This chapter provides a thematic and chronological overview of national reforms and policy developments since 2022. The web pages that follow group reforms in the following broad thematic areas:

• Early childhood education and care
• General school education
• Vocational education and training
• Higher education
• Adult education and training

Inside each thematic area, reforms are organised chronologically. The most recent reforms are described first.

Government's key objectives for education

The Federal Constitution obliges the Confederation and the cantons, within the scope of their responsibilities, to jointly ensure the high quality and permeability of the Swiss education area. To allow them to carry out these tasks, the Confederation and the cantons have established education monitoring. Based on the current knowledge of the education system (National Education Reports), and taking an overall view of the system, every four years they lay down joint education policy objectives to be addressed at national and intercantonal level.

Currently the Erklärung 2023: Chancen optimal nutzen - gemeinsame bildungspolitische Ziele für den Bildungsraum Schweiz [Declaration 2023: Optimal use of opportunities - joint education policy objectives for the Swiss education area] is in force, based on the third Swiss Education Report 2023.

The development of joint education policy objectives and the identification of educational policy challenges that the Confederation and the cantons intend to meet in a coordinated manner are anchored in the Vereinbarung vom 16. Dezember 2016 zwischen dem Bund und den Kantonen über die Zusammenarbeit im Bildungsraum Schweiz [Agreement between the Confederation and the cantons on cooperation in the Swiss education area].

The 2023 Declaration focuses on strategic objectives to which the national level can contribute or whose achievement can only be guaranteed at the national level.  This is possible through coordinated action by the Confederation and the cantons (intercantonal level), or through the action of the individual stakeholders in their respective spheres of responsibility.

The authorities of the Confederation and the cantons orient themselves, in implementing the objectives, by the following principles:

• They act with a comprehensive view of the system and take into account the special characteristics of a multilingual country.
• They rely on findings from research and statistics
• They act with a view to equal opportunities in education in Switzerland and are committed to ensuring that the opportunities and potential available to individuals, society and the economy are exploited to the fullest.
• They are committed to equal social recognition of general and vocational education and training and their international compatibility, i.e. to the dual vocational education and training system as well as to academic excellence.
• They support forward-looking, sustainable social and economic development in Switzerland.

The joint objectives are:

1. In compulsory education, the starting age, compulsory school attendance, the duration of the different levels of education, and the transition from one level to another are standardised and the objectives harmonised. In order to harmonise the objectives, national educational objectives in particular have been adopted in the form of basic competences in the fields of school language, second national language and English, mathematics and natural sciences, and curricula drawn up at regional language level and geared to these competences have been applied
2. 95% of all 25 year-olds have an upper secondary level leaving certificate
3. Ensuring, in the long term, that the baccalaureate qualifies holders for admission to university without the need for any further examinations
4. The profiles of programmes offered at tertiary level are refined
5. Measures have been defined which will help reduce drop-out rates at Swiss universities
6. Throughout the education system the process of starting, transferring, and returning to education and training is promoted and supported by information and guidance
7. The education system anticipates the new challenges of the digitised world of work and society
8. Exchange and mobility are anchored in education and are promoted at all levels of education

The federal government and the cantons coordinate their activities on other key education policy issues, in particular education for sustainable development , political education (éducation à la citoyenneté), the implementation of subject-specific teaching methods in teacher training, and efforts to combat skills shortages, especially in the teaching profession, STEM and healthcare professions.

From the joint objectives, the Confederation and the cantons derive concrete measures for their respective spheres of responsibility. The Education Report 2026 will address the achievement of the objectives and the effectiveness of the measures adopted.

Overview of the education reform process and drivers

The Confederation and the cantons each have their own responsibilities in the Swiss education area, which is characterised by federalism. While the cantons are primarily responsible for compulsory education, both the cantons and the Confederation have their own specific responsibilities in the post-compulsory education sector (general education schools, vocational and professional education and training, higher education), and they therefore have joint responsibility for these levels of education.

The Federal Constitution governs the particular responsibilities of the Confederation and the cantons and obliges them at the same time, within the scope of their responsibilities, to jointly ensure the high quality and permeability of the Swiss education area. The Confederation and the cantons accordingly lay down joint education policy objectives for the Swiss education area (see above). The stakeholders also define their own objectives for their respective spheres of responsibility.

Confederation

In the Dispatch on Education, Research and Innovation (ERI) 2025-2028, the Federal Council formulates the guidelines, objectives and measures of its education and science policy for a period of four years. In order to achieve the objectives set, the corresponding financial resources are also approved.

Targets for general education, vocational education and training and adult education:

1. Swiss educational programmes remain of high quality, locally focused and internationally networked. They equip participants for the future in a dynamic environment.
2. Education and training promotes individual learning, work and study skills.
3. The federal government's adult education policy is coordinated and developed as required.
4. The Swiss education system utilises the opportunities arising from digitalisation.

Targets for the higher education sector: 

1. The institutions of the ETH Domain ensure their excellence in teaching and research and make a significant contribution to overcoming pressing challenges for science, business, society and politics.
2. Higher education institutions train enough young talent for academia, industry and society. By promoting diversity, equal opportunities and inclusion, they exploit talent potential to the maximum.
3. Higher education institutions maintain their type-specific profiles and develop them further.
4. Higher education institutions promote international cooperation in order to ensure the competitiveness of the Swiss ERI system as a whole and increase its resilience.

Cantons

In matters which require a joint solution, the 26 cantons coordinate between each other in the Swiss Conference of Cantonal Ministers of Education (EDK). In an activity programme the cantons lay down the issues they wish to address together at intercantonal level in the following years. The EDK has a subsidiary role, i.e. it performs tasks which cannot be carried out by the regions and cantons.

The Tätigkeitsprogramm 2025-2028 [activity programme] lists the following objectives for instance:

• Establishing Switzerland-wide foundations for the Swiss digital education space and coordinating measures with the federal government.
• Support the cantons in promoting basic skills for adults in accordance with the Continuing Education Act.
• Promote quality development in vocational education and training, general education, and vocational, study and career guidance.
• Support the implementation of the revised reference texts (recognition regulations and framework curriculum) for the upper secondary Baccalaureate schools.

The individual cantons and language regions also have their own objectives, some of which have far-reaching consequences, but which are not nationally initiated or coordinated. These objectives are not listed here.