Swiss Review 5/2018

Swiss Review / September 2018 / No.5 15 input, however, is kept purposely short – it should not re- duce the time the pupils have for learning, time that they may use very independently. One who is little surprised by the spread of the Chur model is Peter Lienhard, professor at the Zurich Training College for Teachers of Special Needs. The model is the ba- sis for many key developments in today’s schools, he says. The essential thing is “to promote pupils individually ac- cording to their skills and abilities”. At the same time, school today has to include childrenwith learning difficul- ties and disabilities. “Using the Chur model, one can react to those challenges in a better, more relaxed way,” he says. New curriculum, new basic concept The success of the Chur model is also due to the fact that the basic concept of teaching and learning is changing in Switzerland. The new Lehrplan 21 (Curriculum 21), valid for German-speaking Switzerland, as well as the French-speaking part’s Plan d’études romand specify not only the content to be learned – great importance is given also to the skills the pupils are to acquire. Learning strat- egies and problem solving aremovingmuchmore into the focus of the lesson. With the new curriculum, the schools of today will be competent to react to the rapid changes in the world, says Matthias Gubler. He is a psychologist and head of the In- stitut Unterstrass in Zurich that trains kindergarten and primary school teachers. Gubler says, “For acquiring knowledge alone there is no need to go to school these days, there are enough learning tools available in the in- ternet for that. One will go to school in future to acquire skills that can be carried over later into one’s professional life and to be able to work with others together on a joint topic.” The aim is to prepare the pupils of today for future tasks yet unknown in the society of tomorrow. “We still have a school that was created for the industrialised so- ciety of the last century,” says Gubler. School will continue to change, he says. The new curriculum and the spread of the new teaching model are just the first steps of that change. Looking forward – to the break In Room No. 204 of the Spitalacker School in Bern, there will be many changes in the years to come. The next big step is already coming up in two years: all kindergarten and primary school children between the ages of four and eight will be taught in so-called basic-level classes. Classes will be formed in which children of both years of kinder- garten plus the first- and second-year classes will go to school together. In this way the playing aspect of kinder- garten and the scholastic aspect of the first primary school years will be mixed together. “That is a challenge that we are looking forward to,” says teacher Danielle Baumann. The change will not affect Yael and Emanuel, though. They will no longer be in the class. But they are here still and looking forward now to the break. MIREILLE GUGGENBÜHLER IS A FREELANCE JOURNALIST, SPECIALISED IN EDUCATIONAL ISSUES Primary school classes are becom- ing more varied, with a mix of ages: In so-called basic-level classes, pupils aged four to eight will be taught together.