Turmoil at KV School Winterthur Teachers rebel against reforms and new principal

There is tension between the school management and the teaching staff at the KV School Winterthur. The latter do not want to implement reforms. One vocational trainer is now threatening the supervisory authority.

The KV-Schule Winterthur is facing a possible supervisory complaint. The reason: the teaching staff are rebelling against the school management and the new principal Susanne Cavadini, as theTages-Anzeigernewspaper writes.

The teaching staff feel overwhelmed by the introduction of the new reforms and criticize the school management's communication and leadership style. But the principal sees things differently. She emphasizes the necessity of the reforms and ordered further training, which was, however, rejected by the teaching staff.

Specifically, it is about the KV reform introduced in August 2023. This focuses on skills in five different areas instead of subjects. And this is not being implemented sufficiently at the KV-Schule Winterthur. For example, students report that the new online learning medium "Lerngalaxie" is hardly used, even though they financed it themselves. Instead, they receive outdated PDF copies, the newspaper continues.

Threatened with a supervisory complaint to the canton

Vocational trainer Patrick Ammersinn is head of the Klever commercial training association and looks after over 40 apprentices throughout the canton. He is shocked by the state of the school and criticizes the fact that the apprentices are not prepared for the new requirements.

He says: "This school is in a desolate state." The students are still being taught in the same way as they were 20 years ago. They are "not fit and not prepared" for the new requirements, he told the Tages-Anzeiger newspaper.

He even threatens to lodge a supervisory complaint with the canton. He clearly believes that the responsibility lies with the teachers, who are not sufficiently familiar with the new requirements.

The canton is still holding back. It sees the school as responsible for implementing the reforms.

While other KV schools in Zurich are successfully using new learning media, there are still problems at the KV school in Winterthur. Vocational trainer Ammersinn is skeptical as to whether the school will be able to implement the necessary changes in time to adequately prepare students for their final exams.

The editor wrote this article with the help of Ki.