Act on Early Language Promotion (GfS) - Purpose and Scope (GfS)

1. This law aims to provide tailored support for the German language for children prior to entering kindergarten.

2. It regulates the obligatory selective language support, the assessment of language proficiency, the recognition of early language support programs, as well as the responsibilities of the cantons and municipalities.

1. Early Language Support Offers Pursuant to this Law Are Exclusively Offers That

a. introduce the German language to children in an age-appropriate and everyday-integrated manner;

b. take place before kindergarten entry and last at least 1 year;

c. are specifically directed at children who do not meet the level of the German language defined in the regulation during the language assessment.

1. Programs for early language support, which are recognized as mandatory or eligible for subsidies under this law, and thus considered as "recognized early language support programs," must meet quality requirements with respect to

a. Education and training of a caregiver;

b. Intensity and duration;

c. Language support concept.

2. The government council shall establish the specific quality requirements in the regulation.

1. The municipalities may introduce a selective language promotion obligation for children in need of language promotion one year before kindergarten entry.

2. Municipalities with a selective language promotion obligation mandate attendance at compulsory early language promotion programs for children identified as needing language support according to the language assessment.

3. Municipalities with a selective language promotion obligation ensure at least one recognized early language promotion program is available, which children in need of language support can attend free of charge.

4. For early language promotion programs under a selective language promotion obligation that exceed the quality criteria according to § 3 Para. 1 Letter b, a cost contribution from the guardians, based on their financial capacity, may be required.

1. The recognition as an early language promotion offer within the meaning of this law is issued by the municipalities.

2. The municipalities verify whether the criteria according to § 3 are met and report the recognized early language promotion offers to the responsible coordination office of the canton.

3. The municipalities support the canton in carrying out the language assessment according to § 7 para. 7.

1. The canton is responsible for the coordination of early language promotion.

2. The competent service has the following duties

a. It serves as the contact point for authorities, municipalities, and providers of early language promotion regarding organizational and professional questions.

b. It provides financial support to recognized early language promotion offers in the form of a permanent basic contribution, and to municipalities in the form of seed funding, within the limits of the approved credits.

c. It contributes, within the limits of the approved credits, to the further training of staff in care services, insofar as such training is not financed by other entities.

d. It evaluates the quality and utilization of early language promotion offers every 5 years.

e. It is responsible for conducting the language assessment in accordance with § 7.

f. It creates a publicly accessible address database of all recognized early language promotion offers in the canton.

3. The government council regulates the details of the financial and professional support in an ordinance.

1. The canton annually assesses the language proficiency of all children residing in the canton who will become subject to compulsory schooling in the following calendar year, with a view towards possible utilization of early language promotion programs.

2. The government council determines from which result of the language assessment a need for language promotion exists.

3. The canton informs the legal guardians about the results of the language assessment and the available early language promotion programs.

4. The canton publishes the results of the language assessments statistically in an anonymized form.

5. The canton informs the municipalities about which children residing in the municipality exhibit a need for language promotion according to the language assessment.

6. The legal guardians are obliged to participate in the language assessment.

7. If the legal guardians do not respond to the language assessment, the municipalities will contact the legal guardians and offer assistance in completing the language assessment.

8. After a demonstrably unsuccessful attempt to contact or confirmed refusal of cooperation by the legal guardians, the municipalities report to the canton for the purpose of sanctioning.

9. Anyone who refuses to participate in the language assessment will be punished with a fine.

1. The Canton shall provide contributions within the scope of the approved credits for the establishment or further development of demand-oriented early language promotion services, provided that

a. the language assessment indicates that there is a need in a municipality;

b. the quality criteria as per § 3 are met through early language promotion services or are intended to be achieved by the initial funding;

c. no other funds from the Canton or the Confederation are received for the establishment of the same service. If another financing covers a part, supplemental financing can be arranged here.

2. The Canton may provide contributions to recognized service providers independently of other subsidies.

3. If there is already a demand-oriented early language promotion service in a municipality, the Canton may provide contributions for its further development, provided that

a. the criteria according to § 3 are met; or

b. the contribution is used to improve the quality level of all early language promotion services included in the funding application in the municipality.

4. The contributions can be directed to individual services or to a municipality.

5. If the contributions are directed to a municipality, it must ensure that the early language promotion services comply with the criteria according to § 2 and that these are adhered to by all services included in the funding application.

6. In exceptional cases, the Canton may also finance early language promotion services that do not correspond to the definition of § 2 para. 1 lit. b, particularly regarding the duration and timing.

1. The cantonal authority responsible for language proficiency assessment receives the following data of 3-year-old children in the canton from the Office for Data and Statistics upon request

a. First and last names, date of birth, residential address, and nationality of the child;

b. First and last names of the legal guardians and their residential addresses, insofar as this data is available.

2. The cantonal authority uses the personal data according to paragraph 1 for conducting the language proficiency assessment in accordance with § 7.

3. The evaluation of the language proficiency assessment may be carried out in anonymized form by third parties.

4. The canton discloses to the responsible municipal authorities the personal data of children with language support needs, the result of the language proficiency assessment, and the personal data of their legal guardians, as required for the implementation of an obligation, the subsidization of early language promotion offerings, collaboration with service providers, or the support of legal guardians within the framework of the language proficiency assessment.