Willi Eugster
Willi Eugster (born April 30, 1948 in Herrliberg ) is a Swiss educator and psychologist . From 1985 to 2013 he was the rector of the Trogen Cantonal School (KST) and has helped shape its development and the educational landscape in eastern Switzerland through his educational innovations. His work during this time shows an exemplary image of everyday life in high schools in Switzerland.
Childhood and youth
Willi Eugster was born on April 30, 1948 in Herrliberg in the canton of Zurich as the first of five boys. One year after his birth, the family moved into his grandfather's parents' house in the hamlet of Bühlen in the municipality of Heiden . His father Willy Fritz Eugster and his mother Anna ran a small farm of six hectares there . So Willi Eugster grew up in humble circumstances and, like all siblings, had to work in the stable and in the field from an early age. In Heiden himself he also attended primary and secondary schools. Although the father would have liked to see his first-born son as the successor to his parents' business, it was clear to the farmer's boy early on that he did not want to become a farmer, instead he was drawn to the teaching profession.
education
After compulsory schooling, Willi Eugster entered the teachers' seminar in Kreuzlingen in 1964 (today the pedagogical high school in Kreuzlingen ). At the end of the 1960s, the political authorities combated the teacher shortage, among other things, by employing young teachers who were in training for a year of internship. So it came about that in 1967 the 19-year-old Eugster was assigned the one-year internship as a primary school teacher in rural Hundwil . He then taught 1st to 4th primary grade students in the “Mühle” schoolhouse. The fact that the majority of the children grew up in farming families was of great benefit to the young intern, as he was very familiar with this environment from his childhood. In 1969 Eugster obtained the teacher's patent and started his first job in Stein, Appenzell-Austerrhodischen . In the following three years he taught the 1st to 3rd grade: In the morning he gave his lessons to a group of children in the “Langenegg” schoolhouse and in the afternoon in the “Berg” schoolhouse; together there were nearly seventy students.
In order to gain an even better understanding of children and deeper insights into learning processes, Eugster enrolled at the University of Zurich in spring 1972 to study psychology, pedagogy and special education; Following a passion, he also took philosophical lectures during his student years. The theoretical training was always enriched with practical experience. During his studies, he took on various deputies at primary schools in Winterthur , where he was able to gather knowledge with students from a “special class” and their inappropriate behavior and emotion-driven actions and reactions. Years later, Eugster noted: "Sometimes I think that these 16 children taught me more than all the professors at the university." During this time the first experiences in teaching at the upper secondary level fell through a teaching position for pedagogy at the kindergarten teachers' seminar in St. Gallen . In 1975 his training was supplemented by an internship at the «School Psychological Service» of the Canton of St. Gallen, in which Eugster took over the position of the school psychologist in the Toggenburg region . In February 1977, he completed his studies for Licentiate , among others, Detlev von Uslar in Applied Psychology , Theoretical Psychology , Educational Psychology and Special Education from. 1984 Willi Eugster obtained his doctorate in educational psychology under Konrad Widmer, University of Zurich; the submitted dissertation was entitled Suitability and Motivation for the Teaching Profession. An empirical study of the personality traits of candidate teachers .
Professional activities
Wattwil Cantonal School
In 1977, the rector of the Wattwil Cantonal School commissioned Willi Eugster to teach psychology , education and philosophy . One year later, he was elected head teacher, and in 1982 he was awarded the title of professor by the Canton of St. Gallen . One of the methodical innovations initiated by Eugster in Wattwil was the introduction of block lessons in the subject of pedagogy: the weekly hours were now combined into half-days, which created better conditions for project-like learning and working than in the conventional lesson rhythm. He introduced another innovation in seminar training: in the canton of St. Gallen, practical lessons, accompanied by methodology teachers, only started in the fourth of five years of training. As part of their third year of training, Eugster enabled students to work with the schoolchildren in their third year of psychology: Selected internship teachers arranged small lessons in their primary school classes, which helped the candidate teachers to observe and experience with the children. The theory, which is often somewhat distant for the seminarians, was thus enriched by experienced teachers with practical examples.
