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EDUCATION

Lausanne school opens ambitious new campus

The International School of Lausanne (ISL) inaugurated a new 46-million-franc ($48-million) campus on Thursday, two years after its ambitious capital expansion project began.

Lausanne school opens ambitious new campus
View of the new campus. Photo: ISL

The new facilities at the Mont-sur-Lausanne site are spread over a north and south campus and include a 400-seat auditorium, new science labs, sound-proofed music practice rooms, a multimedia broadcasting studio, an early childhood centre, library and a new gym.

The expansion doubles ISL’s floor space and “pays particular attention to innovation and space, the pedestrian flow and student safety,” lead architect Hannes Ehrensperger of CCHE Architecture et Design SA, said in a statement.

Founded in 1962 as the English School of Lausanne, ISL teaches the English-language International Baccalaureate (IB) to a current cohort of 820 students of 66 nationalities.

“We thought carefully about what a world-class education would look like for our students who learn, study and who will eventually work in an ever-changing global society,” said ISL director Lyn Cheetham.  

“It became evident that in order to achieve this, we would have to broaden the curriculum and choice of subjects, improve the facilities, and increase and diversify the student cohort.”

The 46-million-franc cost of the new capital project at the not-for-profit school came from bank loans, a school spokeswoman told The Local.

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EDUCATION

Inquiry calls for free after-school care for 6-9 year-olds in Sweden

Children between ages 6-9 years should be allowed admittance to after-school recreation centers free of charge, according to a report submitted to Sweden’s Minister of Education Lotta Edholm (L).

Inquiry calls for free after-school care for 6-9 year-olds in Sweden

“If this reform is implemented, after-school recreation centers will be accessible to the children who may have the greatest need for the activities,” said Kerstin Andersson, who was appointed to lead a government inquiry into expanding access to after-school recreation by the former Social Democrat government. 

More than half a million primary- and middle-school-aged children spend a large part of their school days and holidays in after-school centres.

But the right to after-school care is not freely available to all children. In most municipalities, it is conditional on the parent’s occupational status of working or studying. Thus, attendance varies and is significantly lower in areas where unemployment is high and family finances weak.

In this context, the previous government formally began to inquire into expanding rights to leisure. The report was recently handed over to Sweden’s education minister, Lotta Edholm, on Monday.

Andersson proposed that after-school activities should be made available free of charge to all children between the ages of six and nine in the same way that preschool has been for children between the ages of three and five. This would mean that children whose parents are unemployed, on parental leave or long-term sick leave will no longer be excluded. 

“The biggest benefit is that after-school recreation centres will be made available to all children,” Andersson said. “Today, participation is highest in areas with very good conditions, while it is lower in sparsely populated areas and in areas with socio-economic challenges.” 

Enforcing this proposal could cause a need for about 10,200 more places in after-school centre, would cost the state just over half a billion kronor a year, and would require more adults to work in after-school centres. 

Andersson recommends recruiting staff more broadly, and not insisting that so many staff are specialised after-school activities teachers, or fritidspedagod

“The Education Act states that qualified teachers are responsible for teaching, but that other staff may participate,” Andersson said. “This is sometimes interpreted as meaning that other staff may be used, but preferably not’. We propose that recognition be given to so-called ‘other staff’, and that they should be given a clear role in the work.”

She suggested that people who have studied in the “children’s teaching and recreational programmes” at gymnasium level,  people who have studied recreational training, and social educators might be used. 

“People trained to work with children can contribute with many different skills. Right now, it might be an uncertain work situation for many who work for a few months while the employer is looking for qualified teachers”, Andersson said. 

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