School form has "failed" FDP President Burkart wants to abolish inclusive schools

FDP party president Thierry Burkart has called for the abolition of inclusive schools. This demand is one of several proposals with which the party wants to reform schools.

The integrative school has failed, said Burkart in an interview with Tamedia published on Thursday. Children with learning difficulties would be disadvantaged in inclusive schools and regular lessons would be hindered. High-achieving pupils were being neglected, said the party president.

"The many assessments and therapies lead to the pathologization of children," criticized the FDP party president. Many children would not achieve their educational goals despite the high level of care required. He was convinced that learning needs could be better addressed in separate classes. Foreign-language children should also first receive intensive German lessons before being placed in a mainstream class.

Load limit reached

The Central President of the Swiss Teachers' Association (LCH) believes that inclusive schools have reached their limits: "We have reached the limit that we have always warned about," said Dagmar Rösler in an interview with SonntagsBlick at the beginning of the year. Nevertheless, she wants to stick with inclusive schools. It has been proven that pupils can benefit from interacting with each other, she said.

Inclusive schools have been discussed at cantonal level on various occasions in the past. The Lucerne government, for example, does not want to review the reintroduction of small classes. In the canton of Zurich, an initiative by a middle-class committee for special classes is pending. In the canton of Basel-Stadt, too, the issue has not yet been put on the table.

Focus on core task

In principle, schools must focus on their core task in future - the teaching of basic skills, said Burkart. He also hopes that this will make the teaching profession more attractive. Burkart intends to present a corresponding position paper on elementary school at the FDP delegates' meeting on Saturday, as was revealed in the interview. The paper lists around 20 demands on how the FDP believes schools should be reformed.

Whether the abolition of early English and early French in elementary school will be mentioned in the position paper is still open. There are different positions on this within the party, said Burkart. According to him, foreign languages should only be on the timetable at secondary level. The party also calls for grades to be retained, said the party president. In doing so, he touched on another topic that has also been the subject of discussion recently.

After the last elections, in which the FDP lost, Burkart now wants to reposition the party in terms of content in order to score points with a broader electorate, writes Tamedia. Burkart wants to position the FDP as a party of education.