Looking for a great place to Live/School in Aargau

Family, Education, Health and Pets
41
The local system is very different from one Gemeinde to another in the canton of Aargau. One cannot generalize. Outside of Baden, things are quite different. I have clients who do not live in Baden and their experience is very different to that in Baden, in fact, I would say overall far more positive.

42
amch,

very interesting to hear your first hand experience. My daughter will be going to a Gynasium in September after only 18 months of german . I know she doesn't have the vocabulary she should and am frankly worried by the challange I am sure she will face to keep up with the class. It is such a crucial stage.

43
clonskeag,

September is a long ways off. For us, reading in German has helped a lot to build up the vocabulary. Can she read in German for pleasure? Or is it still a chore? Audiobooks also help.

You could ask the school for a copy of a math, bio and geography textbooks for next year a few weeks in advance, and read through the first few chapters, making a vocab list. Ask the DaZ teacher what would their recommendation be.

Practice math with an online program, so that she is ahead of the class in September, and can feel strong at least in one subject.

She'll probably have trouble writing essays. Would she enjoy keeping a journal? Practicing writing should help. DS got a 5.5 in content and 2.5 for grammar/vocab/spelling on his first essay. The high grade for content saved his average from an absolute disaster.

Meet early with the school to see what DaZ support your DD will get at the new school. After 18 months, there certainly should still be help.

Before every test, lernziele are usually given out. Make sure you help her study. We quizz DS before every French test, for example, since the grading is extremely strict.

We tried to teach DS that he has to, most of all, be honest with himself. If he is not understanding something, he has to speak up. If he is not comfortable asking in class so often, he has to tell me, and we'll find a way to learn the material.

You also have to be prepared for setbacks. The bio test where the shape of tree leaves had to be memorized (which tree does each leaf belong to, all in German) was a low point :-) But that's where that 6 in English comes handy: it can neutralize some of the inevitable bad grades in German-dependent subjects.

Hope it helps.

44

In the words of Albert Camus – “You cannot create experience. You must undergo it.”

Mrs. Doolittle - I bow to your experience

45

All I can say is that, in every step of life, much caution is required when making key decisions. However, I still like to take a balanced view from all sides so that I can prepare and step up my game!

We are keen for the entire family to integrate and learn the language, and I am NOT saying it will be easy but we are looking to put in the work. So I contacted a German tutor today and the entire family are looking to make a start now at learning the language (from next week before we fly-in in the summer).

I appreciate all the contributions - all this info is good preparation for us.

46
[QUOTE=gva;1531544]which means 84.7% of the 19y old do NOT get access to University

This is not correct. If you don't get into a Gymnasium, you can still do apprenticeship, Berufsmatura and get into University. It is just a longer route. This is the beauty of the system that you have a choice how you get to university: through very academic route or more field based practical route.

47
[QUOTE=Marusha;1532655] That possibility exists.. on paper. It's again a political argument ("you can win if you really want", "from dishwasher to millionaire") rather than a real possibility. In reality, the fraction of the 84.7% not doing the Matura and still ending up at University is close to nil.

48
They are maybe not going to the University, but quite a few do go to Fachhochschule? There is a Berufsmatura program at almost every Berufsschule, and, at least anecdotally, it seems that someone completing an apprenticeship, getting a BM and then going to FH is a very common profile, at least in engineering or business.

49
[QUOTE=gva;1532751] And again I have to disagree with you here. I work for a big international company and a lot of my Swiss colleagues went down the route of Berufsmatura and then got into Uni. I work in marketing and I have a brand manager in my team who also did Berufsmatura. So I am not sure if you are speaking from personal experience but I have real examples of people getting into universities via Berufsmatura route and I would say they come one in thousands.

50
You have to define "university". Unlike many other countries, Switzerland still has a binary system. You have traditional university and Fachhochschule (FH, or HES in French), which is a University of Applied Sciences. Over 36% of the population were in one or the other in 2011.

51
Can you clarify what you mean by binary system? I never though of University in terms of traditional and "the others". Is "Fachhochschule" a technical college, which offers a more practical qualification? Please provide some example courses that fall into this category. Are the traditional univ where courses like Medicine, Law, etc are offered?

