October 15, 2025 - Interview with Prof. Dr. Simone Abels

Together with the Lüneburg district, the Leuphana Innovation Community for School Development and Leadership is working on the Lüneburg education region. Based on empirical research findings, the aim is to make the school system more inclusive. This requires a change of perspective, according to Prof. Dr. Simone Abels, an expert in inclusive education, and the courage to jointly realign schools.



In an ideal world: What would school development and education look like if diversity and inclusion were optimally practiced?

In an ideal world, we wouldn't even need the concept of inclusion, as everyone would naturally be part of the whole. Frequently used terms like "inclusion children" demonstrate how much the idea of inclusion is still misunderstood. In my opinion, ideal school development would focus on actual learning and future skills, and  flexibly adapt curricula to the relevant contexts of the 21st century  , instead of, for example, still relying on grades, uniform testing, an outdated curriculum, or the inappropriate use of standardized competencies.



The ideal still seems out of reach. From your perspective, what are the biggest challenges at present?

Besides a lack of resources and insufficient professionalization, the attitude of all involved stakeholders is crucial, as numerous studies demonstrate. I see a major problem in our understanding of inclusion. We argue far too much from a person-centered perspective instead of a systemic one. A few examples: When the results of major student achievement studies like PISA are published, the media, and sometimes even academic articles, run headlines like: "German students are performing worse than ever." Yet these studies actually evaluate the performance of education systems in international comparison. Or consider the issue of classroom disruptions in heterogeneous classrooms: Usually, it is the students who are labeled as disruptive, instead of examining whether the learning environment is actually stimulating and conducive to learning.



What will it take to overcome these challenges?

As a science education specialist, my focus is particularly on subject teachers. We are currently working on changing the teachers' perspective. It makes a big difference whether I say, "You can't use the subject-specific language," or whether I acknowledge that subject-specific language is highly demanding and then create access points that help all students. The setting, the space, the learning opportunities are crucial here and can be adapted. We don't differentiate based on diagnosed learning prerequisites—that would only stigmatize students unnecessarily. We design the learning opportunities to be accessible. And our learning support focuses on the barriers that arise when engaging with the subject matter.



Where does Lüneburg currently stand in this regard, and what opportunities do you see for the region?

Lüneburg, as a region focused on education, has embarked on a collaborative journey to transform schools. Stakeholders from the city and surrounding district are in close contact with us—researchers from Leuphana University, policymakers, parent and student representatives, and others—to provide students with the best possible learning environments while simultaneously reducing the workload for teachers and educational staff. The  Leuphana Innovation Community for School Development and Leadership  facilitates dialogue on key topics in school development: AI, sustainability, democracy, and diversity. This allows academia and school practice to learn from and enrich each other. This collaboration represents significant progress. For a long time, those who truly wanted to make a difference could only do so through "disobedience" to the system. This must end, and the evidence from empirical educational research must be taken seriously in order to develop meaningful schools.



You've already mentioned the collaboration between schools and universities. How can science specifically help solve problems in schools?

Based on robust empirical research, we can advise educational policymakers, seminar leaders in the second phase of teacher training, school principals, and teachers. Our work would be far more effective if the Ministry of Education, the Regional State Offices for Schools and Education (RLSB), and the schools themselves accessed a shared data warehouse to implement evidence-based school development in Lower Saxony. Currently, we observe highly committed schools that want to transform, but are doing so using a trial-and-error approach. Such processes can take up to 20 years. We could shorten this timeframe together. To achieve this, policymakers, researchers, and practitioners must work together to change the system and value students for the remarkable individuals they are.