The Swiss school system explained to families moving from abroad

In Switzerland, schooling is not run by the federal state but by the twenty-six cantons. That is the first thing to grasp, and the most surprising: there is no such thing as one Swiss school system. There are twenty-six.

Eleven compulsory years, free of charge, from age four

Compulsory schooling lasts eleven years and is free in state schools. Children normally start the year they turn four, with 31 July as the cut-off date in most cantons: a child who turns four on 30 July starts in August; one who turns four on 2 August waits a year.

Those eleven years break down into eight years of primary level — the first two of which correspond to what other countries call kindergarten — followed by three years of lower secondary. Ticino is the exception, with seven years of primary and four of lower secondary.

What comes next — the academic gymnase, general education schools, apprenticeships — is called upper secondary and is no longer compulsory.

Twenty-six systems, three curricula

Article 62 of the Federal Constitution is unambiguous: education is a cantonal matter. The Confederation sets only the start of the school year, and intervenes further only if coordination between cantons fails.

In practice the cantons set the curricula, timetables and teaching materials; the municipalities administer the schools. Harmonisation does exist, but it is regional, not national: the Plan d'études romand in French-speaking Switzerland, Lehrplan 21 in the German-speaking cantons, the Piano di studio in Ticino.

For a family, this means that moving from Geneva to Zurich — or even from Geneva to Lausanne — is not merely a change of address. School years carry different names, selection into lower secondary follows different rules, and the holidays fall on different dates. In the canton of Zurich, only the start of the year and the Christmas break are fixed canton-wide; each municipality decides the rest.

School is compulsory for every child, whatever the parents' status

Many families do not know this: compulsory schooling does not depend on the parents' residence status. It applies to every child living on Swiss soil.

The canton of Zurich states it plainly: all school-age children and young people staying in a Zurich municipality are admitted to school from the start of their stay, regardless of their residence status. Geneva's law covers "all children and young people of compulsory school age living in the canton"; the Vaud statute covers "all parents domiciled or resident in the canton". The test is actual residence, not the permit.

Free, though not entirely without cost

Teaching, books and school materials are free in the state system. What families still pay is capped and modest.

In the canton of Vaud, following a Federal Supreme Court ruling of December 2017, schools have supplied books and materials since August 2019, and parental contributions to camps and trips are capped at CHF 16 per day. In Zurich, meal contributions are capped at CHF 10 per meal and CHF 22 for a full day. In Geneva the school provides books, exercise books and materials; parents cover personal items — indoor shoes, painting apron, sports kit.

Two things fall outside this everywhere: after-school care, which is charged for, and of course private schooling, which parents fund in full.

How many pupils actually attend private schools

Far fewer than people abroad assume. In the 2023/24 school year, 93.8% of pupils in compulsory education attended a state school, 4.5% a non-subsidised private school and 1.7% a subsidised private school.

Put plainly: in Switzerland the state school is the default choice of Swiss families, affluent ones included, and it is good. Private schooling answers particular situations — a short posting, continuity of a foreign curriculum, boarding, a specific pedagogy — not a failing state sector. An arriving family is well advised to look seriously at the local school before concluding that private is necessary.

If your child does not speak the language

Every canton runs a reception scheme for pupils who do not speak the language of instruction. Geneva has its classes d'accueil; at primary level the child attends a mainstream class and receives half-time reception teaching, and the information is published in fifteen languages. The canton of Vaud runs three schemes — intensive French courses, reception classes and reception groups — for one year, exceptionally two. Zurich provides German as a Second Language, either as integrated support or in a reception class of eight to fourteen pupils.

One detail nobody tells newcomers to Zurich: kindergarten is taught in Swiss German, not standard German.