Inclusion for All: A Look at Upper Secondary Education in Norway and Switzerland

Context: Inclusion encompasses participation of everyone in society, education and work. This paper analyses the challenges related to inclusion in the Norwegian and Swiss upper secondary education systems, with a particular focus on vocational education and training (VET). Both Norway and Switzerland are internationally recognised for their high-performing education systems; however, both countries face significant challenges in ensuring upper secondary completion for all groups of young people.

Approach: By comparing the transition from lower to upper secondary education and the completion of upper secondary education in both countries, we examine how and where issues related to inclusion arise. Our comparative analysis is mainly based on statistical data, providing contextualisation for both Norway and Switzerland.

Findings: Our results show that the challenges emerge at different levels in the two countries, shaped by different education policies. While Norway managed to significantly improve equality of access to post-compulsory education, this country still faces relatively high rates of non-completion of upper secondary education, especially in VET. In Switzerland the transition from lower to upper secondary education is difficult and often prolonged for certain groups of young people, while the majority of those who overcome this threshold successfully complete their education and/or training at upper secondary level.

Conclusions: The paper indicates that inclusion in upper secondary education for all young people remains a challenge in both Norway and Switzerland and addresses the difficulties that post-compulsory education must face in its positioning between the inclusive rationale of compulsory schooling and the selective logic of the labour market.