Eine demokratische Gesprächsrunde zu festgelegten Zeiten

The elementary school on Thelottstraße is located in the Hasenbergl district of Munich. The film focuses on a fourth grade class and its young teacher, who has designed a 'class council' based on Freinet's pedagogy. The aim is to teach the 9 to 11-year-olds to communicate according to democratic rules. Children should acquire language skills that show them alternatives to solutions based on physical violence. The current problem, presented by Marco, is: "I never want to play dodgeball again!" The teacher's role is demanding and complicated. She wants to give the children as much personal responsibility as possible so that they learn to take responsibility for their social lives. But "what to do?" when her pedagogical convictions conflict with the decision of the class council? The film tells the story of the effort and ambivalence with which the committed teacher introduces the "democratic" idea into a society of children from very different family and cultural backgrounds.

The short film is part of the episodic film DEUTSCHLAND 09 - 13 KURZE FILME ZUR LAGE DER NATION (Germany ′09 – 13 Short Films About the State of the Nation). The film was inspired by the episodic film DEUTSCHLAND IM HERBST (Germany in Autumn), for which Alexander Kluge brought together twelve German filmmakers in 1977/78 to react to the "German Autumn".