Maximillian Meisberger
“The relationship between teaching and travelling is a kind of freedom for me and that also makes you a better teacher. I would recommend for all people who want to become a teacher to travel before they do so. It means you are able to tell a story because you can’t learn everything in university.”
Maximillian Meisberger,
Teacher, Innsbruck, Austria
At school we all likely had one or two teachers who we really liked. Depending on the subject they taught we probably excelled at it because of their passion for the subject. That passion is infectious and so crucial to our progression that we always hold those people dear to our hearts and can still probably all name the teachers we looked up to. I can imagine that Maxi is one of those teachers who people can look up to, excited by his style of teaching.
He is also someone who has combined that passion for teaching with his obsession for surfing. Maxi has created a harmonious balance for himself where both sides of his life get fueled everyday thanks to the flexible working situation he has found within the education system. Since a lot of this project concerns what we learn as teenagers, I thought it a good idea to spend some time with a teacher, as I was intrigued to find out how he sees the current education system.
Jonathan: What’s your job and where do you work?
Maximilian: I work as a teacher in Innsbruck, Austria. I teach sports and mathematics for 13 to 19 year-olds.
And did you study to become a teacher?
Yes, I studied mathematics and then the second part of the studies I did is just for teachers. You then go into school and you teach and train at the same time, and you get feedback from teachers. The reason why I became a teacher was my dad is a teacher and I had a mathematics teacher back in the days when I was in school who motivated me to go down this path.
What was it about the way he taught that got you excited?
To be honest, it was his passion for mathematics and for teaching itself. On one hand, he was a really cool guy. And we were pretty close to him, and on the other hand, he was strict, so he got the best out of us.
Is that the key to helping people learn?
Yes indeed, I’ll try to show the kids that they don’t learn for me, their parents or someone else. They learn for themselves. It’s their decision and as a teacher I try to help them with all my energy. I try to always combine a new mathematical chapter in a social context so that kids see why and for what they need it. For example, The coronavirus infection rate is exponential growth. So the kids calculated different scenarios while we had homeschooling.
Do you think the kids see you as the cool guy?
Maybe in the beginning, but it’s a slightly different school with things like photography and film being taught and for some of them it’s quite hard to learn, especially mathematics because they’re more creative minded. I’m teaching a more traditional subject so maybe not so cool.
That sounds like a really cool school.
Yeah, in Austria there are lots of those different schools, like some even for entrepreneurship, trading, commerce, craft, economy, home economy, engineering schools.
Does everyone try and encourage children to go on and continue to do college degrees?
At the kind of school I’m teaching at (same for gymnasi- ums/AHS/BHS), if you want to go study you are ready to go, or if you want to do an ausbildung (work experience) you can do that and be ready to work as you have the education already from our school, which is what a lot of people do.
Are there areas you would change with the education system?
Yes, I find that they have to spend way too many hours at school a week. It’s like almost 40 hours a week. This means spending time with family and peer groups, or being creative becomes quite difficult to find the time for.
I’ve heard Finland has a pretty good balance?
Yeah, they have a shorter working week and no homework, so more time for these things. I also think we should look at the 50-minute class structure because every 50 minutes another teacher comes in going from geography to maths, or history and he thinks that class is the most important thing.
We need to change that system because it’s counterproductive. So maybe switch to more of a sprint style learning where people focus on only geography for five weeks and then maths the next time. I think you could find a deeper learning in that style.
You see it when kids go through their apprenticeship because when they come back from working in a business for four weeks you see adults coming back. You see them really shifting their mindset and I think that’s because they have one deeper experience for longer.
You combine teaching with a passion for surfing and regularly go on trips, how many weeks off do you have?
So, it’s nine weeks in summer and then two weeks during Christmas. So, with other holidays it’s 12 to 13 weeks in total and I usually surf six weeks a year.
Was that an important factor in the decision to become a teacher, combining that with surfing?
Yes 100%. As a teacher, you can decide when to work. I teach 22 to 23 hours a week in school, then I need to do things like corrections and lesson preparation, which I can do in my own time, which is a real privilege for me.
I can then go split boarding with friends after school, then I do all my homework at night and that was one reason why I chose it, but the fact that I enjoy working with kids was still the main reason.
So that relationship between work and life is important for you?
Yes totally, the relationship between teaching and travelling is a kind of freedom and balance for me and that also makes you a better teacher. In sports I tell the kids stories of my surfing trips from around the globe and the passion for that sport. Sometimes it’s a lot of work and effort, but the feeling after surfing good waves is priceless. Through sports you really learn a lot about winning, losing, perseverance, cohesion, ambition and many more personal feelings and attitudes. I would recommend for all people who want to become a teacher to travel before they do so. It means you are able to tell a story because you can’t learn everything in university.
So, with all these trips, what van did you get for surfing?
We bought a Ford Transit five years ago, which is a non-stop project. We built out the kitchen, then sleeping area, solar panels on the roof and stuff like that. I love working on it and it’s perfect for travelling as we can sleep anywhere there is surf.
What would you tell yourself as a teenager?
To focus on one thing. As a teenager I was doing so many different things, especially in sport. I come from an athletics background, so it’s seen as a positive thing. I find it just put too much pressure on me though. We have an expression in German ‘thousandsassa,’ which I guess means Jack Of All Trades. It wasn’t until my mom said to me, “you may relax yourself a bit more and decide going in one direction and do it with more purpose,” that I even thought about it.