Dyslexia, ADHD, Giftedness: Learning Support at Swiss Private Schools and What to Ask

A child who learns differently changes the school search. Parents who look at Swiss private schools want to know three things: what the school can really do, which adjustments the child may have in exams, and who pays. The answers depend on the canton, and they are easier to find than most families expect.

This guide sets out the rules as the authorities publish them, with Zurich as the worked example, and ends with the questions to put to a school. It is not medical or legal advice.

The short version

• Special-needs education is the cantons' task. The rules and the offices differ from one canton to the next.

• A pupil with a diagnosis can have adjusted exam conditions, such as extra time. What is examined and how it is marked stay the same.

• Parents who choose a private school pay for it themselves. Public money pays only when the authorities order the placement.

• An ordinary private school is not a special school. Ask what it offers, who provides it and what it costs.

• For Cambridge and IB exams the school applies for the adjustments, well before the exam year.

Who is responsible

Since 2008, special-needs education has been the task of the cantons alone. An agreement between cantons, in force since 2011, sets the common principles. Sixteen cantons have joined it, according to the Swiss Centre for Special Needs Education, and every canton must have its own plan whether it joined or not.

The agreement says three things that matter to parents. Integrated solutions are preferred to separate ones, with regard to the child's welfare and development. The measures are free of charge. And children and young people who live in Switzerland have a right to appropriate measures from birth to the age of 20. In practice a child's needs are first met in the ordinary public school.

Adjusted exam conditions

Swiss schools call it Nachteilsausgleich (compensation des désavantages in French). A pupil with a diagnosed impairment, dyslexia for example, gets formal adjustments to the conditions of learning or of an exam. The federal guideline for the Matura is clear about the limit: the adjustment must not reduce the learning objectives or influence the marking. Extra time is the usual measure.

• In Zurich's public schools: the objectives and the marking scale are the same for everyone, and the adjustment is not mentioned in the report.

• At the Zurich Gymnasium entrance exam: the request must reach the school by the end of the registration period, with the online registration. Our guide to the Gymiprüfung gives the dates.

• At the federal Matura exam: the candidate applies, not the school, at least three months before the registration deadline of the session. In most cases written exams get one eighth more time.

The adjustment gives time and tools. It does not lower what must be achieved: for diagnosed dyslexia, the federal guideline keeps correct use of the language as an objective every candidate must reach.

We found no official statement on whether a private school must grant the same adjustments in its own tests. Ask the school how it handles them, and ask for the answer in writing.

Who pays for a private school

Zurich states it plainly: the costs of a private school are borne in full by the parents.

The exception is special schooling ordered by the authorities. In Zurich the local school board decides, after an assessment by the school psychology service, and the municipality and the canton pay. A municipality can also place a child in a private school and pay for it. The canton's government calls this a last resort: in 2025/26, 1,035 pupils in the canton attended a private school at their municipality's expense, by its own count.

The order matters. A placement the authorities decide is paid for. A school the parents choose is not, even when the child has a diagnosis. Other cantons have their own rules, so ask the cantonal office before you sign a contract.

A private school is not a special school

In Zurich a private school needs a separate permit to operate as a special school. An ordinary private school follows the requirements for ordinary schools, including for its teachers' qualifications. So "small classes" or "individual support" in a brochure is a description, not a licence. A private school may well offer real support, such as a learning-support teacher, a speech therapist on site or language help, but the school decides what it offers, and it may bill it on top of the fees.

Few schools publish what they offer. In November 2026, 14 of the 218 schools in our directory state a learning-support offer, most often help for pupils who are still learning the language of instruction.

Gifted children

Giftedness is the cantons' matter too. Zurich's public schools support gifted pupils within ordinary lessons, through courses or mentoring run by the municipalities, and through schools for art and sport. Geneva allows a pupil to skip a year only as an exceptional measure, for excellent results, skills clearly ahead of the pupil's age and enough maturity, on request to the school's management. A private school sets its own rules: ask how it decides to move a pupil ahead, and what it does for a pupil who is ahead in one subject only.

International exams: Cambridge and the IB

Cambridge International allows access arrangements such as extra time (up to 25%, which it says meets the needs of most candidates), a reader, a scribe, a word processor or supervised rest breaks. They must not change what the exam assesses. The school applies, and early: for the June 2026 exams the deadline was 21 February, according to its handbook. The IB has its own access and inclusion policy, and there too the school applies on the pupil's behalf. Raise the subject at admission, not in the exam year.

Questions to ask a school

• Which needs has the school supported in the last two years, and for how many pupils?

• Who provides the support: a qualified specialist on the staff, or a therapist from outside?

• Does the support happen in lessons, or does the child leave the class for it?

• What does it cost, and is it included in the fees?

• How does the school adjust its own tests, and will it apply for adjustments in external exams?

• Will the school read the child's assessment before it decides, and say so if it is not the right place?

Where to look next

Our guide to registering a child at a Swiss private school covers the admission steps one by one. If you would like help finding schools to ask, write to us.

We read the official pages cited here on 12 November 2026. The rules change and differ by canton: check with your canton before you decide.