Pre-school level: what is taught?
 |  | Pre-school encourages the socioaffective, psychomotoric and cognitive development of children and prepares them for entry into school. This happens without systematic evaluation of performance and without selection (no division into performance-based groups is carried out). Each child is encouraged according to their developmental status and needs. The development of independence is emphasised, as well as individual, social and cultural skills. |
Curricula
The new pre-school curricula have the same basis and educational goals as the curricula on the primary level. However, they emphasise a holistic, interdisciplinary education, geared toward the child's developmental status. The teaching of cultural skills (reading, writing and mathematics) is mostly reserved for the curricula on the primary level, although precursory skills are practised, which facilitate the acquisition of such cultural skills. The learning content is formulated on the basis of binding learning goals. Goals for the specific subjects are defined according to the curriculum (e.g. people and the environment, physical activities, language, handicrafts, music, mathematics) or interdisciplinary learning goals are formulated (e.g. improvement of physical activities, differentiation of perceptive ability, handling success and failure, perception of and focus on natural processes, experience and application of the rules of common speech etc.).
HarmoS
In the course of the convergence between pre-school and the first school years of primary school, the contents which, until now, have been allocated to pre-school and to the primary level merge and are continually developed in the process. There is thus less of a division between pre-school and primary school. The children are gradually introduced to school learning and basic social skills. If the child's developmental status is suitable, initial school learning is to be possible from the very beginning.
Linguistic regions' curricula
The linguistic regions' curricula, which are being developed in the course of the harmonisation of compulsory education (HarmoS), also incorporate the objectives for pre-school.
For the promotion of language skills, various German-speaking cantons have issued recommendations on the use of the Standard German in pre-school.
The new pre-school curricula have the same basis and educational goals as the curricula on the primary level. However, they emphasise a holistic, interdisciplinary education, geared toward the child's developmental status. The teaching of cultural skills (reading, writing and mathematics) is mostly reserved for the curricula on the primary level, although precursory skills are practised, which facilitate the acquisition of such cultural skills. The learning content is formulated on the basis of binding learning goals. Goals for the specific subjects are defined according to the curriculum (e.g. people and the environment, physical activities, language, handicrafts, music, mathematics) or interdisciplinary learning goals are formulated (e.g. improvement of physical activities, differentiation of perceptive ability, handling success and failure, perception of and focus on natural processes, experience and application of the rules of common speech etc.).
HarmoS
In the course of the convergence between pre-school and the first school years of primary school, the contents which, until now, have been allocated to pre-school and to the primary level merge and are continually developed in the process. There is thus less of a division between pre-school and primary school. The children are gradually introduced to school learning and basic social skills. If the child's developmental status is suitable, initial school learning is to be possible from the very beginning.
Linguistic regions' curricula
The linguistic regions' curricula, which are being developed in the course of the harmonisation of compulsory education (HarmoS), also incorporate the objectives for pre-school.
For the promotion of language skills, various German-speaking cantons have issued recommendations on the use of the Standard German in pre-school.
 | Curricula (selection) |
| Allocation of hours per subject |
| Project Lehrplan 21 for German-speaking and multilingual cantons |
| Information on Plan d'études romand |
| EDK: HarmoS |
| Pilot projects on school entry level in German-speaking Switzerland (German) |
