Characteristics of the Swiss education system

In accordance with Switzerland’s federal structure, the tasks in the education system from primary to tertiary level are adressed at three interdependent political levels, i.e. of the confederation, the cantons, and the communes, all of which work together in their respective areas of responsibility. As a rule the higher political level (e.g. the confederation) only passes laws and regulations or undertakes tasks if the lower level (the canton) is not in a position to do so. Moreover, the confederation passes laws only in (the few) cases where the Federal Constitution gives the confederation legislative authority in educational matters. But even in these cases the implementation of the law lies with the cantons, which as a rule take the main responsibility for education. Each canton thus has its own legal regulations for education. ICT in particular is one of those realms which have profited from the long established cooperation between the federal and cantonal levels. There is no ministry of education at national level in Switzerland.

In addition, the whole of the education system is characterised by a high degree of local anchoring in the three culturally and liguistically diverse regions of the country. The only exception to this rule is vocational education which is centrally governed at federal level by the Federal Office for Professional Education and Technology (OPET).

On the whole the responsibility for legal implementation, execution, supervision and financing thus varies greatly within the country depending on the canton, the linguistic region, and the educational level and type of educational institution. Nevertheless coordination and cooperation among the cantons have been established over a long period of time. Some few parameters in education are regulated on an inter-cantonal (which is not the same as national) basis. They are based both on « hard law », which is binding for those which abide by it as well as « soft law » which functions as mere recommendation for the cantons to abide by. In the realm of « soft law » the Swiss Conference of Cantonal Directors of Education (EDK/CDIP) has issued several recommendations concerning ICT, the the most recent concerning the overall strategy of the EDK/CDIP with regard to ICT dating from March 1, 2007.