Purpose

1. The concordat cantons form an inter-cantonal public law institution for the promotion of the education system and the harmonization of the corresponding cantonal law.

1. The concordat cantons commit to harmonizing their school legislation in the following points

a) The school entry age is set at the completion of the 6th year of age. The cutoff date is June 30th. Deviations in cantonal law up to 4 months before and after this date are permissible.

b) Compulsory schooling for boys and girls lasts at least 9 years with a minimum of 38 school weeks.

c) The regular training period from the start of compulsory schooling to the baccalaureate examination lasts at least 12, and at most 13 years.

d) The school year begins between mid-August and mid-October.

1. The Concordat Cantons develop recommendations for the attention of all cantons, in particular for the following areas

a) Framework curricula;

b) Common teaching materials;

c) Assurance of free transfer between equivalent schools;

d) Transition into differentiated upper secondary levels;

e) Recognition of examination results and diplomas obtained in equivalent training programs;

f) Uniform designation of the same school levels and same school types;

g) Equivalent teacher training.

2. The Conference of Swiss Teachers' Organizations is to be consulted during the development of these recommendations.

1. The concordat cantons collaborate among themselves and with the federal government in the areas of educational planning and research as well as school statistics.

2. For this purpose

a) institutions necessary for this collaboration are promoted and supported;

b) guidelines for annual or periodic Swiss school statistics are developed.

1. The concordat cantons delegate the execution of the tasks specified under Art. 2 to Art. 4 to the Conference of Cantonal Directors of Education.

2. The competencies and working methods shall be laid down in a set of rules of procedure.

3. The costs of the concordat activities shall be distributed among the cantons in proportion to the population.

4. Non-concordat cantons have an advisory voice in concordat matters.

1. For the facilitation and promotion of collaboration, the cantons unite into four regional conferences (Western Switzerland and Ticino, Northwestern Switzerland, Central Switzerland, Eastern Switzerland). Each canton independently decides on joining a regional conference.

2. The regional conferences prepare the matters for the plenary conference.

1. In disputes arising from the concordat between cantons, the Federal Court shall decide upon a complaint.

1. The alignment of the school legislation as referred to in Article 2 of this concordat shall be implemented in stages.

2. The cantons participating in the concordat undertake to

a) establish the school entry age in the sense of Article 2a within a period of 6 years;

b) extend mandatory schooling to 9 years within a reasonable timeframe. Cantons with only 7 years of compulsory schooling can achieve this in two stages.

3. The commencement of the school year as provided by Article 2d should generally be set to the beginning of the 1973/74 academic year.

1. Accession to the Concordat shall be declared to the Board of the Swiss Conference of Cantonal Directors of Education, which shall notify the Federal Council.

1. The withdrawal from the concordat must be declared to the board of the Swiss Conference of Cantonal Directors of Education. It takes effect at the end of the third calendar year following the declaration of withdrawal.

1. This concordat enters into force when it is joined by ten cantons and has been approved by the Swiss Federal Council.