Cantonal School Trogen
At the beginning of the 1985 school year, Willi Eugster was appointed the new rector of the Trogen Cantonal School (KST) and then headed the institution for the next 28 years until 2013. In this second-longest rectorate term in school history, Eugster reformed a number of areas such as school management, school quality and evaluation or leadership advice. In some cases, he also did pioneering work in school and teaching development or in the area of IT teaching . In addition to the students, all employees were at the center of Eugster's school tour. For him, as the headmaster, these consisted not only of teachers, but of all employees (housekeeping, canteen staff, administration, etc.) who should be taken seriously and have therefore been integrated into internal training courses, for example. When Eugster took over the management of the KST in 1985, the school had 418 students, 54 teachers (main teachers / part-time) and 15 administrative employees (full and part-time); In 2013 there were already 679 students and 117 teachers and 36 administrative employees.
When he took office, Eugster announced: “School means life. Life is change. A school that is alive has to change. Following this guiding principle, I took on my assignment to manage the canton school. " He also formulated parts of these changes in the first annual report: “At school management level, in addition to organizational issues, pedagogical problems must increasingly be addressed. […] Within the school, teachers from various disciplines are encouraged to join forces in interdisciplinary teaching projects. [...] We can ascribe a special educational value to extracurricular activities such as sport, theater, music, exhibitions and school festivals. The same applies to school relocations, concentration and sports weeks, which strengthen the contacts between students and between teachers and students. [...] The student is a serious interlocutor. Accordingly, this must be included in the planning questions that concern him. [...] The parental home is to be included in the lesson planning in terms of the learning environment. […] In addition, models of teaching would have to be developed in which it is possible for students to be addressed according to their personal learning requirements and to be encouraged to actively participate and help shape it. [...] In addition to technical knowledge, the teacher must have great human skills. This includes self-respect, the ability to be honest and genuine, endure criticism, listen to the students and want to include them in the classroom. "
In 2006 Eugster took stock of the development to date: «Changes have also been made in the organizational forms and in teaching and learning. This includes the theme weeks, which take place three times a year, the learning studio for the upper level, various forms of gifted support (free subject courses with certification , sports school, study weeks), e-learning , project lessons , Matura theses, large and small group lessons, unsupervised learning and, overall, a rapidly increasing heterogeneity to mention the learner, who calls for further forms of individualization. All former departments were subjected to radical structural reforms and new ones were created: Matura reform 1994, introduction of the vocational baccalaureate and renaming of the commercial secondary school at the business school, introduction of the cooperative upper level as well as the rebuilding of a technical secondary school with a specialist baccalaureate. " And about the future of teaching, he noted: “The tendency towards individualization of learning will increase. More and more often the school will have to deal with the learning requirements and not just with the learning itself. The distraction and distraction potential increases enormously. [...] The care intensity will not decrease overall, but on the contrary increase. The class associations will lose more and more importance. "
School and teaching development
For Eugster, “school climate” became the guiding principle of his management activities: “As the headmaster, my concern was above all the atmosphere. [...] If the climate is right, then people feel good, and if they feel good, then nothing stands in the way of being active. " To improve the school climate, Eugster used several main instruments: supervision and mutual class attendance, discussion groups on current problems, class discussions between students and teachers, conflict discussions with the involvement of a mediator and the opportunity to have enough time for discussions in the convention and in-house training for teachers. In order to promote the aspect of connecting further education, in 1987 he and four other Rector colleagues founded a working group of the "Further Education Center for Middle School Teachers" (WBZ), which was active until 2002. In 1988, unusual for a state grammar school, he and the employees of the Trogen Cantonal School organized the first compulsory further training in general didactics in Sigriswil, which lasted several days . Eugster reported on school development work in various publications, such as articles on teacher training (1/92), school management and school development (1992) or collegial teaching art workshop (2010). Another pioneering act in the context of school development was the introduction of the performance dialogue (1997) in the sense of an individual development instrument or the introduction of the global budget in 2000, which enabled the KST to have complete financial autonomy. These were the first steps towards running the school in the spirit of New Public Management , from which a comprehensive quality management system gradually developed.
