EDUCATION IN SWITZERLAND

Introduction:

Since Swizerland has no natural resources,education and knowledge have become very important resources.Therefore Switzerland claims to have one of the worlds best education systems.Because the are responsible for educational services(kindergarter,schools,universities),education may vary significantly between cantons.For example,some cantons start to teach the first foreign language at fourth grade,while others start at seventh grade.This can turn moveing with children between cantons into a nightmare.

In Switzerland,most children go to public schools.Private schools usually are expensive and people tend to think that students of private schools probably did not make it at the public school.Public schools include Kindergarten,Volksschule(elementary school),Gymnasium(Secondary school) and Universitaten(Universities).Most municipalities provide kindergarten,primary and secondary schools.Most cantons provide at least one secondary school.There are eleven universities in Switzerland,nine are run by cantons,two are run by the confederation.

After elementary school,kinds may either choose to go to secondary school or to start an apprenticeship.In the later case,after finishing the apprenticeship,it is still possible to start an academic career at either a secondary school or a so called Fachhochschule.

Schools:

In Switzerland,every child must attend at least the elementary school.Our country provides various schools at different levels.Because the cantons are responsible for the educational system,the names,the subjects,the starting age of the students and the duration vary significantly between the cantons.The rest of this document therefore focuses on how it works in the canton Zurich.

Kindergarten:

Unlike school,children are not required to attend Kindergarten,but most children do go to Kindergarten.They do not learn how to read and write but shall develop their social capabilities and get used to sit quiet for a while and pay attention to the teacher.Children may attend kindergarten for one year or two years.Because they are supposed to start school at the age of seven,they go to Kindergarten when they are five and six years old.

UsefulLinks:
       1.www.expatica.com
       2.www.transworldeducation.com
       3.www.myswitzerland.com