Table of Contents Introduction 5 Section one Getting started 7 Chapter 1 Crash course in the Swiss school system ... 7 Chapter 2 Making the move to a local school ... 16 Chapter 3 Which school will your child go to? ... 30 Chapter 4 Learning the school language ... 42 Chapter 5 Language learning for parents ... 55 Section two Kindergarten and primary school 64 Chapter 6 The kindergarten curriculum ... 64 Chapter 7 Examples of kindergarten in practice ... 74 Chapter 8 The primary school curriculum ... 82 Chapter 9 Examples of primary school in practice... 86 Chapter 10 Individualisation and comparisons with others 99 Chapter 11 Training in responsibility ... 105 Section three Lower-secondary school 113 Chapter 12 The lower-secondary curriculum and school models ... 113 Chapter 13 Pathways to the future ... 119 Chapter 14 Selection criteria ... 122 Section four Upper-secondary school 135 Chapter 15 Gymnasium ... 135 Chapter 16 Apprenticeships - Vocational Education and Training (VET)... 150 Chapter 17 Specialised upper-secondary schools ... 164 Section five Tertiary education 168 Chapter 18 Three types of tertiary education ... 168 Chapter 19 University and UASA entrance requirements . . 175 Chapter 20 Applying to universities abroad ... 181 Section six Working together with the school 187 Chapter 21 The role of parents and teachers ... 187 Chapter 22 Communicating about your child ... 193 Chapter 23 Dealing with bullying ... 202 Chapter 24 Special needs ... 208 Chapter 25 Gifted children ... 219 Chapter 26 Appealing school decisions ... 232 Section seven Cantonal variations 239 Chapter 27 Cantonal tables ... 239 Chapter 28 Structural changes in various cantons ... 253 Section eight Appendices 257 Appendix 1 Contact details of the 26 Cantonal Departments of Education ... 257 Appendix 2 Standard school terminology in four languages ... 260 Appendix 3 Useful school terms in Swiss German ... 264 Appendix 4 Acronyms used in this book ... 265 Endnotes ... 269 List of tables ... 281 Index ... 283 Acknowledgements ... 297 About the author ... 299 About Bergli Books ... 300 Reader questionnaire ... 303

About the Author

Margaret Oertig, M.A, M.Ed, originates from Scotland and lives with her Swiss husband near Basel. She has lived and worked in Switzerland since 1987. Her two daughters, who are now adults, went through the Swiss school system. Margaret has worked for many years delivering intercultural training programmes to international companies. Since 2002, she has worked for the Fachhochschule Nordwestschweiz (UASA), lecturing, writing and working on projects related to intercultural collaboration. Margaret Oertig is also the author of 'Beyond Chocolate - understanding Swiss culture'