The president of the Swiss teachers’ association (LCH) has warned that inclusive schooling is reaching a breaking point. More resources are needed to enable students with special needs to succeed in mainstream classes.
This content was published on
2 minutes
Keystone-SDA
“We are feeling the limit that we have always warned about,” said Dagmar Rösler, central president of the German-speaking teachers’ union (LCH). “It can’t go on like this.”
The necessary resources are lacking. “With the wide variety of needs and demands that can be found in a class today, there should actually be two specialists in a classroom. Permanently,” said Rösler in an interview with SonntagsBlick.
In her view, the current situation stems from the shortcomings of the past. “For example, we have had too few special needs teachers for 20 years and not even half of those working in special needs education have the appropriate training,” she said. “We missed the opportunity to make it easier for interested people to take further training at an early stage. This is now taking its toll.”
In some schools, out of necessity, unqualified school assistants are also responsible for looking after children with behavioral problems. “But as long as school is taking place, people always say it’s fine. That doesn’t leave the school unscathed,” said the LCH central president. “I am certain that sooner or later the negative effects of the emergency solutions will become apparent, in special education, in the classroom and in pupils’ learning success.”
Rösler continues to support inclusive schooling as a concept, which has been in place for 20 years, although it presents many challenges. “We are still in favor of as many pupils as possible being taught in mainstream classes, because it has been proven that they can benefit greatly from interacting with others,” she said.
Translated from German by DeepL/jdp.
This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles.
If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to english@swissinfo.ch.
Train vs plane: would you take a direct train between London and Geneva?
Eurostar is planning to run direct trains from Britain to Germany and Switzerland from the early 2030s. Would you favour the train over the plane? If not, why not?
Abbot of Saint-Maurice steps down following sex abuse report
This content was published on
Jean Scarcella has decided to step down as Abbot of Saint-Maurice in the Swiss canton of Valais, the abbey announced on Saturday.
Philipp Matthias Bregy named new president of Centre Party
This content was published on
Valais National Councillor Philipp Matthias Bregy is the new President of the Centre Party. The delegates elected him as the successor to Gerhard Pfister on Saturday in Bern without discussion.
Global call for active neutrality launched from Geneva
This content was published on
A number of players have launched a worldwide appeal for active neutrality in Geneva at a time when the major powers are taking a tougher line. The city is competing with Vienna to attract an international congress on this issue in 2026.
This content was published on
The M'Tongé gorilla has died at Basel Zoo at the age of 26. The dominant male had to be euthanised on Friday morning owing to a parasite infection.
This content was published on
Swiss Finance Minister Karin Keller-Sutter, who holds the rotating Swiss presidency this year, has been invited to Paris by French President Emmanuel Macron.
Swiss canton coordinates donations for landslide destroyed village
This content was published on
The Swiss canton of Valais to form committee to coordinate CHF 57.4 million donations for village destroyed by a landslide.
Body of Blatten landslide victim found and identified
This content was published on
The body of 64-year-old man, who has been missing since part of the Brich glacier collapsed on the Swiss village of Blatten has been found.
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.