The answer to the question of what role private tutoring plays in the Swiss education system is multifaceted. Among other things, the purpose for which the tutoring is taken is crucial. In general, it can be said that private tutoring and private tutoring institutes have long been part of the Swiss school system.

What private tutoring is, how many students use tutoring in Switzerland, the reasons why tutoring is taken and why the gymnasium remains the best option are all discussed in the following article.

Start preparing for the gymnasium at the latest in the 4th class!

Table of contents

What is private tutoring?
How many students use tutoring in Switzerland?
Why do students go to tutoring?
Gymnasium remains the royal road

What is private tutoring?

Tutoring refers to lessons that take place outside of school. The school material is usually reviewed or worked through, and depending on the provider, learning methods are also taught and exams are simulated.

There is a distinction between public (state) and private tutoring. When it comes to private tutoring, there is a further distinction between private tutoring in the broader sense and private tutoring in the narrower sense. Private tutoring in the broader sense includes institutional tutoring by private tutoring institutes in groups in the institute's premises or as an online course for home use, and individual tutoring in individual courses or individual lessons.

Individual tutoring is either also offered by private tutoring institutes or by independent private tutors who usually come to the student's home for the tutoring. When it comes to individual tutoring, one can also speak of private tutoring in the narrower sense.

In addition, a distinction is made between paid and unpaid tutoring, with unpaid tutoring usually being either state-organised, for example through the school, or provided by family, acquaintances, friends and/or schoolmates.

The Lern-Forum is a private tutoring institute that offers, among other things, preparatory courses for admission exams at the gymnasium as well as for the BMS, FMS and IMS. The courses take place in the canton of Zurich (City of Zurich) and in the canton of Aargau (Wohlen), and some are also available online for home use. Gymnasium probation period courses are also offered at the Lern-Forum, both probation period preparatory courses and probation period support courses.

Choose the right probation period course now!

How many students use tutoring in Switzerland?

A PISA survey in 2012 found that 34% of Swiss teenagers in the 8th and 9th grades received paid tutoring. A study published in 2013 found that the average tutoring rate for students in the 5th to 9th grades in German-speaking Switzerland was 17.2%.

According to the tutoring industry, the demand for tutoring has increased sharply in recent years, especially for preparatory courses for the entrance exam to the gymnasium (short: gymi courses).

It is therefore to be assumed that today well over a third of Swiss students in the 8th and 9th grades receive paid tutoring, and that the tutoring rate has also increased sharply in the lower classes since 2012.

And by the way: The subject in which the most tutoring is given is mathematics.

Why do students go to tutoring?

One reason why students take private lessons, for example in the form of preparatory courses for the gymnasium, is that there are fewer places available at the gymnasium than there are applicants. Preparatory courses for the entrance examination to the gymnasium are therefore booked in order to stand out from the competition.

Another reason for the high demand for private lessons is that many parents see the gymnasium as the best way forward for their children, and these parents therefore do everything they can to ensure that their children pass the entrance examination for the gymnasium.

But why can the schools not adequately prepare the students for the entrance examinations for the gymnasium, the BMS, the FMS and the IMS, as well as for the probationary period at the gymnasium? The Beobachter already wrote in 2003 that the problem at the public schools was that the teaching was difficult for several reasons and that individual support was not possible, and this was due to the limited budgets, the large classes and the high proportion of foreign-language students. And even back then, primary school teachers recommended that their students attend preparatory courses at private tutoring institutes in order to prepare for the examinations.

However, tutoring is not only used by students who have weaknesses in their school performance, but also by students who do not really need it, and that is for prophylaxis, i.e. as a precautionary measure. In this context, high-achieving students use tutoring to structure their exam preparation as a fixed learning time.

Gymnasium remains the royal road

It is often claimed that the Swiss education system has never been so permeable. Children could therefore study at university even without going to the gymnasium, if they did the vocational maturity examination after vocational training and then took the Passerelle. However, the hurdles to getting to university from vocational training are much higher than from the gymnasium, writes the Swiss Radio and Television (SRF). This would also be reflected in the figures, which show that although 22% of those with a vocational qualification would go on to do the vocational maturity examination, only just over half of them would complete a university of applied sciences degree and less than 1% would start a university degree programme.

The gymnasium therefore remains the royal road to studying at university. Parents should therefore not be deterred from encouraging their children to do the Matura directly at the gymnasium with the aim of starting a university degree programme immediately afterwards.

Book a Gymnasium preparation course now with the private tutoring institute Lern-Forum!