Innovation Hub School: One Year Later

When we met for the first time in May 2025 at the Alemannenschule Wutöschingen, many were curious, some skeptical, and almost all eager to see what we would experience there.

A year later, we came together again—this time not to ask whether the ideas from Wutöschingen could work. Instead, we came to report what we had already achieved, tested, and learned.

What made the afternoon especially valuable was that Stefan Ruppaner accompanied the entire session. With great openness, he listened to the reports, asked questions, offered suggestions, and shared his experiences from many years of school development. No one-sided lecture—just a real exchange on equal footing.

And that’s exactly what made this afternoon so special.

Turning Ideas into Experience
Many of the teachers who had been there a year earlier had since set out on their own path. They changed their lessons, tried new things, faced setbacks, celebrated successes, and—above all—gained experience.

It quickly became clear: no one arrived with finished solutions or “patent remedies.” Instead, colleagues spoke honestly about what worked, what got in the way, and the questions they still hadn’t found answers to.

This courage to report on things that weren’t perfect yet made the conversations particularly meaningful.

Start Simply
It was impressive to see how much commitment people brought to their first steps.

Alina Renner shared how, together with colleagues, she had restructured learning content and given students more responsibility for their learning process. Much had to be developed, adjusted, and in some cases changed again. Yet the experiences show that young people often take on much more responsibility than adults assume they can.

Time and again, Stefan Ruppaner picked up on the examples presented, helped put the experiences into context, and showed how they connect to developments at the Alemannenschule. His feedback encouraged everyone to keep going down the path they had chosen.

Trust Comes Before Change
One important realization from the day was this: new forms of learning take time.

Jürgen Kury and his colleagues explained clearly and vividly why self-directed learning can’t simply be introduced through the timetable. Before students can take responsibility, they need trust. They must get to know their teachers, their classmates, and their new environment. Only then does the security emerge that makes new approaches possible.

Perhaps this was one of the most important messages of the afternoon: school development doesn’t start with methods—it starts with relationships.

The Key Question
Over and over again during the discussions, the same question came up: How do we actually see the children and young people we work with?

Stefan Ruppaner’s position was clear. Children want to learn. They are curious. They want to understand the world. The task of school is therefore not to force learning, but to create the conditions under which learning can succeed.

Using many examples from his practice, he showed how much becomes possible when teachers give trust, hand over responsibility, and have the courage to leave behind familiar routes.

This perspective ran through the entire afternoon like a common thread.

What Remains?
Maybe above all, the realization that change is possible.

Not through big reform programs. Not through new regulations. But through people who are willing to try things out, share their experiences, and learn together.

And maybe there was something else too: the experience of how inspiring it can be when someone like Stefan Ruppaner shares his time, his experience, and his entire passion for good schooling with others.

Many participants went home with new ideas, fresh motivation, and the certainty that change is possible—and that, in many places, it has already begun, thanks to them.

VIS Chair Hanspeter Hauke presents the VIS Honorary Certificate to Stefan Ruppaner