This information is intended to provide the background context of structure and control, within which the curriculum and assessment frameworks are implemented.
See section 2.1.1 of the mainstream Switzerland Archive.
See section 2.1.2 of the mainstream Switzerland Archive.
See section 2.1.3 of the mainstream Switzerland Archive.
Types of provision
Traditionally in Switzerland, students with special needs, such as physical handicaps or learning and achievement problems, were educated in self-contained, that is to say, segregated special classes or schools. However, in recent years, more and more school districts have eliminated special segregated classes in favour of integrative forms of schooling.8 See 3.2.5 for further details.
Size of provision
During the 1993/94 school year, an average of 4.6 per cent of all students attended a class or a school with a special curriculum. This percentage includes students with learning disabilities, behaviour disorders and, in some cantons, also includes students with a foreign mother tongue who are mainly schooled in self-contained special classes.8 (Children with a non-native language background represent 17 per cent of all schoolchildren in Switzerland.)7 See section 3.2.5 also.
Funding and control
In Switzerland, education is the responsibility of the 26 individual cantons. Each canton is highly independent and self-responsible and the cantonal Ministries of Education are the highest authorities in school administration.8
However, in most cantons, students with learning disabilities and behaviour disorders who are taught in special classes or schools with a special curriculum, and students with a foreign mother tongue who are usually schooled in self-contained special classes, are part of the public school system. In other words, the cantonal Ministers of Education are responsible for the control and funding of such provision. In the case of students with speech disorders, hearing or visual impairments, physical and multiple handicaps, or severe behaviour disorders, who are taught in residential special schools, such institutions are not directly subordinate to the cantonal Ministries of Education and are largely subsidised by Federal Disability Insurance. See the table in 3.2.5.8