Swiss Pisa test: students with poor language skills

Over half of the students in western Switzerland have a lot of effort with spelling. And there are also considerable language deficits in some German -speaking cantons. This shows a new investigation.

Step in the language test! Over 18,000 ninth graders from all over Switzerland had to prove their language skills in an exam. The cantons wanted to find out: What do the young people have on the box when the mandatory schooling comes to an end?

On Thursday, the conference of the educational directorates of the cantons (EDK) presented the results of the study. They are sobering, even if the government councils themselves see it differently. The most important findings at a glance.

The most important findings at an overview

Big differences between the cantons

Every fifth student and every fifth student from German -speaking Switzerland has trouble reading and understanding a text in German. In other words, they do not have the required basic skills that it needs according to definition to find their way around well in everyday life. In terms of spelling, 16 percent of the students do not achieve the minimum required.

The EDK was fundamentally satisfied with the results, especially in the event of a formal aspect: the harmonization among the cantons, which is aimed at with the common basic skills and the language regional curricula, is progressing well. And in school language, a fairly high proportion of young people achieve the basic skills when reading. « Most results are positive, » said the Edk President and Valais State Councilor Christophe Darbellay (the middle).

With English it looks a little better: 75 percent (reading) or 85 percent (hearing) of the pupils can make it to the required minimum. Graubünden best cuts down, where 95 percent of the students have to listen to hearing understanding.

Romandy is also a problem child in this area. The German language apparently makes great effort to the Swiss and Ticino students: only 52 percent reach the required level when reading.

Girls beat boys

Whether the students achieve the required language level depends heavily on which school they attend – for example, whether real or second, level A or B. is not surprising: the more demanding the level, the more likely they meet the basic skills. The largest is the gap between the students in Basel-Stadt, Appenzell Innerrhoden and Lucerne. In Basel-Stadt, only 40 percent of the students from the deepest performance train made it to the requested level, but 94 percent of the strongest school level.

Social factors also play a role. Girls are better than boys in all tested areas. And those who come from a parents’ house where the same language is spoken as at school has less trouble than children whose parents speak a different language.

Difference to the PISA study

EDK President Christophe Darbellay warned that one could not compare the review of basic skills with PISA without mixing apples and pears. In fact, different things are checked: PISA is about an international comparison and in Switzerland about reviewing national educational goals. According to the last results of the PISA study-a kind of school-the Swiss youngsters in German, mathematics and natural sciences are above the average of the OECD countries.

But there is a downside. It can be illustrated, for example, when reading: The proportion of 15-year-olds, who understand hardly any texts, increases permanently and was 24 percent in the last PISA study. In other words, every fourth does not understand texts properly. Finally, Darbellay did not miss the opportunity to point out that the results are friendlier when checking the basic skills in relation to reading.

And now?

The results are analyzed and will then check measures: Many cantons are very reserved only to the results. The canton of Solothurn becomes clearer: The results showed that the SELothurn SEK-B students were left behind in French in the field of French saying. The educational director announces that the discussion about a new French lesson. And in Basel-Stadt, government councilor Mustafa Atici wants to hire the schools to work out proposals to strengthen reading skills.

In the results, the educational directors conference sees important findings for the further development of the school system. And she wants to clarify why boys do weaker than girls. The umbrella organization of Swiss teachers demands that the education politicians and authorities would have to ensure that the goals set to be achieved with the foreign languages. If the prerequisites are not available, the language strategy must be put to the test.