Читать книгу The Swiss Model of Vocational Education and Training - Markus Mäurer - Страница 5

Dear readers

This book is part of a series edited by the Zurich University of Teacher Education (PH Zurich) that is dedicated to the essentials of teaching and learning and has a specific focus on vocational education and training. All books in the series present their contents in a highly condensed way, in order to be easily accessible by teachers, instructors and other professionals involved in education and training.

Whereas other books in this series are dedicated to issues that are closer to the classroom, this contribution covers the more underlying systemic elements of teaching and learning in Swiss vocational education and training (VET). It is addressed, on the one hand, to all those in Switzerland who look for information in English that can help them to present key features of Swiss VET abroad. On the other hand, it also addresses VET professionals from other countries who want to better understand our country’s approach to prepare learners at upper secondary level for the world of work. In contrast to other existing publications on Swiss VET in English, this one – while discussing systemic elements in depth – pays additional attention to underlying pedagogical concepts and provides readers with a number of concrete examples.

This publication in English also expresses our university’s dedication to deepen our cooperation with international partners. Given the growing interest in the Swiss VET model, our university already now plays a role in providing expertise to other countries that are interested in improving their VET systems. Although we are convinced of the many advantages of the system that is portrayed in this book, we are equally convinced that reforms of other VET systems cannot rely on simply importing models from abroad. Rather, such reforms need to be based on a serious understanding of how the education system and the labour market interact in the particular context, on sound political judgement and on a solid approach to implementation. It is in this way, at least, that VET in Switzerland has been evolving.

Prof. Christoph Städeli

Head of the Department of Upper Secondary Education, PH Zurich

Editor-in-chief of the series