Swiss Review 4/2020

Swiss Review / July 2020 / No.4 15 from socially and economically disad- vantaged backgrounds will be among those who lose out academically due to COVID-19. Children who live in cramped housing, receive no support from parents or siblings, or lack the necessary technology, risk falling be- hind with distance learning. The study revealed a ‘scissor effect’, whereby one sixth of students re- ported an alarmingly low level of ef- fort consisting of less than nine hours aweek spent doing school work, while almost a third of students reported doing school work for 25 hours or more per week – and in some cases for even longer than they would have done in a normal school week before the pandemic. “The nationwide school closure has exacerbated the differences be- tween students,” says Dagmar Rösler, who chairs the umbrella organisation representing teachers in Switzerland, the LCH. What will Switzerland’s publicly run schools now do as a re- sult? The commitment to equality of opportunity across the board re- mains an important priority, given that the vast majority of Swiss chil- dren and teenagers attend publicly funded schools during compulsory education. Only 4.6 per cent go to pri- vate school. Equality of opportunity as well as dig- italisation are themes that tie in with distance learning and the effect that it is having on children’s educational prospects. “For example, is it up to the state to ensure that all schoolchildren have access to the necessary digital in- frastructure at home?” asks Rösler. There also needs to be a debate on the future of homework in her opinion, because the circumstances are simi- lar. “Well educated parents can help their children. Less well educated par- ents cannot.” The implications of the COVID-19 pandemic on future schooling are of little interest to the current genera- tion of schoolchildren, whose per- spective is a different one. Now back at school after weeks spent at home, many will be pleased to reacquaint themselves with the classroom, be- cause interactionwith their peers was one of the things that they sorely missed. Ultimately, only the future will tell how the coronavirus home-schooling experience has af- fected them. All schools remained closed (Golaten, canton of Berne). Children and parents contended with the double wham- my of homeschooling and working from home. The lockdown was a challenging time for teenagers about to en- ter higher education or the world of work. Photos: Keystone Many teenagers are worried about not finding the apprenticeship they want The COVID-19 pandemic has made it harder for Swiss teenagers to enter the world of work in Switzerland. After completing elementary school, 60 per cent normally start an apprenticeship. How- ever, all trial apprenticeships had to be cancelled because of the lockdown. Interviews were also vir- tually impossible. Furthermore, many businesses put their employees on furlough while suspending recruitment. Consequently, fewer apprenticeship contracts were signed. New apprenticeships in French- and Italian-speaking Switzerland by early summer were a mere 30 per cent of what they were in 2019, while the corresponding figure in German-speaking Switzerland was also down on the previous year. “Our biggest concern is that businesses will suddenly no longer offer appren- ticeships or terminate existing ones,” says Theo Ninck, member of the government task force on vocational and professional education and training. Nevertheless, the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs is optimistic, saying in June that the ap- prenticeship market is more or less stable. (GUM)