A good school: what is it?

A child sets off for kindergarten or school around 2000 times in the morning until they have completed their compulsory schooling. That's 2000 days that have a significant impact on the rest of their lives. What should children take away from this time? We have been asking ourselves this question for years.

We consider studies such as the Pisa studies or the large-scale Hattie analysis, which included data from 250 million pupils, to be inadequate: they focus almost exclusively on what test results children and young people achieve in a particular area at a particular point in time.

What also makes a successful time at school:

In addition to performance, we believe that other criteria are at least as important. For example, we find it valuable when young adults can look back on their time at school and say:

• Ich habe vieles gelernt, das für mich persönlich relevant war und mich auf meinen weiteren Lebensweg vorbereitet hat.
• Ich weiss, wie man lernt, bin mir bewusst, dass Hindernisse dazugehören und habe in der Schule das notwendige Vertrauen in meine Fähigkeiten mitbekommen, um mich auch zukünftig an Herausforderungen zu wagen und Neues zu lernen.

• Ich habe mich in der Schule sicher und wohlgefühlt. Ich war Teil einer Gemeinschaft und habe erfahren, dass wir alle weiter kommen, wenn wir zusammenarbeiten und sich jeder mit seiner Persönlichkeit und seinen Fähigkeiten einbringen darf.

For this booklet, we asked numerous children and young people from German-speaking countries questions about school and gathered their opinions. Across all school levels, the last of the above points seems to be particularly important to them, as the interviews show.

Touchingly clear ideas from the children

Children and young people report with touching clarity on what school should achieve: David, aged 8, answers the question about his dream school: «Nobody would be mean. All the children would play and laugh together. No one would be alone. Nobody would bully and hit and lie. The teachers would listen and watch and believe you. Everyone would be nice to each other.» And for Eliane, 14, it's important «to be respected, to be nice and to help each other».

If you ask children and young people what they don't like about school, the same three aspects come up again and again:

• Zurückweisung und Mobbing, wie am Beispiel von Lina, 17, deutlich wird: «Ich wurde von meiner damaligen Klasse mehrere Jahre stark gemobbt. Das war so stark, dass sich soziale Ängste entwickelt haben und ich letztendlich nicht mehr zur Schule gehen konnte. Als wir dann die Schuldigen anzeigen wollten, hat mir der Lehrer gedroht, dass durch eine Anzeige alles schlimmer werden würde.»

• Leistungsdruck und Angst vor Bewertung. Simon, 9, sagt, dass er am liebsten nicht mehr zur Schule gehen würde: «Jeden Tag Prüfungen und schlechte Noten.»

• Eine angespannte Beziehung zur Lehrperson. David, 8, beschreibt seine Lehrerin so: «Wenn jemand etwas nicht versteht oder Fragen stellt, dann packt sie die Kinder und zerrt sie in den Gang. Sie schreit auch immer.»

Of course, pupils also have their own ideas about good, exciting lessons. As the majority of the children and young people interviewed emphasised, these should start later in the morning. Janis, 12, would like a «research club», Ilias, 8, would like to «experiment more outside» and Josephina, 16, would like «no homework, more teamwork and working on topics - not so much theory».

Ela, 9, would even like a new subject: «I want to help children in poor countries and homes. It would be nice if there was a subject where you could do handicrafts for poor children, sell things and always send the money to poor children.» Joint activities such as excursions, project weeks, local environmental projects, class camps, skiing and hiking days are also highly appreciated.

The children and young people clearly express their expectations of a good school: they enjoy going to school if they have understanding, patient, humorous teachers, feel accepted and supported in a class, can rely on a stimulating learning atmosphere with freedom and the right to co-determination and do not have to be afraid of being devalued or receiving poor grades.

A «productive dissatisfaction» drives many teachers

In our everyday lives, we meet many inspiring teachers and school leaders whose vision of school sounds surprisingly similar to that of the pupils - and who work every day to get closer to these goals. What surprises us is that these are very different people who organise their lessons in very unique ways. Some rely almost exclusively on frontal teaching, others focus on self-organised learning. What they have in common is an inner attitude.

They are curious, look for their own ways and often have something about them that we call «productive dissatisfaction»: they see the problems, but at the same time they know how important their job is and how much room for manoeuvre they have, which they want to exploit for the benefit of the children and young people entrusted to them. And they invest a lot of time and energy in relationships - between themselves and the learners, but also within the class.

Teachers essentially teach people

Where can we start to ensure that schools develop in a positive direction? In our opinion, this can only succeed if we pay more attention to the emotions that accompany learning.

Learning content and the didactic approach are so important in training and further education that teachers think a lot about how they want to teach something and how they want to design the lessons, but too rarely ask themselves how the pupils feel during the lessons.

Teacher and theatre educator Maike Plath(see interview) writes in her book «Spielend unterrichten und Kommunikation gestalten»: "Teachers are experts in the subjects they study and in questions of didactics.

