(By Dr. Thomas Bernet, Principal of Freies Gymnasium Zürich, from the Annual Report 2008/2009)

The results of various research studies regarding the quality of the Gymnasium have triggered a broad debate in the field of education policy. The investigations are also meaningful for Freies Gymnasium Zürich, which claims its place on the education landscape as one of the four state-recognised but private Gymnasiums in the Canton of Zurich. In fact, because we are a well-run private institution, we are particularly interested in drawing the right conclusions for our school from the wealth of evaluation results presented. It is gratifying to note that the studies confirm that the Swiss Gymnasiums are continuing to do good work. There is, therefore, no reason to question the exclusive value of the Matura for admission to all faculties of Swiss universities. Nevertheless the reports pinpoint some weaknesses to be worked on in certain areas. In the view of university teaching staff some basic competencies, such as the command of the first language, working with mathematical problems and knowledge of the natural sciences require more focus.  Swiss Matura graduates also appear to lack certain interdisciplinary competencies required to perform well in a course of university study. First-year students are often seen to be lacking in independence, not able to work under pressure and unaccustomed to receiving criticism. They also have considerable difficulty understanding scientific and literature texts in their original form without preparation or assistance.  Experts from the universities and Gymnasiums of the Canton of Zurich therefore recommend the Gymnasiums to focus on critical thinking as a key competence in lessons, to encourage students to take responsibility for their own learning, to practise summarising texts and to give students the opportunity to train their writing skills.

How does Freies Gymnasium Zürich perform?

The education programme offered by Freies Gymnasium Zürich is in line with the recommendations of the broad-based EVAMAR II – study. This revealed a positive relationship between the quality of the education and the time spent at the Gymnasium. Since in addition to our six-year Gymnasium programme, both the Preparatory Classes and the Progymnasium are oriented towards the Gymnasium, our students have good prerequisites to perform well in their university studies. However, this alone is not enough. The results of the study prompted us to control the quality of the education we offer and to make targeted improvements. We intend to intensify contact with the universities regarding the exchange of specialised knowledge; when it comes to interdisciplinary competencies, we will particularly focus on encouraging students to take charge of and responsibility for their learning as we see this to be the key to success in a future course of study. Naturally, the challenge is to find the right balance between going into sufficient depth and achieving breadth in a subject, on the one hand, and giving freedom while at the same time intensive support, on the other. These aims clearly cannot be achieved in the space of one school year. They will require consistent, long-term efforts.

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