Overview
- The Bertha‑von‑Suttner‑Schule in Mörfelden‑Walldorf won the €100,000 main prize at the Deutscher Schulpreis ceremony in Berlin on Tuesday, September 29, 2026.
- Judges praised the school’s model of 90‑minute self‑directed ‘SegeL’ learning blocks, a diagnostic ‘Lernnetz’ that maps individual learning paths, and classroom coaching supported by AI tools hosted on the school’s own server.
- School leaders say the approach narrows gaps: a large share of pupils who arrive without a Gymnasium recommendation later achieve the Abitur, and the school pairs multiprofessional teams with fixed pastoral ‘house leads’ to keep students on track.
- Six other schools received €30,000 awards for innovations such as coaching-based instruction, vocational practice links and no-grading primary models, and the Stadtteilschule Wilhelmsburg earned a €30,000 jury prize for social cohesion.
- The prize is run by the Robert Bosch Stiftung and the Heidehof Stiftung; about 87 schools applied in 2026, 15 reached the final, and attendees including Chancellor Friedrich Merz highlighted the awards as examples of practices that could address Germany’s weak recent PISA results without creating immediate federal policy changes.