For most children in Switzerland, contact with food happens at the supermarket. A lack of opportunities to experience nature leads to a loss of knowledge and skills in the area of food production and agriculture. This project of growing vegetables on the school’s own field is intended to counteract the resulting food waste, unhealthy diet and lack of appreciation of nature: on several levels, the “Gemüse Ackerdemie” (“Vegetable Farmcademy”) sensitises children to a lifestyle that is healthy for them and for our planet. According to the train-the-trainer principle, within four years it also enables teachers to use the vegetable field as a permanent learning centre in a didactically meaningful way and to continue doing so independently.

Surprise is the Swiss homeless-magazine (equivalent to the Big Issue in the UK), which also provides guided tours by homeless people and advocacy on the issue of homelessness. The educational workshop “Surprise macht Schule (“Surprise goes to school”) brings the topics of poverty, homelessness and marginalisation into the secondary school classroom. Young people enter into a direct dialogue with the workshop leaders from the Surprise association, who have fallen into the poverty trap for a variety of reasons and have experienced or are still experiencing homelessness and exclusion themselves. The central aim is to raise awareness of people affected by poverty and marginalisation. Direct encounters and dialogue with people affected by homelessness helps pupils to sharpen their understanding of other life circumstances, break down prejudices and understand social contexts.

In June 2023, around 220 young people spent two weeks making live-radio from a mobile studio trailer on Münsingen’s village square. Beforehand, part of the core team met for a radio workshop at the local station RaBe in Bern. Inspired by the studio atmosphere, initial ideas for possible programmes quickly came together. Topics such as “Coffee with Senior Citizens”, “How to Choose a Career”, “Women’s Strike” or “Swiss Rap” contributed to a varied and entertaining programme. The blue and yellow studio trailer and the HörBar became a popular meeting place for different people and generations. Until the last minute on air, the co-creators and interested public enjoyed the programme to the full. 

Discrimination is on the rise at Bethlehemacker school in the west of Bern. Teachers are observing increasingly aggressive behaviour in which different cultures are personally attacked and insulted. There is also a need to address gender issues. The project “MITeinander – FÜReinander” (“WITH each other - FOR each other”) aims to educate pupils on these issues in an age-appropriate way and help them to adopt an anti-discriminatory approach. The focus varies from level to level and the projects take place in parallel and several times a year. The project aims to re-establish the educational authority of teachers in a new way: Authority through power is replaced by a new authority through relationship work.