School system Basel remedial classes initiative committee welcomes commission proposal
The initiative committee for the introduction of remedial classes in Basel-Stadt welcomes the preliminary committee's counter-proposal. Should this find a majority in the Grand Council, the withdrawal of the initiative will be seriously considered. This was announced to the media on Thursday by the committee and the teachers' association "Freiwillige Schulsyndode Basel-Stadt" (FSS)
05.09.2024, 11:48
05.09.2024, 13:22
SDA
The proposal of the Parliament's Education and Culture Commission (BKK) represents a good compromise, said FSS Vice President Marianne Schwegler. The wording in the proposal that schools can introduce remedial classes addresses the core concern of the initiative.
"An important milestone has been reached in the discussions surrounding the remedial classes initiative," said Schwegler. The BKK proposal is suitable for "ending the ideological discourse" in a realistic way. According to a survey, 84% of FSS members were in favor or more likely to be in favor of withdrawing the initiative if the cantonal parliament were to follow the commission.
The Grand Council is expected to discuss the matter at its meeting on September 11. If accepted, the first remedial classes could be introduced in summer 2025, as FSS President Jean-Michel Héritier said.
However, even if the BKK proposal is accepted, the FSS still sees potential stumbling blocks when it comes to implementation. Schwegler warned that the Department of Education (ED) would then have a responsibility not to complicate the introduction of remedial classes with "administrative hurdles". She also argued that teachers and specialists should be involved in the implementation.
Initiative has "created the necessary pressure"
The popular initiative for the expansion of separate provision at inclusive schools in Basel-Stadt (support class initiative) was submitted in 2022. It demands that remedial classes be reintroduced alongside inclusive classes.
Despite integrative schools, it should once again be possible to separate pupils with behavioral problems into special classes after prior clarification. This would replace the current "integrative one-size-fits-all model", as the initiative text states.
The government countered the initiative with a package of measures that includes offers such as learning islands and support groups. The BKK supplemented the government proposal. It called for schools to be able to create remedial classes, but only for children with general learning difficulties and pronounced learning disorders. It wants to leave it up to the schools to decide whether they want to introduce remedial classes.
The FSS can live with these watered-down proposals. However, Schwegler said that it is important that the school management actually makes remedial classes possible if this is desired by the majority of the teaching staff.
U-turn
Commenting on the BKK report, Roland Stark from the initiative committee said that after many years of "ideological wishful thinking" in the ED regarding inclusive schools, a turnaround and a change in attitude towards a "realistic approach" was now noticeable. The initiative has created the necessary pressure for this, Stark continued.
