How well is English taught in Switzerland's secondary schools?

The country’s obligatory school system (11 years, including two years of kindergarten), is divided into primary and secondary levels.

English lessons begin already in the primary school

In most of Switzerland, it encompasses ages from about four / five until 12 – depending on the canton.

For instance, in Zurich, English is taught quite early, already from the second year, that is, from age of seven or eight. 

In Geneva, on the other hand, English lessons start in the seventh grade — at age 11.

READ ALSO: How is English taught in Swiss primary schools? 

What about the secondary schools?

English lessons continue throughout the obligatory schooling.

There are no fixed hours for English courses across all Swiss secondary schools - or a universal method of teaching it - due to Switzerland's decentralised education system and the requirement to learn at least one official second national language alongside English – read more about this below.

Therefore, the number of hours dedicated to English lessons in secondary schools is not the same throughout Switzerland either – or, for that matter. from one school to another within the same canton.

For instance, the weekly number of hours of English lessons throughout Geneva’s secondary schools is not fixed.

It depends on several factors, including the student's academic orientation, such as maturité gymnasiale (general), or maturité spécialisée (hgher level), for example.

The general level may require fewer hours of English than the higher one.

In Zurich’s secondary schools (as in most German-speaking cantons) English courses focus on "communicative skills alongside traditional academic aspects.” 

Teaching centres on developing the four core English language skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing.

With only minor nuances, those are the objectives of English lessons in all public secondary schools in Switzerland.

How well do kids speak English when they leave school?

There is no uniform answer to this question either.

Much depends on the level of instruction students received, as well as their own learning capacities.

One of the problems, according to anecdotal evidence, is that most teachers in public schools are not native English speakers.

One person who graduated from a public school in Bern told The Local that the person who taught English was Swiss-German, and taught German as well.

Her level of English was not optimal; she also insisted, despite her thick German accent, on teaching UK English, which she herself learned, correcting and marking down students who used American expressions.

There are no readily available statistics on the exact number of native English-speaking teachers in Swiss public schools, but it is generally understood to be a minority, as most English teachers are native speakers of German, French, or Italian to satisfy the regional language requirement for teachers. 

However, even if they are not fluent when they leave school, studies show that students make up later on.

According to EF English Proficiency Index (EF EPI), which to ranks countries by the equity of English language skills, on the scale of ‘very high proficiency’ to ‘very low proficiency,’, with 'medium in between, (116 countries in total), Switzerland is in the 31st place, ranked as ‘high efficiency’ nation. 

Why aren’t Swiss on the par with ‘very high efficiency’ countries?

One explanation, according to an analysis by RTS public broadcaster, is that learning two foreign languages ​​simultaneously – a second national language, as is required by Swiss law, in addition to English - could explain this gap.

What are your views on the quality of English lessons in Swiss secondary schools? Share in the comments section below.