«Today's school is more child-friendly than ever»

I have been a pupil, student, teacher, counsellor, head teacher, father of a pupil, teacher trade unionist and member of the executive board of the head teachers' association. For good measure, I am happily married to a music teacher. These experiences should enable me to judge what good school policy is, what a good school looks like or what good teaching should be like. Nevertheless, the subject of school remains very complex and often contradictory for me too.
Sometimes, in slightly anarchistic daydreams, I question the whole structure. For example, when my wife recently slipped me a quote from a handbook for good teaching: «I would have understood a lot of things if they hadn't been explained to me.» The sentence comes from the Polish satirist Stanislaw Jerzy Lec.

Unfortunately, I can't just laugh about it. Because there is a grain of truth in it. In the back of my mind, this saying is linked to all the memories of crises of meaning that I had as a teacher when I soberly considered the effort and the results of my teaching.

Leafing through the handbook, I found other encouraging sayings. The German comedian Karl Valentin once said: «We don't need to educate the children, they do everything after us anyway.» And I found this sentence: «Teachers are people who help us to solve problems that we wouldn't have without them.» I am happy to return to the complexity of school at this point.

Counsellors who know what is right and what is wrong in school are and have always been suspect to me. I feel the same way about teachers who are unilaterally committed to an educational or teaching doctrine. Sooner or later they have to learn, sometimes painfully, that not every method is good for everyone. I can also add my own profession as a school headmaster. Anyone in this role who tries to bring about well-intentioned change with all their might will fail.

It takes courage instead of a doctrine

It gets even worse when a moral judgement is added. One teaching method, one form of teaching then becomes right and good, another bad and demonised.

I'll give you four school topics where you can easily get lost:
- Frontal teaching versus individualised learning
- Homework yes or no
- Year groups versus
multigrade
- Grades yes or no

And three more examples from school policy:
- Headscarves yes or no
- Daycare versus
the classic family model
- Long-term grammar school versus short-term grammar school

Over the years, I have discussed and argued about all of these (stimulating) topics and many more in a wide variety of situations and societies. Even with parents, by the way. Only to realise again and again: There is no such thing as the only truth.

Today's school landscape
is more lively, colourful, diverse, child-friendly and transparent than ever before.

Achieving qualitative change requires more than clear positions. It requires a perspective that understands change as a process and involves everyone involved. It takes courage to make changes, to make mistakes and to correct them. An ancient Greek, Democritus, said: «Courage is at the beginning of action, luck at the end.»

What makes a good school with this processual thinking was wonderfully described from different perspectives in this magazine last September. Fabian Grolimund and Stefanie Rietzler include all the important and right factors for success in their article, and I agree with all of them.

There are a few, but important basic attitudes that teachers and headteachers must take to heart in their day-to-day work to ensure that pupils do well in the broadest sense. These are sometimes contradictory. However, I can confirm from my work in school policy that many schools are «good schools».

Schools are often described from the outside as sluggish tankers. They are accused of not reacting quickly enough to necessary changes and of always following the same old patterns and content. It may be that, at first glance, many things still work as they did when I was a teacher. But appearances are deceptive. Today's school landscape is more lively, more colourful, more diverse, more child-friendly and more transparent than ever. And yes, sometimes it's also too much to cope with all the demands.

In the mid-1970s, I taught a class as a young secondary school teacher in a school building in Zurich, built in the barracks style of the 1930s. In addition to this level, the school building also had a secondary school, a high school and three different types of special classes. Three further special classes were taught in the immediate vicinity. The few foreign-language children attended either the Oberschule or the Realschule. The aim was to teach in groups that were as homogeneous as possible. Once a pupil was assigned to a performance level, there were no more changes.

Two classes in the staff room

My group of pupils, the secondary school pupils, were instructed not to come into contact with secondary school children on the playground so that they would not be spoilt in terms of language and behaviour. In the staff room, secondary school teachers in white lab coats sat at the top of the table, while we secondary school teachers in everyday clothes sat at the bottom, with our personal coffee cups labelled in front of us. We were on first name terms with the secondary school teachers. The classroom doors were always closed and we didn't talk about lessons. Anyone who had problems with discipline in their class, and that was mainly us secondary school teachers, was not supported in any way by the teaching staff. Contact with parents took place once a year on a fast-track basis, 20 minutes per meeting.

However, the first cracks in this well-organised school world were unmistakable. The social upheavals of the time had an impact on the school, exemplified by teachers like me with long, wild hair. Since then, at varying speeds, out of necessity or conviction, schools have changed enormously. «Just wait until you get to school» is fortunately no longer an effective threat today.

Counsellors who know what is right and what is wrong at school have always been suspect to me.

Now I'm retired. I could privatise and let my pension and assets melt away with travel, fine arts, sport and good food. But things turned out differently. I've become a grandfather and regularly look after my grandson. Fortunately for me. Accompanying him in his rapid development and watching him conquer the world and learn new things is wonderful.

My role in his learning is to fulfil his basic needs. I try to apply the saying «I would have understood a lot of things if they hadn't been explained to me» mentioned at the beginning. I try not to hinder my grandson in any way in his curious, persistent self-activity.

Many schools today very consciously and successfully encourage this innate curiosity about new things and learning and provide an appropriate environment.
Vito, my grandson - who is almost one year old when this text is published - can be happy.

Read more about school & education:

• Communication between school and parents
  What should you do if your child is not doing well at school? What should you do if you as a parent are unable to understand what is happening at school? Communication is the key.

• A good school: what is it?
  Today's education system is often discussed - and criticised. Many experts would like to see a Scandinavian-style school model for Switzerland, while others cling to tradition. For this dossier, the Fritz+Fränzi learning experts have thought about how schools can succeed. Their assessment is encouraging.

• «Mr Minder, why are there so few suitable headteachers?»
  Thomas Minder has been the headmaster of German-speaking Switzerland since 1 August. The man from Thurgau talks about the acute shortage of headteachers, career changers in the teaching profession and his goal of exerting greater influence on politics.
• «Schools also want the best for the child»
  Bernard Gertsch is the country's top headteacher. A conversation about power, the question of what makes a good school - and how teachers deal with pressure.