But people forget that they don't just teach maths, history or English - they essentially teach people." To emphasise this aspect, we use a somewhat mean exercise at teacher training courses: we give the teachers in the group simple maths problems such as «26 + 34 = ?» or «7 × 8 = ?». It usually doesn't take long for unease and discomfort to spread, individual participants nervously shift around on their chairs and one of the people unexpectedly called upon mumbles with a bright red head: «Er ... I can't think at all!»

At this point, we stop the mental arithmetic and talk in the group about what thoughts and feelings the exercise triggered and what experiences they were reminded of. It becomes clear that a carousel of thoughts is set in motion for many teachers: «Everyone is staring at me», "I can't do this«, "What will my colleagues think if I can't solve this?», «Oh God, how embarrassing, it's just like when we had to do those awful maths games in class».

Negative feelings get in the way of the learning process

These are all tasks that the teachers could easily solve. However, the fear and shame that arises blocks many of them to such an extent that they can no longer think clearly. In addition to the content, the feelings that a particular subject triggers in us are also always memorised - with sometimes serious effects on complex thought processes or creativity.

When asked how they experienced their own time at school, we repeatedly hear similar statements from teachers in training sessions. For example: «Our maths lessons primarily showed me that maths is a matter of talent and that I'm too slow and too stupid for it anyway. Our teacher organised the lessons with the four gifted classmates and the rest of us dropped out at some point.»

Or: «I had eight years of French. From the subjonctif to the passé simple, we chewed through pretty much all the special cases of grammar. I can read books by Albert Camus, but I'm so inhibited and fixated on not making any mistakes that I can't even order a coffee in France.» Perhaps these lessons have been meticulously planned, harmonised with the curriculum and the exams carefully corrected.

It takes courage to ask yourself the question: What do the children really learn in my lessons? What do they learn about themselves and their abilities?

But if what remains with the students is a feeling of reluctance, incompetence, fear and shame, all the effort has done more harm than good. It is hard to admit this to yourself and requires courage to face the question: What are the children and young people really learning in my lessons? What do they learn about themselves and their abilities? What relationship do they build with my subject? Have I been able to create a climate in my classroom that allows children to speak up without inhibitions and help shape the lessons?

Teachers are often subject to strong constraints: «I have to get the curriculum through!», «I still need marks for the half-year report», «All this bureaucracy is suffocating me».

As a result, the most important things regularly fade into the background. It is precisely at this point that the inner attitude is crucial. When talking to teachers and headteachers whom we value, we notice time and again that they free themselves from these constraints and consciously reorganise their priorities. This often starts with their goals. These teachers know what is important to them and commit to goals such as: «In PE lessons, I want to teach the children the joy of movement.» Or: «I want every child to be able to learn at their own pace and experience progress.»

«It is important to me to convey confidence»

One of these teachers is Renate Jaggi. She teaches at an inclusive school in Biel and defines her role as follows: «The most important thing I want to give my pupils is as much confidence as possible: the confidence that many things, often more than expected, are and can be possible. The confidence that they can make a difference and change things themselves. The confidence that, in addition to the family at school, there are always others, adults and children, who accompany and support you with goodwill and interest in positive development.»

Renate Jaggi has developed a variety of methods for this. She explains: «For example, we imagine our desired future in the morning by thinking about what we would like to say at the dinner table at home in the evening, focussing on small steps that can be put into practice. The children like and have mastered this «do-as-if» approach. For example: «Today I managed to stay calm and read the assignment a second time instead of asking the teacher straight away. That was useful because ...» The effect is often striking, which is enormously touching for me.»

The teacher goes on to say that the pupils also welcome so-called free tips, little hints that the children give each other to help them succeed in these steps. Jaggi: "I consider having a shared collection of helpful strategies available in particularly tricky, challenging situations to be much more effective than any system of rewards and punishments, as it makes it easier for us to maintain or regain our dignity, put misbehaviour in order and re-establish positive relationships with each other.

If we want a school that takes children's needs into account, we should not fight against the system, but in favour of the school.

Incidentally, this applies not only to the children, but also to myself. We created particularly useful tips for difficult situations together, wrote them down and put them in a converted chewing gum vending machine, for example. Anyone who gets stuck can get a tip from the machine. We train the class in a variety of ways to observe ourselves and others in an appreciative way, to discover each other's abilities as «resource detectives», to notice efforts and progress - no matter how small - and ultimately to report these back to each other."

When we talk about such examples, the objection from other teachers is almost immediate: «That's all well and good, but I don't have the time or resources for that.» This is a fallacy. All teachers who actively work on creating a good classroom climate, building relationships with pupils and developing skills in the social-emotional area see this as an investment that pays off.

«We didn't want ghettoisation»

The remedial teacher Werner Fessler, whom we got to know through his teaching aid «Atlas Mathematik», together with two other teachers, converted the entire lesson to individualised, development-oriented learning. They independently developed material that allows each child to work on tasks that correspond to their level of performance. A tremendous endeavour! He says: «We didn't want any "ghettoisation» or discrimination, as has sometimes happened with special classes or Sek C.

