Digitalization in Everyday School Life: Performance Enhancement or Burden?
Schools should be places that prepare children and young people for life itself and for the ability to learn throughout their lives. Kerstin Niendorf, Head of the Stuttgart School Administration Office, explains in an interview…
Schools should be places that prepare children and young people for life itself and for the ability to learn throughout their lives. Kerstin Niendorf, Head of the Stuttgart School Administration Office, explains in an interview how this can be achieved. The key points of the interview are summarized here:
As one of the largest school authorities in Baden-Württemberg, Stuttgart faces particular challenges today. Rising construction costs, wage developments, and high energy prices stand in contrast to the necessity of extensive modernization work. At the same time, the opportunities arising from modernization should be optimally seized.
Considering New Aspects of Planning
As schools have become a central hub of infrastructure, they are increasingly gaining political significance. They are evolving into multifunctional spaces with new, more open learning areas and spatial concepts. For this very reason, a stable digital infrastructure is of central importance in modern planning.
Moving with the Times and Advancing Education
Rather than resisting the demands of the times by, for example, implementing widespread smartphone bans, media literacy in schools should be improved. Only in this way can modern learning take place and the application possibilities of helpful tools be sustainably enhanced. This also includes the ability to use AI strategically and handle it responsibly.
Setting Visionary Goals
The transformation extends from construction through content to the teaching profession itself. In the future, Ms. Niendorf envisions teachers more in the role of learning facilitators rather than mere knowledge transmitters. Her vision is to create “educational centers” for all age groups and performance levels in the long term.
The complete interview can be read in the PDF below. Or take the opportunity to meet Ms. Niendorf in person: On June 2, 2026 in Copenhagen, at our Think Tank. Secure your ticket now and discuss this and many other exciting topics on site!
