In the latest edition of the Tes International podcast, we speak to Bernhard Gademann, headmaster at Institut auf dem Rosenberg in St Gallen, Switzerland, to discuss the school’s Talent and Enrichment Programme.

This provides students with the opportunity to spend time, within the timetable, engaging in co-curricular activities, either in school or on location with businesses, to gain real-life skills and experiences.

“These courses range from all kinds of areas…art, fashion design, robotics, coding, molecular cooking classes,” he explains.

“So any area of interest for our students and any area for development outside our school campus is content that we bring into our student life to enrich the experience and their education.”

The idea is to ensure that, alongside academic achievement, students have a chance to understand more about the world beyond the school gates - something the school has strived to provide in its 131-year history but is now being given a more explicit focus.

“Our school motto is ‘Learning to live is the ultimate goal of all education’ and I think in that ethos it is implied that school should prepare pupils for real life so we always had programmes to ensure students had the opportunity to learn other skills.

“But where evolution has come from, and it is important to differentiate, is that the Talent and Enrichment Programme is not a collection of school clubs, it is much more than that.”

To this end, activities on offer are delivered within the timetables and students are able to sign up to as many as are feasible within their school week to sit alongside academic lessons.

Students gaining real-world experience

The huge array of courses on offer means students can follow their interests into areas such as fashion or design but also have the chance to learn something entirely new.  

“I was a running a wealth creation and investment [activity] on how you invest in shares and what are interest rates and so forth and I had some students say, ‘I had no idea about this topic and that is why I chose it’ - and that is fantastic to see.”

Many of these activities are run by teachers by tapping into their passions and asking what they would like to deliver - something Mr Gademann says is very much part of the “entrepreneurial” mindset that the school expects of it staff.

Working with industry

Of course, though, there are limits to what teachers can cover, which is why the school also does a lot of work with partner organisations - from the Norman Foster Foundation to the Monaco Yacht Club to space sector start-ups - to help offer real-world insights.

“We believe in partnership because we understand our limits [as teachers], so when it comes to architecture or robotics, for example, we understand that in order to keep this relevant, it cannot be taught to a textbook,” he explains.

“This is when you reach out and if you identify what [the partners] are interested in, what values you share, there is usually always an opportunity to collaborate on different projects.”

Mr Gademan adds that it can help to use senior staff at a school to facilitate these connections at first but that should not mean you need to create a fully realised formal partnership before you start working together, and instead it should be about being agile and growing together.

“You do not always need to have a very formal relationship to get the ball rolling. You reach out, you find you have a lot in common and have aligned goals, then you just start a project and see what comes out of it. Many of these things are experimental [...] but that is what makes it so exciting.”

Talent and enrichment: how to get started

Gademann also offers advice for other schools keen to push themselves more into this sphere beyond exams: rather than aiming for perfection for launching, a better strategy is to simply start and see where it takes you.

“I would float the idea with all member of staff, and that should not be exclusively teachers - you might have someone in admin or an area that you never expected who is passionate about this idea of enriching education […] and I think you need to build a team based on that,” he says.

“Part of preparation is to find out…well, we don’t have to go far - in every local community there may be an area of expertise, some form of production, start-up companies; there are established artisans that you can go and visit. And I think reaching out is a good starting point.”

Fundamentally, though, he says that those encouraged to do this should simply start small and see where it takes them.

“And my key takeaway from our journey is don’t do too much strategic planning, you will waste time.

“Start with one co-curricular, with one talent and enrichment experience, and start and make that happen and, based on that, ask students how they enjoyed it and reflect and make sure you use that reflection as a takeaway for your team to see what else students may be interested in.”

Listen below to the full interview or stream on Apple podcasts, Spotify or Amazon Music.

Alternatively, watch the interview on YouTube below.

Dan Worth is senior editor at Tes