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Swiss teachers’ association calls for more resources for inclusive schools

Teachers’ association calls for more resources for inclusive schools
Teachers’ association calls for more resources for inclusive schools Keystone-SDA

The teachers’ umbrella organisation is sounding the alarm: a lack of staff, funding and time is jeopardising the Integrative School project.

According to a survey, teaching staff are almost exactly split down the middle between those in favour and those who are sceptical.

“If you ask for integration, you have to pay for it,” said Dagmar Rösler, President of the Swiss Teachers’ Association (LCH), speaking to the media in Bern on Thursday. Inclusion-oriented schools – the term used by the LCH to describe classes in which children with special educational needs are not segregated – can work.

There is a wide gap between institutional expectations and the reality of everyday school life, as revealed by a survey of 10,394 teachers, special needs teachers and therapeutic staff. While a majority supports the inclusive school model, a very large proportion feel overburdened.

Nevertheless, according to the survey, half of the pupils in an average school class have some form of special educational needs.

How we produce English news
Translated from German, reviewed by an English Department journalist. 

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