Nature’s classroom
The Teaching Diploma in Sport at ETH Zurich is the only programme of its kind in Switzerland. Blending outdoor education with the romance of camp life, the course sees students brave cold water and river rapids.
Lisa Stoffel can’t stop shivering. Is her hair still wet from being in the river, or is it just the rain? It’s hard to tell in this downpour. The rain has barely stopped since they set out this morning and headed for the River Reuss, near the small town of Bremgarten in Aargau. And the single mug of hot alphabet soup she shared earlier with two of her fellow students has done little to warm her up. It’s only an hour since 23-year-old Stoffel and the rest of the group were struggling out of their wetsuits after swimming, one after another, some 200 metres down the dark green river. Avoiding rocks and a washed-up tree trunk, they plunged down a small waterfall and through foaming white water before clambering onto an island.
“The adrenaline keeps your mind off the cold while you’re in the water!” she says with a laugh. A website that tracks conditions in the Reuss describes it as “only for the hardcore”. The water is currently 15 degrees Celsius, 2 degrees warmer than the air. “Perfect!” declares Simon Starkl, an athletically built bundle of can-do energy who normally teaches at an inter-cantonal police academy. Officers from throughout Switzerland have to join Starkl in the water before they can qualify to become a diving instructor. But on this particular Saturday in September, it’s 22 students from ETH who are taking the plunge. They are all studying for their sport teaching diploma under the guidance of Hanspeter Gubelmann. The same man who taught Starkl 13 years ago – and who is now standing in front of them, roll call in hand.
No fear of the deep
“Never go anywhere alone – except to the bathroom,” Gubelmann jokes. “And be sure to keep warm!” Gubelmann speaks from experience: he has navigated this river countless times with student groups, spending hours on a raft kept afloat by 300 or so empty plastic bottles. One time, a raft had to be rescued, and there have been the occasional bumps and bruises.
Everyone enrolled in the ETH Zurich Teaching Diploma in Sport has to take “Educational Sciences 2, Sport”, which involves a weekend on – and in – the Reuss. So far, 400 students have completed the programme, including one student who arrived in a wheelchair following a gymnastics accident. There have even been students with a fear of deep water. “Sorry, but as a teacher, you’ve got to learn to deal with that,” says Gubelmann. This may sound harsh, but ETH’s sport diploma has a reputation for being tough. One of seven teaching diplomas offered by the university as an additional certification programme, it qualifies graduates to teach at the secondary school level.
This is certainly not a course for the fainthearted. It involves learning all about the theory and practice of sports education and the legal or other requirements that have to be met, covering everything from volleyball to first-aid courses over a total of 1,800 teaching hours. There are classes in molecular biology, cell biology and even digital football analysis. Health Sciences students can get credits from modules already completed on their study programme. The diploma is also open to students from other fields, though it would almost be like doing a double degree.
In fact, only one of the group is studying a different subject: 24 year-old Maurus Pfalzgraf, a student in Environmental Sciences. He actually completed two semesters of Health Sciences with the others before switching majors. As a result, he is able to use some of those credits. “But I still have to put in more work than the others,” he explains, stifling a yawn after today’s early start.
He seems to have hit the jackpot this morning, however, leisurely pitching his tent while Lisa Stoffel’s group is already ankle-deep in the river. While Starkl tells the other students to fall into the water like penguins and float like whales – “Use your legs as rudders!” – Pfalzgraf is busy channelling his Boy Scout knowledge to weave a hammock from rope. Later, this will become a drying rack for wet towels, gently swaying beneath one of the dozen moss-covered concrete bridge piles that used to be part of an old military training ground.
Nearby, a pot of broth steams over a fire, peppered with a few flakes of ash. Two students debate exactly what kind of “black-backed beetle” is currently crawling across their palms. The scene is reminiscent of a post-apocalyptic film that features people learning how to build fires and form a functioning community. And, indeed, being part of a group, and learning how to read it and lead it, form a key part of the course, with nature providing the perfect backdrop.
Plan B
While Pfalzgraf has experienced camp life before on secondary school trips, it was always with a roof over his head. Now, as he surveys the outdoor scene, he wonders if teaching PE really is his calling, or whether he should become a trainer and harness his love of canoeing. That, he muses, might just be “the best job in the world”.
He’s not alone in that sentiment. The group is a diverse mix of athletes – from 800-meter runners to hockey players and kung-fu artists – and not everyone sees themselves in a classroom. Maxine Monnerat, a former midfielder sidelined by a cruciate injury, says the diploma is a good way of keeping her options open. “I could definitely imagine getting into sports diagnostics,” she says, hammering the last bent tent peg into place. Later, she’ll be part of the team tasked with prepping materials for tomorrow’s raft build, while others tackle projects like crafting makeshift furniture and making a pizza oven. After the weekend, Monnerat will recall how she had her heart in her mouth until that first wave proved their handmade raft was actually seaworthy. Meanwhile, Lisa Stoffel, an avid climber, will be whipping up a spicy curry as part of the cooking squad. For her, the teaching diploma is a solid plan B. She is currently engrossed in Starkl’s lesson on river currents, watching intently as he uses a clump of grass to illustrate his points. Stoffel admits that it wasn’t until she started the course that she realised her childhood dream of teaching PE might actually be the perfect fit.
Roger Scharpf, sporting a cyclist’s tan from a recent Geneva to Côte d’Azur trip with students, is fine with the fact that not everyone wants to become a teacher. “Some graduates end up in sports diagnostics, others in physiotherapy or research. And some will become instructors like Starkl or teachers like myself,” he says. A secondary school teacher in Aargau and a lecturer at ETH, Scharpf is in charge of the forest activities, while his colleague Gubelmann stands ready by the Reuss, rope in hand, as a safety precaution for the river group.
Learning by doing
Scharpf and Gubelmann began running this outdoor instruction programme a decade and a half ago. The differences in teaching maths and PE had become too stark to ignore, so the two men jumped at the chance to revamp the educational sciences component of the Teaching Diploma in Sport.
Together with the mountain-savvy Gubelmann, Scharpf was keen to apply his experience of Scotland’s outdoor education philosophy. Their concept sailed through curriculum approval. “We just went for it,” says Gubelmann with a grin.
But why take learning outdoors? Scharpf believes there’s something transformative about battling through days of rain. And Gubelmann points to the growing trend of school project weeks, which will make this kind of training increasingly relevant. “Plus, kids these days need more time in nature,” he adds. “They spend most of their time indoors.”
Getting out into the fresh air makes sense, but why come to a river? “Statistically, most outdoor accidents happen in rivers,” Gubelmann explains. “So teachers need those skills.” But does it have to be a river as challenging as the Reuss? “We’re not here to put people in danger, but to teach them how to assess risk,” Gubelmann says, his sports psychologist background coming to the fore. That’s where Starkl’s expertise pays dividends.
“He’s a great instructor!” says Stoffel. “And it will be good for my teaching career to be able to say that I’m speaking from experience.” She’s already envisioning a raft-building project with her future students. For Monnerat, the weekend was all about getting people out of their comfort zone. If she does end up in a classroom instead of working in sports diagnostics, she will definitely be taking the outdoor concept on board. Her own secondary school offered similar outdoor electives, including a bike tour to the Côte d’Azur – the same route Scharpf has spent years cycling with his students.
Scharpf is delighted at the thought that his ideas might be catching on. “There’s no copyright on good teaching,” he says. “We’re happy to share what works.” It seems that ETH’s method of outdoor sports instruction has made quite a splash in the world of education.