My wife (a swiss) would like to work in a day care facility in Zurich. We are currently living in California, where she is persuing an Associate's Degree (2 year degree) in Child Development from the local community college. My question: Does this associate's degree translate to the vocational education requirements typically required by day care facilities in Zurich?

Welcome to the forum.

Not sure if I can help you with Zurich, as live in Vaud, as it is very canton specific.

To give you an idea of VD, they have recently enacted new laws that tighten the criteria for this. It depends on what type of establishment, the number of children, and the age of the children. For example in VD, for babies and toddlers in a group day care establishment, there needs to be a minimum number of staff with a "recognised professional title" at the Secondary II level and at the Tertiary level. The number and the ratio of these staff depends on the number of children and the age of children. I would guess from the Vaud language "recognised professional title" has some leeway, but you would probably have to provide equivalence through some authority. There is a swiss CFC in child care, in which most of the staff at my daughters creche have, or are in the process of completing. This involves formal classes as well as on the job experience/training.

In Zurich to be the supervising teacher you would probably need to upgrade a two year training. However, this would be a lot easier if she is swiss can fluent in the local language. She might need to do a two year apprenticeship (studying 1 day per week, working 4 days per week) or a 'modular' conversion course where they look at the CV and make a determination of what is missing. The modular thing is fairly new, and I'm not sure that it's really in action, but as childcare grows and trained staff are in short supply, the pressure is on to offer easier ways to convert the qualifications.

Having a swiss passport will make things a million times easier. There won't be any problems with language barrier (Unless she's French speaking trying to find a job in the German speaking part of the country for example)...

Thanks for the info!