Education international congratulates Swiss member organisations for having won a national Prize for their commitment to bilingualism and multilingualism in schools.
On 28 August the Dachverband Lehrerinnen und Lehrer Schweiz(LCH) and the Syndicat des enseignants romands(SER), both affiliated to Education International (EI), received the 2015 Prize for bilingualism and multilingualism awarded during the 3rd Swiss Education Day for their commitment in favour of national languages ??in schools.
This award acknowledges the unfailing commitment for a second national language in primary and secondary schools, and represents at the same time an additional motivation to promote a teaching of a foreign language of high quality and request the necessary conditions for success in that regard.
“The LCH and the SER, with their coordinated support to prioritise the teaching of a second national language at primary level, have sent an important signal for the promotion of language skills and national cohesion,” said the Forum for bilingualism to justify its giving the 2015 award to the education unions.
These two trade unions, among the major teachers’ professional associations in Switzerland, had published in October 2014 a joint position paper to secure the teaching of a second language at primary level.
The organisations had also expressed a series of demands in the following areas: changes in the curriculum objectives to actual teaching conditions; changes in the basic training of teachers; exchange programs for students and teachers; and changes in the assessment of pupils.