Headmaster training
In 1990 Willi Eugster commented on the profession of school management in the magazine Gymnasium Helveticum (4/90) . In it he postulated a new understanding of roles and a professionalization of the profession. As part of the WBZ working group, he therefore also organized further training events for school leaders. After the canton of Appenzell Ausserrhoden had decided to introduce school administrators for the elementary schools , Eugster, together with the rector of the Herisau vocational training center , was commissioned to train school principals for the canton. Later, Eugster was also a lecturer for school principals at the Thurgau University of Education .
High School Rectors' Conference and "TRI S2"
From 1995 to 1998 Willi Eugster was also President of the “Conference of Swiss High School Rectors” (KSGR / CDGS). During his tenure, the postulates for the grammar school were published. In it, the KSGR / CDGS commented on the “nature of general education”, “education as a task of the grammar school” and the “framework conditions of the grammar school”. In 1996, Eugster also founded the “TRI S2” conference: This brought together the boards of directors of the high school rectors' conference, the commercial high school rectors' conference and the diploma high school rectors' conference (today: the conference of the rectors of Swiss technical schools). This created the prerequisites for efficiently taking up and dealing with common educational policy issues. In particular, a holistic view of educational policy should be emphasized. The board conference also maintained intensive contacts with the conference of directors of the SDK vocational schools . In January 2000, "TRI S2" published 13 theses on the development of the upper secondary level . One thesis called for a federal secondary school law. This should involve the federal government in the financing of secondary schools. In May 2000, "TRI S2" organized a congress for the upper secondary level in Zurich. The then Federal Councilor Pascal Couchepin was able to be won as the main speaker . Eugster remained President of "TRI S2" until 2005 before the Board Conference was dissolved in 2010.
Foundations
Thanks to two foundations , which were funded by Eugster, the canton school was able to receive financial support in a number of projects. In 1994 Mövenpick founder Ueli Prager , who was at the KST from 1929 to 1935, set up the “Ueli Prager Foundation” with a total of 400,000 francs, the aim of which was to support unusual and pioneering KST projects. A lasting friendship developed between Prager and Eugster, and with the money from the foundation Eugster was able to develop and finance learning projects with great independence, such as software - programming by students, the development of a CCD camera for the KST observatory , the networking of the school buildings with fiber optic cable , co-financing of the “Trogen- Irkutsk ” school exchange or the publication of an art brochure. In view of the dissolution of the foundation in 2009, a playground (“Ueli-Prager-Platz”) between the “old schoolhouse” and the auditorium was built with the remaining amount. The architectural peculiarity is a four-meter-wide furnished wooden walkway that protrudes fourteen meters horizontally into the northern slope.
At the beginning of the eighties, Eugster's predecessor Ernst Kuhn procured the first IBM computers for teaching. The triumphant advance of the digital revolution at school did not get underway, however, but only shortly before the turn of the millennium: In 1998, Willi Eugster succeeded in negotiating a contract with the "Metrohm Foundation" to set up computer science classes at the Trogen Cantonal School. Metrohm AG had been a wholly-owned subsidiary of the "Metrohm Foundation" since 1982 . In addition to running Metrohm AG, the latter is also involved in charitable and cultural purposes. At that time, this foundation launched a project competition from which the KST emerged as the winner. In the 1998/99 annual report, Eugster wrote: “This means that the urgently needed financial resources are available to give the young people the tools they need to use modern communication and information technology efficiently. The project is called "NATWIT" (natural sciences and information technology). " The foundation supported the project for eight years and invested over three million francs. This made it possible for the school to set up its own school network and the associated infrastructure for IT lessons at an early stage. In addition, “NATWIT” also created the KST weather station . Eugster remained innovative in the field of computer science: At the first building committee meeting for the renovation of the “old schoolhouse” in 2001, Eugster anticipated that no further computer rooms were necessary, “because the development could lead to the future of students Bring your own notebook to school as a work device ». 15 years later, this bring your own device concept was actually introduced at KST.
