Abstract
With its strong federalism and direct democracy, as well as the high level of autonomy of its cantons, Switzerland does not have mandatory national policies and regulations on gifted education. Responsibility for the promotion of high-end learners is in the hands of the cantonal boards of education, and depends largely on their current professional understanding and educational-political foresight, as well as on the political volition and priorities of the school authorities. Within this diversity, there are schools with excellent concepts and successful implementations regarding gifted education, while other schools have a poor understanding of individualisation and potential-oriented learning. The present article summarises the philosophy and key aspects of a contemporary realisation of local- or regional-based integrated gifted education that is related to supplementary arrangements for special needs. Strengths and weaknesses in the identification and promotion of the talented within the Swiss school system are outlined and discussed.
Highlights
With its strong federalism and direct democracy, as well as the high level of autonomy of its cantons, Switzerland does not have mandatory national policies and regulations on gifted education
Switzerland is a modern federal state marked by strong federalism and direct democracy
This is expressed in two ways: in the strong autonomy of the 26 cantons and their municipalities, and in their direct participation in political decision-making
Summary
In order to understand the educational situation in Switzerland, it is important to bear in mind that it is a small country of approximately 8 million people with a relatively high proportion of foreigners (23.8%). There is a need to improve the promotion of the strengths of all children at all levels in order to compensate for social discrimination This process should be free of (historical) suspicions of reinstalling an elite socialclass system, and of the erroneous assumption that individual differences and potentials should be disregarded in the interest of equal opportunities. These aims contain organisational and economic aspects, and sociopolitical and ideological expectations. A contemporary foundation expresses the intentions of gifted education in a dynamic triarchic area of tension within anthropological, economic and ecological demands: “... the right of the person for self-realization, the benefit of human resources as intellectual and social capital of a society, and the aspect of sustainability in the meaning of qualification for life-long learning, reflected self-actualization and shared social responsibility” (Müller-Oppliger, 2014a, 58ff)
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