Page 107 - Štremfel, Urška, and Maša Vidmar (eds.). 2018. Early School Leaving: Contemporary European Perspectives. Ljubljana: Pedagoški inštitut.
P. 107
the esl situation in switzerland
Switzerland does not provide career education and guidance in pri-
mary education (EC/EACEA/Eurydice/Cedefop, 2014). In lower second-
ary general education, it is a compulsory part of the curriculum and pro-
vided in the classroom (mostly by teachers without specific training and
rarely by those specially trained for guidance) and every canton is free to
decide on how such guidance is delivered. In upper secondary general ed-
ucation, career guidance and education is only provided by specialist ex-
ternal guidance services, which have a permanent office in most schools of
French-speaking Switzerland. Recent reforms have reinforced and organ-
ised career education and guidance in secondary lower education by in-
cluding it in more specific modules instead of teaching it as a cross-curric-
ular topic only (ibid.).
ESL statistics in Switzerland
There is no official definition of ESL in Switzerland (EC/EACEA/Eurydice/
Cedefop, 2014). However, in the 2011 Common Education Policy objectives
for the Swiss Education Area (Taking optimal advantage of opportunities
– Chancen optimal nutzen/Valor sation optimale des chances), the concept
used is “early leavers from education and training”, which applies to stu-
dents who leave school without having completed upper secondary educa-
tion (EDI/EVD/EDK, 2011). In contrast to the Eurostat definition (ESLer
refers to someone aged 18 to 24 who has completed at most lower secondary
education and is not involved in further education or training (Eurostat,
n.d.)), in Switzerland persons without an upper secondary qualification
and only studying in non-formal education are also called early leavers
(EC/EACEA/Eurydice/Cedefop, 2014).
According to Eurostat data, Switzerland’s ESL rate in 2016 was 4.8%
and has been decreasing in the last 7 years (it was 9.1% in 2009) (see Figure
7). There is no significant difference in the shares of male and female ESLers
(8.8% male and 9.4% female in 2009; 4.6% male and 4.9% female in 2016)
(Eurostat, 2017b). As such, Switzerland is one of the few countries in which
the difference in gender rates is less than 1.0 percentage point (EC/EACEA/
Eurydice/Cedefop, 2014) and, despite this small difference, also one of
the few countries where the percentage of ESLers is higher in the female
population.
As Figure 7 shows, the rate has always been below the Europe 2020 tar-
get of 10% (at least since 1996). Although Switzerland does not follow the
Europe 2020 targets and therefore does not set any national quantitative
107
Switzerland does not provide career education and guidance in pri-
mary education (EC/EACEA/Eurydice/Cedefop, 2014). In lower second-
ary general education, it is a compulsory part of the curriculum and pro-
vided in the classroom (mostly by teachers without specific training and
rarely by those specially trained for guidance) and every canton is free to
decide on how such guidance is delivered. In upper secondary general ed-
ucation, career guidance and education is only provided by specialist ex-
ternal guidance services, which have a permanent office in most schools of
French-speaking Switzerland. Recent reforms have reinforced and organ-
ised career education and guidance in secondary lower education by in-
cluding it in more specific modules instead of teaching it as a cross-curric-
ular topic only (ibid.).
ESL statistics in Switzerland
There is no official definition of ESL in Switzerland (EC/EACEA/Eurydice/
Cedefop, 2014). However, in the 2011 Common Education Policy objectives
for the Swiss Education Area (Taking optimal advantage of opportunities
– Chancen optimal nutzen/Valor sation optimale des chances), the concept
used is “early leavers from education and training”, which applies to stu-
dents who leave school without having completed upper secondary educa-
tion (EDI/EVD/EDK, 2011). In contrast to the Eurostat definition (ESLer
refers to someone aged 18 to 24 who has completed at most lower secondary
education and is not involved in further education or training (Eurostat,
n.d.)), in Switzerland persons without an upper secondary qualification
and only studying in non-formal education are also called early leavers
(EC/EACEA/Eurydice/Cedefop, 2014).
According to Eurostat data, Switzerland’s ESL rate in 2016 was 4.8%
and has been decreasing in the last 7 years (it was 9.1% in 2009) (see Figure
7). There is no significant difference in the shares of male and female ESLers
(8.8% male and 9.4% female in 2009; 4.6% male and 4.9% female in 2016)
(Eurostat, 2017b). As such, Switzerland is one of the few countries in which
the difference in gender rates is less than 1.0 percentage point (EC/EACEA/
Eurydice/Cedefop, 2014) and, despite this small difference, also one of
the few countries where the percentage of ESLers is higher in the female
population.
As Figure 7 shows, the rate has always been below the Europe 2020 tar-
get of 10% (at least since 1996). Although Switzerland does not follow the
Europe 2020 targets and therefore does not set any national quantitative
107
