HEADMASTER INTERVIEW
Dr Karsten Plöger Dr Karsten Plöger joined the staff of the Lyceum Alpinum Zuoz as Deputy-Head of Grosshaus and a Teacher of Ethics, History, and Politics in the school’s IB and Matura/Abitur sections in February 2010. From 2011 to 2016, Dr Karsten Plöger was Head of International Studies at the Lyceum Alpinum Zuoz. He was appointed Acting Head of School in July 2016. The school is described as ‘ideologically independent’ – what does this mean to you? Our world is changing rapidly; this is a truism that hardly needs further comment. At the same time and this is the crucial point we are witnessing the resurgence of ideologies and other belief systems which we thought we could leave behind as the 20th century drew to a close. An ideologically independent education is one that nurtures not only academic subject knowledge, curiosity, and creativity but also and not least, critical thinking skills. Our students need them more than ever to be able to make independent, reasoned, and ethical decisions in an increasingly complex, volatile, and uncertain world. The school’s core values are: individual creative endeavour, integrity, reliability and friendship. How do you ensure that you can continuously foster these values in everyday school life? Fostering values such as these is a constant challenge for any school, and one that we here in Zuoz take very seriously. We are achieving a lot in this respect by making explicit references to these values in everyday life at the school, be it in the classroom, in the boarding house, or on the playing fields. Moreover, offering high-quality tuition is not enough: leading boarding schools such as ours must make sure to provide a wealth of opportunities for personal growth, or character development, to use a slightly old-fashioned expression: drama, team sports, service learning, and student-led clubs and societies, to name just a few examples. We have made a sustained effort to extend our co-curricular provision over the past two years, and will continue to do so. 32
The school emphasises the importance of intellectual, physical and emotional balance – this is more challenging now in a world which often seems to increasingly value academic excellence? Absolutely! setting their son or daughter on a pathway to academic success is, understandably often a priority for parents when they decide to make a substantial investment in his or her private education. It is then our responsibility as educators to gently remind them of the importance of balancing the intellectual, physical, and emotional aspects of our lives. We need all of these to achieve well-being for ourselves and those around us. As well as providing an education for your students, you are also providing a home for most of them. How do you balance the two? Teaching and boarding have to be two sides of same coin, really. If a student is happy in one, there is a better chance that he or she will be happy in the other as well. We make sure there is a regular exchange of information between our teaching and boarding staff so that both get the 360-degrees picture of a student. And wherever possible, teachers are encouraged to become involved in boarding house life on a permanent or temporary basis. You have a wide variety of students, from around thirty countries attending the school – this must make for an interesting blend of cultures and experiences? It certainly does, but at the same time, we are very aware and proud of our roots in the Romansh culture here in the Upper Engadine. Combining the local, national, and international sides of our ‘personality’ and being an Engadine, Swiss, and international school, is something that takes a conscious and sustained effort. We would start falling apart as a school, were we to take anything for granted. In that sense, you could say we are a miniature version of Switzerland itself...