Expert: Separate schooling leads to cost explosion
Published: Thursday, Jun 27th 2024, 03:40
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The FDP Switzerland wants to abolish inclusive schools. Expert Dennis Hövel disagrees: "If we were to educate all children with behavioral problems separately, this would result in a fivefold increase in resources."
15 to 20 percent of children have behavioral problems in the clinical sense, said the professor at the University of Applied Sciences for Special Needs Education (HFH) in an interview with Tamedia published on Thursday. These include children with anxiety disorders, depression, ADHD or aggression. This rate has not changed in the last 70 years.
"At no time in history - neither in Switzerland nor in any other country - have we had a special school quota or segregation quota of 15 to 20 percent of all pupils. Some cantons already have serious budget problems at two percent for the 'behavioral area'," said Hövel. In addition to economic arguments, separate schooling is also not expedient. Studies show that social contact with inconspicuous peers is one of the most important resources for children with behavioral problems.
Composition of the classes is decisive
According to the head of the Institute for Behavioral, Socio-Emotional and Psychomotor Development at the HFF, the composition of the class is relevant to the success of the inclusive school. For example, the learning success of everyone is negatively affected if more than a quarter of the pupils exhibit conspicuous behavior. "The more mixed a class is, the less difficult it is. Mixed in the sense of: Children from different socio-economic backgrounds," said Hövel.
Instead, it would be conceivable to allocate pupils to school buildings that are no longer primarily based on proximity to their place of residence. Hövel cited the town of Uster ZH as an example: "The journey to school was then a few minutes longer for some, but the classes were more mixed. Uster was successful with this." However, the allocation could also be adjusted within the same school, according to Hövel. "These are definitely approaches that could be implemented immediately."
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