2024-03-31 21:20:36
100 ideas for a better life: Visit to the high school in Wädenswil, which is breaking new ground. With success.
The students work around a third of the time in their “Lilo”, the heart of the learning landscape.
Andrea Zahler
100 ideas for a better life
Some students call them “aquariums”: the glass rooms in the new Rotweg school building in Wädenswil. This is where they retreat to discuss something or practice. They wrote down goals on a glass wall. “I want to work faster so I can study for my high school exams on Fridays,” Lincoln wrote. And Nina: “I assess myself realistically and take an active part in the lessons.”
The two 14-year-olds lead visitors through the Wädenswil secondary school. In this way, they relieve the burden on school management and also acquire performance skills. “Please only whisper here,” says Nina as she enters the “Lilo”, the heart of the learning landscape. There are around 60 work niches here for students in first, second and third secondary classes.
People interested in education regularly make pilgrimages to Wädenswil. Secondary school is seen as a model for the development of a new type of school with more freedom and less stress. “It is based on the needs of the students, but without sacrificing the right to performance,” says educational scientist Jürgen Oelkers. He was a member of the jury that awarded this school the first Swiss school prize in 2013. At that time it was still a pilot project for a few classes, today all 600 students learn in eleven learning landscapes – each led by a permanent team of teachers.
Teachers as coaches
The “Lilo” is reminiscent of a modern open-plan office. Lincoln shows his work niche, in which there is a notebook and on the walls a “class flipbook” hangs along with two drawings. The chapters: “This is me”, “My strengths”, “My class”, “Rules and values”, “Memories and excursions”. “Here we all work according to our weekly schedule,” he explains, pointing to a table with subjects, days of the week, abbreviations and orders. He is free to choose what he is currently working on. There is no homework, but everything must be completed by the end of the week. He shows certain tasks to the teacher and checks others independently in the solution island in the middle of the room.
The glass rooms have been nicknamed “aquariums”: view into the modern Rotweg school building.
Andrea Zahler
“Learners are individuals, not herd animals,” says Christian Gut, one of the four co-principals. «As a young teacher, I had the idea of a class in which I would teach all the children the same thing at the same time. But that doesn’t do them justice.” In Wädenswil, fast students are not slowed down, slower ones are given special support. Regular coaching discussions between teachers and students, but also among the students themselves, ensure that everyone gets their money’s worth. They write down how they did in their learning book, give feedback to the teaching team and obtain feedback. “Social and cooperative learning is very important.” This is what it says in the school’s “Guidelines”.
“The whole thing was a bit overwhelming at the beginning,” says Ella, who leads through a second learning landscape together with Samira. “But the teachers are very supportive. They are always there for you.” She now feels in “Lilo” “as if I were sitting at my desk at home.” Samira enjoys the freedom. “I can work independently, but I can ask for help if I need it.” Nina, on the other hand, sometimes finds it difficult “because I get asked so many questions by others.”
Learning landscapes are now also available in a few other Swiss school buildings. They have joined forces in the Mosaic Schools network – Mosaik stands for motivation, openness, self-efficacy, age mix, individuality, cooperation. In Wädenswil, the teaching teams are free to decide how they want to design their “Lilo” within the school guidelines. Over the years, each of the eleven learning landscapes has developed a slightly different style.
But what applies to everyone: only a third of the time is worked individually. A third is reserved for input lessons: basically old school in class. It is an attempt to combine structure and freedom. Another third of the time is devoted to specialist lessons such as sports, art or music. Mixed-age activities and project work are also required. For a few years now, there has also been a class for talented athletes who can spend a lot of time training and organize their timetable accordingly.
The Wädenswil secondary school is not a radical school that turned everything upside down overnight. “We are on a path,” says Gut. Unlike a private school, which can go its own way with a hand-picked group of children, the public school must cater to everyone. In Wädenswil, with 25,000 inhabitants, the socio-economic range is wide: it extends from the academic child from the lakeside villa to the farmer’s daughter from the mountain.
Happiness effect without grades
The latest project: In some “Lilos” there are no longer exam grades, but a color code. At the beginning of the semester, students set a target grade for each subject. If they achieve this in an exam, it is green, if they do better, if it is pink, they are below the target, orange. Like that. “If Samira and I have green, then we both have the lucky effect,” says Ella.
Brain research shows how good it is for young people when they achieve the goals they set for themselves. “They develop pride and that gives them strength,” said neuropsychologist Lutz Jäncke recently in an SRF radio program about a mosaic school. It’s this comparison with yourself that helps. If the project proves successful, the teaching staff will vote on the general introduction. “We want to move away from constant social comparisons based on grades,” says co-principal Christian Gut.
Every student has their own work area for individual learning.
Andrea Zahler
Nevertheless: the Wädenswil secondary school is not an oasis of well-being for young people. “The pressure to perform in our society remains, and we have to give young people tools and strategies to achieve this,” says co-principal Vanessa Peng. For some, completely free learning would work, for others it wouldn’t; for them, a differentiated level of support is needed. “It is important that the teaching teams succeed in creating an atmosphere so that the young people enjoy coming to school.”
Do that? Sometimes they are stressed, say Nina, Lincoln, Samira and Ella. Especially when there are many exams at the same time towards the end of the semester. Everyone has to learn for it at home too. Lincoln doesn’t like the mixed-age project work because the topics are “rather boring.” Nina appreciates that there is no homework: “I have many hobbies.” Working independently is well received. “I’m learning a lot for professional life,” says Samira. Ella thinks: “It’s nice to know how much I can accomplish in a day.”
Lincoln has achieved his goal, which he stuck on the glass wall of the “aquarium”; he will be moving to high school in the summer. Nina has already tried four different professions. Her current favorite is Health Specialist.
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100 ideas for a better life
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