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The System today

If you have a look at the school system for the second grade education (high school / secondary schools), you’ll find some strange things happening in Switzerland. First of all, there are huge differences between each cantons. Not only in the subjects the scholars have to participate but also in to-do-list on the common subjects. This results that there are more than 26 different ways to get access to a university using a secondary school. (While every system follows the MAR or MAR+ standard.) Some of them are with less difficulties to master and some of them are peppered with stones on the way.

However, the federalism problem of the school system is not the only thing that sould change. The fashion the lessons are hold and managed should be changed. In the year with the school leaving examination, the scholars are sometimes threaten like children, even they are mature. Imagine the situation, teacher sometimes spend more than 50% of every lesson in correcting homework in class and the rest explaining how to do the next piece of homework with the result that there is not very much time left to introduce new things. Ok, I admit the fact, that homework plays an important part in understanding a theory. But the way it is given and corrected has to be upgraded.

The scholars have to be present in every lesson, even though the discussed things are more than clear and therefore the scholars are bored in lessons and start to do pranks.

Let’s go on in the academic career of a scholar and turning him/her into a student. One registered at a university and lot’s of things changed. There is no compulsory attendance, no one says “you have to learn that” and you can or cannot do the homework given by the professor.

The System in future

Now, we’re having a view, how the system can be reformed in order to get the things right. First of all, the 26 different school systems have to be merged into one. I know this is against the philosophy of Swiss federalism, so most of the cantons government will reject changing their education system to a uniform one. But if we want to make sure the profs at the universities can make use of the basis built at secondary schools this basis has to be “orthonormalized”. The Swiss government has to give clear rules which subjects and which learning matter are compulsive for secondary schools. However the school must be given some freedom to offer additional courses for addition and focus knowledge (like today with EF, SPF, WPF)

Ok, now we have on each school exactly the same subjects and to-do-lists, with some special additional courses. No we have to change the way knowledge is taught. In the last one or two years secondary schools should adopt the academic system with lectures, assignment lessons and present time for questions. How can we manage that? Assume there is a subject with a bunch of lessons a week. Then about 50% of the lessons should be held like lectures and the other half like assignment lessons. E.g. if a subject has 4 lessons a week then two of them are a lecture (en bloc) and the other two are “training” lessons. The homework is given and corrected and the stuff is trained  in the assignment lessons. The lecture is used for giving the theoretical basis for the exercises in the training lessons. In addition to that there is the possibility during the midday break, to ask questions in a present time. where one of the faculty members of this subject is there to answer some questions about the stuff.

Now the homework. Homework is generally given and corrected only once a week. Every scholar has to hand in his or her worksheets. One ore two exercises can be corrected but the general way the teacher only checks if there is some work done. There has to be a percentage of homework handed in in order to get access to the exams and to go to the final year exam.

Now the great thing: In the first weeks the scholar has to be present in the assignment lessons. As the time grows and the scholar knows the stuff presented in the lecture, the scholar is free to take part or not to take part in the assignment lesson, but has to hand in the homework.

In common, the exams can be done either in a assignment lesson or a lecture. (but not during present time.)

What are the benefits of this system: The scholar is prepared for the academic system, every swiss student has the same basis of knowledge. Personal responsibility is promoted: If a scholar really knows the stuff he or she sould, then there is some extra time gained to do sports ore in depth studies, and if not there are in average less scholars in the assignment lessons, so the teacher can handle problem individually. However, if a scholar does not manage to follow the lectures and not goes to the assignment lessons because he or she wants to have more free time to do “nothing”, then the schools headmaster has to be consequent  and kick him or her out of school. Then if someone is not able to take responsibility of him or her own, then he or she is not justified to be called matured.

So there is a new idea, of course not ready made, but presented in a way it could work (probably).

Tags: Federalism, Homework, School System, Secondary School Education