In 2013, the “Trogen Cantonal School Foundation” was established under the direction of Eugster. This emerged from the amalgamation of all previous foundations of the KST (the Konvikt Fund, the “Rektor Wildi Foundation” , the “Fenkart Foundation”, the “Dr. Schiess Study Fund ” and the donation of the Girls' Convict by the Trogen Cantonal School Association ). The purpose of the foundation is to cope with tasks that are in the interests of the students and the teaching staff of the Trogen Cantonal School, and has been chaired by Eugster since then.
buildings
One of the most time-consuming tasks in Willi Eugster's tenure as rector was the structural expansion of the KST: At the beginning of the 1980s, there was an acute shortage of space due to the increasing number of students at the cantonal school. A room concept had to be drawn up for the entire canton school. In 1983, therefore, a planning commission was set up under Eugster. In addition to the new sports hall, the created concept also envisaged an expansion of the existing facility, from which various expansion phases emerged. The Landsgemeinde of 1987 supported a first stage with an investment volume of around nine million francs. In the next 15-year construction phase, Eugster was involved in all meetings with the building construction commission (canton) and the building committee (representatives of the school) on the nine pending renovations and new buildings; At the end of the structural development, the KST showed twice the usable area. In 1988 the "Annex" schoolhouse was first raised by an additional full floor and finished off with a hipped roof. In 1989 the "old gym" from 1928 was renovated and the new sports hall with outdoor facilities designed by Piet Kempter was moved into. Willi Eugster, together with the head of the building construction office Otto Hugentobler, also campaigned for art in architecture . A work by Roman Signer was installed on the new sports field : a red canoe that moves 27 cm a day (over a wire rope and pulleys) parallel to the 100 m racetrack and thus takes a year to cover the entire route. At the canoe opening , Eugster mentioned, among other things: “The work of art by Signer [...] seeks intellectual debate. It is an examination of the zeitgeist, in this case the lack of time. Next to the high-speed track, not on it, is a kayak , a boat that has time. It has a lot of time and thus goes against the zeitgeist. " Also in 1989 the pavilion was built to the west of the “Red School House”. With this medium-term temporary school room, the prevailing lack of space was counteracted in a first step. In 2014 the building was renamed “Pharos” as part of a renovation.
In 1992, the Landsgemeinde approved a further loan (CHF 24 million), enabling the start of the second construction phase. From 1993 to 1995 the construction work for the largest construction project to date took place at the KST: The architecture office Loesch Isoz Benz took over the planning and execution of the four-storey building “Arche” . Here, too, a project on the “Artistic Design of Outdoor Spaces at the KST” took into account art in public space: Even before construction of the “Arche” began, artists were given the opportunity to develop a project as part of a competition. In 1993 a committee that included Willi Eugster selected three works, including one by the Trogen artist Hans-Ruedi Fricker . After the major “Arche” project, an urgently needed caretaker's apartment was built in the “Olymp” building, and from 1995 to 1997 the “Old Konvikt” from 1804 was converted into a school management center. In 1998 the “Red Schoolhouse” was also renovated, and in the same year construction began on the new multi-purpose building including the auditorium . Here Eugster urged the library to be relocated to the new building: Already a year before the groundbreaking, he reported, referring to a needs analysis by the canton: “The room for the school library is too small. The library should be able to take up at least twice as much floor space. Their expansion into a media library is to be encouraged. So that the more extensive ideas of independent and responsible work can be realized, suitable work rooms and facilities must be available. The "Federal Office for Industry, Commerce and Labor" complained in 1990 that the area was too small. A library / media library for our school would have to have an area of 250–300 m². [...] Space has to be created in the new multi-purpose building for the media library. " As a result, the construction management changed their concept and integrated the installation of a modern media library on the first floor, which has been offering media (currently around 25,000) for study and leisure for all students and employees since the opening of the auditorium in 2001.
