European Order of Knowledge in Swiss Language Teaching (1961-1990)

Abstract

Since its foundation in 1949, the Council of Europe has been an important player in language education policy. Passing several resolutions and recommendations, it set programmatic goals for language teaching in schools, which were not mandatory for its member states, but still initiated a reorganization of school knowledge through cultural transfers. The Swiss Conference of Cantonal Ministers of Education (EDK) also took up these recommendations when defining a national curriculum for foreign languages in 1975. The aim of the curriculum was to foster the Swiss national languages and implement a European cultural policy. However, within the cantons, the implementation of this reorganisation of knowledge was delayed because of pragmatic and organizational difficulties.