Survey finds Swiss teachers divided over integrated schooling

A survey reported by SRF has found deep divisions among Swiss teachers over integrated schooling, with 51 percent viewing the model positively and 48 percent critically. Nearly half said integration had failed in its current form, according to Dagmar Rösler, president of the Swiss Teachers’ Association.

The survey, conducted by GFS Bern on behalf of the association, questioned more than 10,000 education professionals in German-speaking Switzerland. While 41 percent said implementing integrated schooling was a burden, only 24 percent described it as a fulfilling task. Just 42 percent considered the available support sufficient.

About 70 percent of respondents said high-achieving and gifted pupils were not receiving adequate support under the current system. Sufficient staff, time and assistance were identified as the most important conditions for success. The survey also found that teachers viewed integration more positively where those resources were available.

“Teachers are not primarily criticising the educational idea of integration, but its inadequate implementation,” Rösler told SRF. She said the results were a warning signal.

The main problem was the combined pressure on teachers, she said. A class of 22 pupils might include six children with diagnosed support needs as well as others with individual needs. Teachers were expected to meet the needs of everyone, but a lack of time created intense pressure and a feeling that they could not work effectively.

Rösler said the system had initially focused strongly on children with additional support needs because they had often been neglected in the past. It had since become clear that high-achieving pupils also needed targeted support, but resources were often lacking for that purpose. In her view, this conflicted with equal opportunities.

The teachers’ association is calling for temporary separate groups close to the main class, ideally in the same school building. Children could receive additional support there when they were not getting what they needed in a large class. Rösler said this should not be a punishment but an opportunity.

She stressed that this did not mean abandoning integrated schooling. “Our principle is as much integration as possible and as much separation as necessary,” she said. The model had limits, and it could no longer work with the resources currently available.

Rösler also called for a flexible pool of resources at each school. Support is often tied to a diagnosis, she said, meaning that children can wait months before receiving help. A school-based pool could provide assistance more quickly and reduce incentives to seek diagnoses solely to obtain resources.

Although the association was aware of the difficult financial situation, Rösler said politicians had to fund the conditions required for the model they had chosen. “If politics orders integration, it must also pay for it,” she said.