Activities after retirement
School and Pedagogy
After his retirement in 2013, Willi Eugster remained connected to the Trogen Cantonal School by continuing to support the development of the school as president of the Trogen Cantonal School Foundation. In the field of education , as president of the «Lehrkunst.ch» association, he is still committed to good teaching and good schools. According to the principle of the teaching art didactics developed in the succession of Martin Wagenschein and Hans Christoph Berg and theoretically substantiated together with Wolfgang Klafki, important learning content should be genetically and dramaturgically worked out in the cultural context as what is becoming. «Knowledge is not just there. It was acquired hard and often at the risk of one's own life. "
politics
From 2013 to 2016 Eugster was Co-President of the FDP of the Canton of Appenzell Ausserrhoden . There he advocated a liberal policy , which should help people to develop instead of the principles of an ideology. He formulated his basic stance in an essay Does Liberal Politics Have a Future? Politics and philosophy about the will and freedom of the individual , which was published in the St. Galler Tagblatt in 2014 . In it he wrote, among other things: «We are brutally free and cruelly trapped in it. We determine how we want to live ourselves, and each person designs his or her own, very personal way of life. That is the quintessence of our culture. Things have not gotten any easier. We cannot avoid taking our lives in hand and taking responsibility for it. But who tells us how to do it? Who will help us? Can we assume that there is something like common sense in humans? The experience of the last century raises great doubts in us. The economy has brought us prosperity, we live longer and probably somehow better than our ancestors. […] The modern person: I live in a multi-option society. I have to try as many options as possible. I can't miss anything. Make money and buy expensive clothes. Have fun. Meet people. Celebrate parties. Drink. Search for dates on the internet. Sex. I have to look good. I do sports. I have a well-trained body. Eternal youth. What if I can't do it? [...] Freedom gives everyone the chance to shape their own lives and to develop options for action on a daily basis and to decide between different alternatives. We perceive this as fair, although individuality and thus diversity is created. A complex society like ours is even dependent on these differences. They each contribute their part to make the whole work. That is the ideal. Unfortunately, freedom also leads to exaggerations, undesirable developments and abuse. Then the system is not in harmony. We perceive injustice. The more open a society and the greater the prosperity, the greater the risk of undesirable developments. What are we doing? We are constantly creating new laws against abuse. With this we want to restore justice. As a side effect, we are abolishing freedoms. [...] Liberalism is an open system that constantly has to question and rethink itself. It is often troublesome. Sometimes inefficient. It is the only solution that guarantees freedom. He can do justice. "
"Knowledge Eigenart GmbH"
In 2013 Willi Eugster founded the company “Wissen Eigenart GmbH” in order to use his experience and knowledge to competently support organizations and individuals in decision-making situations. For this coaching he worked closely with the “SokratesGroup” institution in Zurich. There Eugster developed a management cockpit for companies and institutions with the tool «SocratesMapConzept». Furthermore, "Wissen Eigenart GmbH" offers workshops and works out psychological and philosophical analyzes of problems and solutions. The core competence lies in the field of school and training.
Publications (selection)
- Suitability and motivation for the teaching profession. An empirical study of the personality traits of candidate teachers. Dissertation. 1984.
- Thoughts on high school education. In: KVT-Mitteilungen, No. 65. Self-published, Trogen 1986, pp. 77–86.
- Headmaster - manager, patron, teacher, administrator, police officer? In: Gymnasium Helveticum, 4/1990.
- With H. Bieri, B. Colpi, A. Leuzinger, R. Salathé: School climate . In: Gymnasium Helveticum, 2/91
- School management and school development . In: Contributions to teacher training, 1/92.
- School climate, why exactly «school climate»? In: KVT-Mitteilungen, No. 71. Self-published, Trogen 1992, pp. 21-27.
- School in a moving world. In: First Swiss Congress of Heads of Full-Time Upper Secondary Schools. Vevey, May 1996.
- Conference of Swiss High School Rectors: Postulates for the High School. Obwalden 1998.
- TRI S2: 13 theses on the development of secondary level II. Trogen 2000.
- Educational standards - a guide? In: Labudde Peter (Ed.): Educational standards at the grammar school. Hep, Bern 2007, ISBN 978-3-03905-339-1 .
- Collegial teaching arts workshop. Great moments of mankind in lessons at the Trogen Cantonal School. Hep, Bern 2010. ISBN 978-3-03905-510-4 .
- Willi Eugster: Does Liberal Politics Have a Future? In: St. Galler Tagblatt , 27./28. November 2014 (Part 1, Part 2 ).
