franconia were honoured with the TaC Award at an event held by the Professional School of Education (PSE) at the University of Würzburg at the end of September. The pupils involved had shown remarkable commitment to the common good and demonstrated how a wide range of social problems can be solved.

Unusual Encounters

First prize went to the Jack Steinberger Gymnasium in Bad Kissingen with the project "Encounters between people with and without disabilities". Those involved in the project met regularly with pupils from the Franz-von-Prümmer-Schule, a special needs centre with a focus on "mental development" in Bad Kissingen, thereby initiating learning processes that benefited both sides. "The young people from the Gymnasium reflected very openly on their initial uncertainties and further insights and realised how important mutual respect is for inclusion," says the laudation.

Inclusive Reading

The Matthias-Grünewald-Gymnasium from Würzburg was awarded 2nd prize for its "Einfach Lesen - ein inklusives Lese.projekt" (Simply reading - an inclusive reading project). Working closely with the residents of Arche gGmbH in Würzburg, the pupils produced a reading book in easy language, for which they translated the fairy tales and stories into easy language.

Generations in Dialogue

The 3rd prize was awarded twice: with the P-seminar "Generations in dialogue", Siebold-Gymnasium from Würzburg wanted to set an example against loneliness in old age. The aim was also to offer a long-term solution to senior citizens at the St. Nikolaus retirement home in Würzburg. Both sides benefited from this: "New perspectives opened up for the pupils and they were able to learn a lot from the older people's wealth of experience," said the laudatory speech.

Sustainable Consumption

With the "Climate Dinner" project, the pupils of Friedrich-List-Gymnasium Gemünden proved that a discussion about sustainable consumption and climate-friendly nutrition does not have to be anything but dry, but can also be enjoyable and creative. Over a period of months, they designed a climate-friendly dinner as an evening event for invited guests, which was also intended to inspire reflection.

The prizes were presented by Dr Robert Christoph, Ministerialbeauftragter für die Gymnasien in Unterfranken (Ministerial Representative for grammar schools in Lower Franconia), and Dr Matthias Erhardt, Managing Director of PSE. The autumn conference of the PSE, which this year was also the School Development Day 2025, provided the perfect setting.

The P-Seminar in Bavaria

The "Project Seminar for Study and Career Orientation", or P-Seminar for short, is part of the upper secondary school programme in Bavaria. It is designed to support pupils in their choice of studies and career. The pupils spend a year working on a project that is realised together with partners outside of school. The aim is to prepare them for the demands of university and the world of work.

The TaC Award

The University of Würzburg and the office of the ministerial representative for grammar schools in Lower Franconia present the TaC Award. It was developed in the project "Teachers as Changemakers", a joint project of the Universities of Würzburg and Bamberg. In this project, student teachers are trained as multipliers of the competence-orientated approach "Social Entrepreneurship Education" - an educational concept that combines entrepreneurial thinking with social commitment.

The aim is to enable future generations to actively shape their future and contribute to positive change in society. TaC's programmes are aimed at lecturers and student teachers from both universities as well as teachers from selected partner schools.

The "Teachers as Changemakers" Project

The project combines the content of education for sustainable development with social and entrepreneurial thinking and action in order to solve social problems. The term "social entrepreneurship" is used broadly here.

"An engagement with social entrepreneurial thinking does not always have to result in the founding of a pupils' company. Social entrepreneurs are reflective individuals who develop ideas, show commitment and are committed to society by implementing their ideas," says Dr Korinna Thiem, who is supporting the project at the University of Würzburg's Service Centre for Research and Technology Transfer. According to Thiem, this combination of methods also promotes important personal skills such as personal responsibility, creativity and the ability to reflect.

At the University of Würzburg, the start-up support at the Research and Technology Transfer Service Centre and the Professional School of Education are involved in the project. They regularly organise events to integrate Social Entrepreneurship Education into the classroom, for example with the lecture series "Teaching for Impact", where interested parties can find out how the Social Entrepreneurship Education approach can be used to shape the lessons of tomorrow.