Teachers prepare to implement new syllabus

A new syllabus is to be introduced in Swiss primary schools in the 21 German-speaking cantons from the start of the 2019 academic year, and to this end teachers in the canton have been attending training sessions in advance.
 
The last of these took place in Unterägeri last week for teachers from there as well as from Oberägeri and Walchwil. It was here that teachers were able to find out all about Lehrplan 21, as it is known, in reference to these afore-mentioned cantons, what is new about it and how lessons will have to be adapted accordingly.
Present on this occasion, too, was Stephan Schleiss, the cantonal director of education, who mentioned that a special timetable had been drawn up to implement the new syllabus, “for which space and time were needed”. He said that implementation in the canton of Zug would be introduced relatively late, but, as a result, more carefully.
 
There followed a lecture by Martina Krieg, the head of school development, in which she gave an overview of “competence orientation” and reminded teachers present that it was no good just simply imparting knowledge any more, pupils must be taught to be able to apply this knowledge, so naturally it was important pupils really understood what teachers were on about. Looking at the syllabus to which pupils are taught today, she mentioned how this had only vague targets, which teachers were able to deduce them themselves. “This is not enough,” she insisted. “There has been too much criticism pupils have not been able to apply what they have learned to other areas”, she added, as she pointed out, too, what heterogeneity existed in classrooms these days, with some pupils being under-stretched while others were overstretched. Fortunately, she went on, implementation of this new syllabus would rectify this situation. Addressing the criticism many thought it contained too much, she said that the new syllabus covered only 470 pages of print with 2,304 “competence levels”, whereas the current one covered as many as 755 pages and 2,500 learning targets. “Of course, you all know what skills are needed to ensure good lessons,” she said, addressing the teachers. “And these skills will still be needed with the new syllabus,” adding that all what the teachers had learned in attending further training sessions, especially in the area of “cooperative types of learning”, would still be needed.
 
There followed a talk by specialist gardener Fabian Bucher of the Alois Bucher und Sohn AG company of Hünenberg, on what significance Lehrplan 21 would have on vocational training. He pointed out there were many similarities between training programmes for gardeners and the new syllabus. This was the very same Fabian Bucher who had presented teachers in the canton with a copy of the Lehrplan 21 on a USB stick.
 
Following the theoretical talks, the teachers then had the opportunity to take part in a role-play session, as if they were pupils, to see what lessons under this new syllabus would be like, able to select exercises appropriate to their own needs.
 
No feedback from the teachers who attended this event was forthcoming, but it was reported, for example, after a similar training session in Cham earlier this month, that teacher Patrick Kron said the session had made him want to know more about the new syllabus, while adding that, at his school, much had been done to implement it already. For her part, Anja Unternährer said she was happy much of what was said related to everyday classroom practice, as Regula Möri mentioned what thought had gone into the training session, a conclusion Schleiss drew about this event in Unterägeri, too. “I was struck by how motivating and informative it was,” he said.