- The educational contribution of the art of teaching for the grammar schools. In: Mario Gerwig, Susanne Wildhirt (ed.): The school system should and will also be an educational system. Schneider, Baltmannsweiler 2016, ISBN 978-3-8340-1618-8 .
literature
- Jakob Heim: On the history of the Trogen Cantonal School. In: Program of the Appenzell Cantonal School. Self-published, Trogen 1875.
- Ernst Wildi: Appenzell a. Rh. Canton school in Trogen for the hundredth year of existence. Self-published, Trogen 1921.
- Ernst Kuhn: Annual reports of the Trogen Cantonal School. Self-published, Trogen 1980–1986.
- Willi Eugster: Annual reports of the Trogen Cantonal School. Self-published, Trogen 1986–2013.
- Johannes Schläpfer: The structural development of the canton school from its beginnings to the present. In: KVT-Mitteilungen, No. 72. Eigenverlag, Trogen 1993, pp. 71–98.
- Heidi Eisenhut: The History of the Trogen Cantonal School. In: Special edition of the heartburn for the ark inauguration. Self-published, Trogen 1995.
Web links
- Documentary “Farmers and Palaces” (with Willi Eugster from 37:57 to 44:50) on YouTube
- Homepage Wissen Eigenart GmbH
- Website of the Trogen Cantonal School Foundation
- Homepage teaching art
Individual evidence
- ↑ Willi Eugster: Closing words by Dr. W. Eugster. In: KVT-Mitteilungen , No. 65, self-published, Trogen 1986, pp. 64–65.
- ↑ Willi Eugster: Thoughts on high school education. In: KVT-Mitteilungen, No. 65, self-published, Trogen 1986, p. 77.
- ↑ Willi Eugster: Thoughts on high school education. In: KVT-Mitteilungen, No. 65. Self-published, Trogen 1986, pp. 83–86.
- ^ A b Willi Eugster: Space needs of the canton school. State Archives Appenzell Ausserrhoden, D.027-43-1-09.
- ↑ School climate, why exactly «school climate»? In: KVT-Mitteilungen, No. 71. Self-published, Trogen 1992, pp. 21-27.
- ↑ Homepage Association of Swiss Gymnasium Teachers .
- ↑ subseries Ueli Prager Foundation . State Archives Appenzell Ausserrhoden, D.027-41-1.
- ↑ Sub-series Playground Ueli Prager . State Archives Appenzell Ausserrhoden, D.027-43-7.
- ^ Entry of the "Metrohm Foundation" in the commercial register of Appenzell Ausserrhoden .
- ↑ Willi Eugster: From school life. In: KVT-Mitteilungen, No. 78, self-published, Trogen 1999, p. 78.
- ↑ Walter Maag: Protocol for the renovation of the old school building from September 20, 2001. State Archives Appenzell Ausserrhoden, D.027-46-6-02.
- ^ Website of the "Stiftung Kantonsschule Trogen" .
- ^ Willi Eugster: Speech at the canoe opening on October 7, 1994. State Archives Appenzell Ausserrhoden, D.027-52-5-01.
- ↑ Kantonsschule Trogen (Ed.): Art & Architecture at the Kantonsschule Trogen AR. Self-published, Trogen 2001.
- ^ Willi Eugster: Applications for the “new multi-purpose building” dated June 2, 1998 . State Archives Appenzell Ausserrhoden, D.027-53-2-02.
- ↑ Martin Hüsler: Groundbreaking for the last stage - the multi-purpose building marks the end of the structural development of the Trogen Cantonal School. In: Appenzeller Zeitung . May 21, 1999.
- ↑ Homepage Lehrkunst.ch - Through understanding to education .
- ↑ Willi Eugster: Does Liberal Politics Have a Future? In: St. Galler Tagblatt , 27./28. November 2014 (Part 1, Part 2 ).
- ↑ Homepage Wissen Eigenart GmbH .
- ^ Homepage of the Socrates Group .
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Eugster, Willi |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Swiss educator and psychologist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | April 30, 1948 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Herrliberg |