Hi!
I have a master of education in philosophy, religion and "civics" (=mostly political science, with a bit of sociology and economics) for secondary school teaching from a Swedish university. I´d like to move to Switzerland permanently, to teach. My German is not good enough for teaching, so I´m looking at working at an English speaking or bilingual school. Can anyone help me with any of the following questions, or perhaps refer me to useful web sites, organizations, books, etc:

1. Information about formal requirements, such as translating degrees, etc. Are they generally strict on this?

2. I´ve heard that all jobs are first given to Swiss nationals. Does this mean that I have zero chance, or can the employer argue that my skills in English makes me more qualified for the job than a Swiss citizen?

3. If I am offered a job, am I automatically allowed to stay in the country, and eventually to become a citizen?

4. Is there a requirement regarding proficiency in German, even though I´ll be teaching in English?

5. What subjects are commonly taught, and how much of them? (I am qualified to teach philosophy, religion and civics/politics, and may take history or economics in the future)

From what I understand, the Swiss education system is highly decentralized, which would make the questions above hard to give general answers to. I much appreciate any kind of help though.

Cheers

Per Andersson

Goddag,
Degree questions are the core issue to solved even before you think of moving. The EDK is the key:
http://www.edk.ch/dyn/11553.php

I do not understand if you plan to teach in private or public schools. Public schools are teaching in the national language of the place. It's B2 if you do not teach in the national language and C2 if you teach in the national language. For bilingual positions, you'll have to ask directly to the school hiring. But no German means that you would no be able to interact as an employee with the normal school life... I don't know why the school would want that if the working language is german and not english. Even the EDK website only gives basic information in English, the really important things are in the main national languages.

Job=permit, don't worry. Say thank you to Schengen, as I assume you are Swedish.

__________________
Es wird nichts ausgelassen, um mich hier herauszuekeln. Ein Lehrbuch. False accusations and attacks continue. There is no stopping righteous people when they are wrong.

Thanks!
I have studied German in secondary school, so I can understand some of it, and I do intend to improve it, but right now it´s at a very low level as i havn´t spoken it in 12 years. I know that some international schools in other countries have English as their working language. Is that not the case in any Swiss schools?

It never occured in my mind that a public Swiss school could be English speaking as a working language... there are bilingual education German/English or French/English, but still in national schools with national working language.

International schools are private and make their own policy. The reason for their existence is among other reasons the language of instruction. I would not know of any public school in English in Basel, but I admit that I never asked... the question was until today totally unthinkable

You get the picture: I don't want to answer with a simple NO to your question, because I have not checked the whole list of Swiss schools for it, but I can't imagine it. I am just modest enough to know that this does not mean things can't exist just because I can't imagine them

You can also look for international school recrutement, there are many of them in Switzerland, and hiring a Schengen teacher is never that difficult.

__________________
Es wird nichts ausgelassen, um mich hier herauszuekeln. Ein Lehrbuch. False accusations and attacks continue. There is no stopping righteous people when they are wrong.

In my Kanton, Secondary school teachers who have not had their official training in Switzerland and who do not speak the local language will not be hired.

Your canton being CHongo, I understand that.

Schools hire, so one has to convince them one by one. Not speaking the national language for a Sekundar II, candidate will not be taken seriously, there is no shortage in that type of school. But foreign teacher training is not a problem, especially Autria/Germany/Scandinavia. I am one of those.

THe OP could look more closely at IB schools in Sweden... that is de facto bilingual and his subjects are relevant in both systems. Perhaps the OP just want to leave one of those, though

I doubt that a Swiss school would hire you. I would apply directly to international/ private schools from where you are.