Swiss Sovereignty responds to a reader's analysis.
The response is: «everything's fine, move along». This is precisely how you break down a model that works: not by attacking it head-on, but by letting it erode slowly, through “weak signals”, biased guidance, social prestige and cantonal decisions that slowly deport the best profiles elsewhere. Yes, the Swiss apprenticeship system is still standing - and that's why we need to look the data in the face: they don't say “collapse”, they say slide. And when a shift becomes visible, it is often already well advanced.
🇨🇭 Learning: no sudden collapse, but methodical erosion
Your text has the merit of recalling a truth: Swiss vocational training remains a strength. And that's exactly the point. When a system is a pillar, the danger is not always sudden collapse - it's slow erosion, through small choices, small incentives, small cultural reflexes... until the day comes when we discover that «it still works» no longer means «it works as well».
1) The data you quote show above all... that the subject is serious
According to the 2025 Transition Barometer, out of ~93,000 young people leaving compulsory education in the summer of 2025, 50% start initial vocational training, ~34% general training, and 16% an intermediate solution (transitional offer / intermediate year).
Put another way: one young person in two does not go straight into an apprenticeship. This is not «dramatic» in itself. But it's not anecdotal either, especially when intermediate solutions also exist because young people don't get their first (or second) choice - situation documented in the full gfs.bern/SEFRI report.
Above all, your own source highlights massive regional differences The proportion of young people entering general education is significantly higher in French- and Italian-speaking Switzerland than in certain German-speaking areas (differences in school structure and orientation).
So no, we're not talking about an isolated feeling: there are disparities, and they are precisely what fuel the debate.
2) SEFRI itself talks about “signals” and the need for action
The «Attractiveness of vocational training» report (National Summit 2025) explicitly states, in substance: the system is well positioned, but signals (economy, society, research, politics) to examine whether it remains attractive, because the share of initial vocational training in the total number of secondary II students is falling, and it remains unfilled apprenticeships in several sectors.
The same document also recalls the political objective of the 95% of secondary II graduates aged 25, objective not yet reached.
The simple conclusion is that if «everything was going so well», we wouldn't be launching a federal-cantonal-social partners project on this scale, with packages of measures and steering.
3) “Nobody sabotages”: sabotage can be cultural and institutional, not necessarily official.
Let's take a concrete, quantified, local example: the gfs.bern survey on the perception de la formation professionnelle (Vaud, 2025) indicates that, among young people at the end of compulsory schooling, Gymnasium is the most popular course of study, in-company apprenticeships in the second. She also points out that many young people who do not do an apprenticeship have never considered this option, while others give up in the face of the obstacles (e.g. rejected applications).
This is not “France”. This is our home. And that describes exactly what we call «sabotage»: an implicit hierarchy that takes hold (prestige, school reflexes, adult discourse, guidance), even if, on paper, everyone “loves apprenticeships”.
4) The Federal Council's report confirms the crux of the problem: cantonal orientation and balance
In its report on the transition from grammar school to vocational training, the Federal Council stresses the central role of the choice process (pupils, parents, teachers, guidance services, companies) and mentions the development of guidance services. But it also writes in black and white that the ratio of general education to apprenticeship depends on the cantonal offer and that cantons where general education is very dominant are invited to consider measures to promote vocational training.
In other words: the federal state itself recognises that there are imbalances and ask for patches. It's not a slogan, it's an institutional statement.
5) Youth unemployment is low... and that's precisely why apprenticeships need to be protected
Yes, unemployment among 15-24 year olds as defined by SECO (registered unemployment) is low for example 2.6% in March 2025.
But using this figure to say “so move along” is a logical error: this low level is also a result the model of integration through vocational training (transition from school to work). When integration mechanisms are weakened, the effects can be staggered, The first thing to emerge is the “intermediate years”, the reorientations, the extended career paths - not necessarily immediate unemployment.
6) “Ideologised” universities: a false debate (and a bad caricature)
Our point is not “university = evil”. The point is: if we automatically push more young people towards general tracks, With no requirement for market reality, no transparency on integration, and by devaluing the dual-track system, we are undermining one of Switzerland's comparative advantages.
And once again: this is precisely what the federal «Attractiveness of vocational training» scheme seeks to prevent, by talking about visibility, recognition, guidance, gateways, etc.
7) The “Nicolas Kolly case”: it's not a contradiction, it's proof of the model... and of the opposite temptation
His career illustrates the permeability of the system - so much the better. But the right question is not “why did he go to university” (answer: because the system allows you to go far).
The real question is: are we still a country where apprenticeship is a valued starting point?, Or are we sliding towards a country where apprenticeships are becoming the “second best option” - and then congratulating ourselves on having bridges to “repair” the initial orientation?
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Conclusion: the danger is not lies - it's complacency
Nobody is denying that apprenticeships still work. What we are saying, and we have the evidence to back it up, is that it it's not enough to love it in theory We must refuse to allow it to be belittled in practice.
When the gymnasium becomes “the most popular”, When the proportion of vocational training is falling in upper secondary education as a whole, when there are still vacancies in certain sectors, when the government itself is launching an “Attraction” programme because it sees weak signals... then yes : Switzerland needs to wake up.
Defending apprenticeships is not the same as attacking universities.
It means refusing, for the sake of comfort, social prestige or ill-balanced cantonal management, to damage one of the rare Swiss machines that really transforms school into freedom and employment.