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The introduction of Swiss Learning Plan 21 is one of the key milestones for education in German-speaking Switzerland, and sounds the final death knell for the old days of chalk+talk and lists of facts. Modern education is oriented towards the future needs of industry. It’s about training synapses, but even more importantly, about teaching children to find solutions for themselves and work well in a team. It’s about learning to analyse data, and about developing useful skills for the personal and professional future. If schools are to achieve all this, they need not only the right teachers, but also the right infrastructure, so that the classroom itself becomes a part of the learning experience. That’s exactly what’s been achieved at Degersheim primary school, where local furniture manufacturer Lista Office LO has upgraded four classrooms to meet the needs of education for tomorrow.
Swiss Learning Plan 21 was introduced throughout German-speaking Switzerland over three years ago. Putting into practice this new approach to learning requires new strategies – but the choice of strategy is left open to the classroom teachers. They can decide which learning style will best support their students in achieving their learning goals at any given time. For schools, what this means is that every classroom should be equipped to support any teaching method that the teacher considers applicable.<s> </s>
Challenging encouragement and support
The need for flexibility is one of the key challenges when it comes to implementing Swiss Teaching Plan 21. Teachers don't just have to make the right choice about teaching methods. They need to be creative and innovative, to encourage and support every student individually – the child who needs encouragement and support; the child who needs motivating with new challenges.
Classroom as learning tool
In 2010, Reto Thöny, school principal in Chur, developed the Chur Model of teaching, a skills-oriented approach to sharing knowledge that dovetails perfectly with the philosophy of Swiss Learning Plan 21 and has thus gained traction in recent years. The primary school in Degersheim is one of many schools that has transformed its teaching methods to follow the principles of the Chur Model. The school has now fitted out four of its classrooms to support the new learning styles, since a multifunctional classroom is a key requirement of the Chur Model.
Rather than the old static arrangement of furniture, with every pupil assigned a fixed place, the new order of the day is versatility and agility. The refurbished classrooms must be able to adapt on the fly between traditional blackboard teaching, individual study, pairwork and groupwork, which means that both students and teachers must be able to transform the space quickly, easily, and quietly. These transformations represent in themselves a key skill that the children are learning: self-management. From an early stage, the children must learn to make decisions and take responsibility for their own learning – beginning with determining the right environment for their work, and creating it. The diverse learning settings that can be created with the agile furniture design thus serve as an educational tool in themselves.
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To create the right setting for Swiss Learning Plan 21 based on the Chur Model, four classrooms were refitted. Stefan Gübeli, Headmaster, and Madlene Keller, class teacher in Degersheim Primary school answered our questions about the refit:
Stefan Gübeli, what is the Chur Model and why did your school decide on this method of knowledge sharing?
The Chur Model is based on supporting every child individually. The goal is to create learning settings that unite the different needs of the students, while at the same time helping children to connect learning units meaningfully. The model promotes independence, autonomy, and networked, critical thinking, and is about establishing a basis for acquiring skills. It is based on skills-oriented learning, which fits well with the requirements of Swiss Learning Plan 21.
Madlene Keller, you are not just a class teacher in Degersheim – you’re also part of the expert team at churermodell.ch. How do you see the role of the new classroom fitting?
The classroom and its furnishings take a central role. We need to be able to transform quickly between learning styles, without taking up too much time or effort. It’s also important that these transformations happen without disturbing the other children. That means that we – both the teachers and the students – need to be able to move the furniture around and create a new classroom layout quickly, quietly and easily.
The four classrooms were redesigned by Lista Office LO, a furniture manufacturer also based in Degersheim. What has been the impact for the children of the refurbishment?
Lista Office LO supported us 100% through the planning process. We had the opportunity to thoroughly test the different options before purchasing the new furniture. This meant that we could be confident that our students would not only be able to work with the new system, but would enjoy doing so. What I've seen since the refit is that the classroom has a noticeably different atmosphere. Everything feels lighter and airier and we’ve created space. That has had noticeable positive effects on our students’ thinking and motivation.
Can you sum up your opinion of the new classrooms, Stefan Gübeli?
Modern teaching is founded on using a variety of teaching methods. The new furniture system makes it easy to adapt and provide the versatility required. We can transition between individual study, pairwork, or groupwork quickly, easily and quietly, and the theories of modern teaching as set out in Swiss Learning Plan 21 have been put into practice exactly. It was important to us that the refitted classrooms would be suitable for agile, dynamic teaching. That’s why we focused on mobility and flexibility. These goals have been achieved perfectly and the students really enjoy the diverse learning styles.
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Harald Fitz
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Email harald.fitz@clutterlista-office.com