52
Fachhochschule:Engineering, Architecture, Social Work, Accounting, Business, Teaching, etc. at both Bachelors and Masters levels

Take a look at one of such schools if you would like more info: http://www.fhnw.ch/schools/departments?set_language=en

University: Sciences, Law, Medicine, Economics, Psychology, etc. Also Architecture, Engineering, etc at ETH and EPFL

It can be confusing, since many of the majors earned at the Universities in the US here belong at the Fachhochschulen.

53
Does that mean a Fachochschule would be lke a Technical College and capable of awarding it's own recognised BA/BSc and up to MA/MASc etc. Would they be easily recognised worldwide?

54
Yes, the FH or HES award ISCED 5a qualifications, like universities. ISCED 5b qualifications (tertiary but not leading to masters degrees) are offered by Höhere Fachschulen (Ecoles supérieures) and these are not recognised abroad, unfortunately.

55
vivo, I notice that you are from the UK, and the other thing you might want to be aware of in your planning is that it is not necessarily so easy to be admitted to university in the UK with a matura/maturité from a Swiss gymnasium. If you assume your children will attend university in CH, then this is obviously not an issue for you and you can ignore the rest of this post.

The following are some issues to be aware of: (I'll try not to complicate the terminology too much but I'm from the French part and American so am not so familiar with the Swiss-German and UK terms.)

There are two main types of matura diplomas that grant access to Swiss universities (as opposed to Universities of Applied Science/Fachochschule/HES): the Federal Matura awarded to students who either attend private schools or who self study, and the Matura Cantonal awarded to students who attend a "public" gymnasium in their local area. Note that the curriculum and exams for the Matura Cantonal actually varies in each of the 26 cantons, but each canton has a Federally recognized matura that the Swiss government considers equivalent to the Federal Matura. Outside of CH, you have to realize that each university has the discretion to recognize or not recognize secondary school qualifications as it chooses. Unfortunately, some UK universities only recognize the Swiss Federal Matura and not the Matura Cantonals. For example, see the entry requirements page for King's College, Cambridge , which says: " Our standard offer for the Swiss Federal Maturity Certificate requires an overall grade of at least 5, potentially with 6 in the most relevant subjects." Other universities will just ask for a Certificate de Maturité or will say either a federal or federally-recognized matura. To make it more complicated, some courses within a university may have their own recognition policies that differ from that stated on the general university recognition page. When UK universities do recognize the Matura Cantonal, they frequently look for extremely high minimum marks, and many students who apply and meet those minimums do not necessarily get offers. The example from Cambridge above is not unusual, and some universities, such as University of Durham, state they are looking for a minimum overall grade of 5.5. So, your child not only has to do well enough to get into and stay in the academic gymnasium track, but he or she will need to have extremely high marks in all 10 - 11 matura subjects to be competitive in the UK. This is not to say that some excellent UK universities don't have more reasonable minimum requirements. U of St. Andrews in Scotland, for example, looks for a 4.5 average with at least 5.0 in 3 subjects. I'm definitely looking forward to reading Margaret's book on these issues when it comes out, but I've also done a lot of my own research on the subject of the recognition of the Swiss Matura outside of CH. I think this is information that may need to be included in the analysis when parents make decisions on schooling.

56
[QUOTE=Marusha;1533277] I fully agree with you, I've been over here of 23 years and I know at least 20 people who have gone this route.

57
Actually that may not be totally accurate. I know of someone with a Matura who was accepted at 5 of his 6 choices for Uni in the UK, the only rejection being Oxford. Listing Oxbridge as a reference may not be typical of the UK system as a whole.

58
In many ways the FH route delivers graduates who are of more use in the workplace. In order to go to the FH they have to have had one year's work experience which Uni's don't ask for. I think that allows prospective students to mature enormously and get a taste of real life before starting to study.

59
Well, I think we'd need to know more to understand your friend's situation. I have heard of students with very high marks getting turned down every place they applied.

How long ago was this? For some time now, you can only apply to 5 universities, not 6. Was his Matura from one of the cantons? What were his marks? What course(s) and at what universities was he applying? I realize that Oxbridge is not representative in terms of how difficult it is to get in, but their stated minimum requirements for applying with a Swiss matura is not particularly high compared to other UK universities.

I think the big message to parents is to consider where your child might want to go to university when making schooling choices.

60
It is now possible in several cantons (certainly in AG where the OP wants to live) to obtain both the Swiss Matura (cantonal) and the International Baccalaureate simultaneously at the normal public Kantonschule (or Gymnasium). With dual qualifications, all bases should be covered :-)