Recently I was introduced to the topic “Schwundgeld” and did some further research on it. Quickly a thought of how to use it in Bergheidengasse came to my mind. If it worked in Wörgl, why shouldn´t it in Bergheidengasse?
I imagined a system with which students wouldn´t necessarily need cash with them every day in school but still be able to buy a snack or lunch. With the Individualo you can buy snacks and lunch at the school bistro and restaurant but also drinks from the vending machine. It would be a very practical for the students and there are lots of benefits. One of the training firms could do the supervision over the Individualo. They would analyse how many Individualos are currently available and circulating. How much did the students spent that day? Are there any problems? In that way they would get a unique experience which could be very helpful for their future life’s. Furthermore, they could do something practical in those lessons and can hold the Individualo in their hands as a result of their work. Maybe with the support of the parents’ association it would be possible to have a seed capital for printing, administrational work.
You might ask yourself: How do you get those Individualos?
The answer to this question is rather simple. There is a fixed amount of value which you can “earn” for specific activities. One of those would for example be organizing something successfully for your class e.g., an online meeting with a special person/mentor, class trip, workshop or organizing prom. If you help at the open-door day and show visitors around, help organizing or other do administrational work you can also earn some Individualos. The next point to be considered would be having a little vegetables and herbs garden in the inner courtyard. There would be lots of benefits for the school and the students. First of all, could the grown vegetables be used for the cooking classes, which would mean less transport pollution and the students could also learn more about the products they work with. If they take care of it, they get Individualo. Apart from those there would also be an option where both students and teachers could get Individualo. As we are a climate conscious school you can get Individualo if you come to school with public transport or bike even though you have a driver’s licence and a car. In that way our school could make a contribution to sustainability. In that way students don´t only get Individualo but they also get new experiences. Of course, the students only get them if they put effort in their work, so no one could smuggle trough without working and receiving some.
Where can you spend Individualo?
As mentioned before you can pay at the school restaurants and vending machine. Once the private coaching systems from students for students are available, it would be possible to pay with Individualo. There would be a fixed price for an hour and the coaching student gets the Individualo with which he or she could pay their lunch with. If you want to use the printer to print something you could pay it with the Individualo.
From my point of view Individualo would be a perfect system for Bergheidengasse. The students could make precious experiences and it would also support sustainability.