These were collection pots for difficult, marginalised children. We had a lot of them and they were happy to come to school with us in peace and quiet. The combination of mixed age groups and a consistent focus on individualised, development-oriented teaching has brought benefits: disciplinary issues have calmed down, disruptions in lessons and violence have decreased. It was a great experience for everyone."

We are all «the system» that struggles with change

It is easier if the school management supports such endeavours. Daniel Weibel, headteacher in Ersigen BE and board member of the VSL Bern professional association, emphasises: «School management teams are absolutely called upon here. They can significantly minimise excessive demands by setting priorities, using free space and getting rid of ballast. A teachers' conference, for example, should mean a clear benefit for everyone, otherwise it will have to be cancelled.»

We often hear parents complain that «the system» is not changing and that it «can't be» that the school is not changing faster. This often overlooks the fact that there is a spirit of optimism among many people in the school context, that change is taking place in many places and that at the same time we are all «the system» that is struggling with change.

Almost all of the progressive people we have met in recent years have had to assert themselves against sometimes massive resistance from their colleagues, authorities and, above all, their parents. It takes courage, perseverance, a thick skin, self-confidence and commitment to go beyond the status quo.

«Everyone can learn with me until they can»

The now retired maths teacher and professor of mathematics didactics Peter Geering, who co-founded the «Atlas Mathematik» programme, remembers: «You have freedom if you take it. My students used to often say "that was bad luck» or «I had a bad day» when they failed a maths exam, and that was the end of the matter. At some point, I decided that they could retake exams if they were unhappy with their grade.

This enabled me to answer them: Yes, you failed. Why don't you try again? If you like, I can help you with the preparation. Of course, I was also attacked for that. A member of the supervisory committee wouldn't let me get away with it because I hadn't given an unsatisfactory average grade in maths in my class during the probationary period. I said to the gentleman: «That's the way it is - everyone can study with me until they can do it.» Not everyone is able to make themselves unpopular with superiors in this way.

Just how challenging a change in the school system is can also be seen in two demands that we are personally happy to support: The abolition of homework and grades in the first years of school.

Homework and grades: Can that go away?

Most schools in the canton of Bern no longer set homework. This step was preceded by sometimes vehement protests from parents: «We don't get anything from school anymore!», «The teachers want to push us out!», or «How am I supposed to know where my child stands now?», they said.

The topic of grades is at least as controversial. However, it is by no means the case that teachers want to stick to grading. Many find the constant writing of tests, the measuring of children and the countless hours they have to spend correcting them a burden. In addition, many teachers doubt whether this type of feedback is useful. They see how weaker children lose all motivation when they have to repeatedly experience not being up to scratch.

Roland Bosshart, school inspector at the Thurgau Department of Primary Education, talks about a dilemma: «You encourage children, you reinforce what they can already do. Then you force them to write an exam and then drop the axe. In the end, you explain to some of them why they «did badly» and have to make them feel better. Many teachers suffer from this.»

Conservative forces are steering against abolition

But simply abolishing grades is not so easy. Even if it is only a question of doing away with grading in the lower school, there is massive resistance. Conservative political forces continue to oppose the abolition of grades, usually on the grounds that they are conducive to discipline and motivation. Votes show that this attitude is capable of winning a majority: In the canton of Appenzell, 67 per cent of voters were recently in favour of compulsory grades in primary schools, in Geneva the figure was as high as 75 per cent.

There is still a long way to go before a critical mass trusts that children want to learn and do not need to be forced to do so. Feedback is essential for the learning process. It is really useful when it shows pupils where they stand, where they are struggling and how they can improve. Assessments only make a significant contribution to learning progress if there is time available to close gaps and work through what is not understood. Examinations and grades, as they are currently organised, rarely achieve this.

The discourse on what a good school should achieve and what the path to this should look like must be constantly renewed. We should not blindly rely on «education experts» who merely conjure up idealised images without pointing out practical paths. Instead, the voices of those who are affected by these issues on a day-to-day basis should also be heard: Teachers, learners and parents.

Parents can also contribute to the transformation of schools

If we want a school that takes children's needs into account, meets them where they are, and is orientated towards their strengths and interests, then we should not fight «against the system», but for the school. For good ideas, concrete, practical steps and a policy that provides schools with what they need. For a social climate that makes young, idealistic people want to tackle teacher training and that supports and values committed, experienced teachers to such an extent that they want to stay in the profession until they retire.

As a parent, you can ask yourself self-critically from time to time: "When was the last time I gave positive feedback to a committed teacher or defended them in front of others? At the last election, did I make sure to vote for politicians who represent my interests in education and are prepared to provide the necessary financial resources?

To what extent am I making a positive contribution to the development of my child's school, for example by getting involved in the parents' council, taking advantage of discussion opportunities, supporting project weeks or helping to organise events? Do I give my children's school a chance to innovate and experiment or am I one of those parents who immediately paint the devil on the wall and collect signatures when someone wants to make a difference?

We would like to share the following quote by Maike Plath with the teachers among you: «Teachers should no longer see themselves as victims of a system, but as the actors of the next relevant emancipation movement. We should join forces and co-operate instead of trying to do the impossible on our own every day.»