Former Scientific Staff:
PhD researcher from 2021 to 2025
PhD project:
The Learnings of Education Policy. An Ethnographic Study on Student Experiences at the Transition to Zurich’s Gymnasium
Project summary:
This thesis is an ethnographic study of student experience at the educational transition to a highly selective public secondary school type in Zurich, Switzerland: the Gymnasium. The Gymnasium is the only secondary school type in Switzerland that offers a direct route to university within the state-funded education system. Each year, about 20% of students in Zurich are accepted into Gymnasium after passing the Central Entrance Examination (CEE). Quantitative studies have repeatedly shown that social inequalities continue to be reproduced at this transition and that students from socioeconomically disadvantaged and migrant backgrounds remain underrepresented at Gymnasium. Although research highlights the transition to selective secondary school as a key civic experience that teaches young people about the societal value of educational paths and about their position in society, research on students’ experiences during the transition to Gymnasium and their perceptions of this school type remains scarce. This study contributes to spanning this gap in knowledge with ethnographic research on the experiences and perspectives of a diverse group of nine secondary school students aged 13 to 15 years. By doing so, this thesis enhances our understanding of the mechanisms contributing to social inequality at this critical juncture in the Swiss education system.
This thesis’s methodological and conceptual frameworks are rooted in the tradition of the geographies of education. In line with this field’s emphasis on giving students an active voice in educational research, this thesis adopts an ethnographic approach and draws on 64 in-depth participant observations with the nine student participants and 50 interviews with these students, their parents and teachers, principals, and other adults in the student participants’ lives. The data was collected between August 2021 and March 2023. By incorporating perspectives from diverse individuals involved in students’ lives at the transition to Gymnasium, this thesis provides a nuanced understanding of the contextual and structural factors that influence students’ experiences of this transition. Conceptually, the thesis adopts several theoretical approaches, including Foucauldian governmentality theory, Nancy Fraser’s work on social inequality, Stephen Ball’s policy enactment theory, and Lefebvrian theory of social space.
Overall, this thesis consists of 4 papers and contributes to our understanding of how social inequality is reproduced during the transition to Gymnasium and demonstrates that this process is a civic experience that reinforces social inequality by shaping students’ views of themselves and others as parts of society. It shows that students reflected on their and their peers’ socioeconomically skewed experiences when preparing for the CEE in ways that shaped their sense of social belonging. Moreover, successfully transferring to a Gymnasium led students to perceive themselves as socially superior to non-Gymnasium students. Ultimately, this thesis highlights the transition to Gymnasium as a key civic experience in the lives of young people and emphasizes the importance of examining selective educational transitions through the everyday experiences of students. This broadens the research perspective on how social inequality is reproduced in selective educational transitions and supports the development of targeted measures to promote social justice in the education system.
Publications:
Landolt, L. & Bauer, I. (2023). Children’s technologies of the self within neoliberal governmentality at the educational transition to Gymnasium in Zurich. Children’s Geographies, 21(6), 1201–1215. https://doi.org/10.1080/14733285.2023.2237925
Autor*innenkollektiv Geography Teacher Training (2024). Geographie, ein trauriges Fach! Wie unterrichtet man globale Herausforderungen? GeoAgenda, 1(2024), 32-34.
Landolt, L. & Reh, C. (2025). Privilege forged in space: student experiences in transitioning to Zurich’s highly selective public secondary schools. Geoforum, 159, 104219. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2025.104219
Landolt, L., & Bauer, I. (2025). Learnings of policy enactment: student perspectives on social justice in Zurich’s selective secondary school admissions. Journal of Education Policy, 1–23. https://doi.org/10.1080/02680939.2025.2511636
Landolt, L. (2025). Navigating inequalities and shaping aspirations: The role of supplementary education in low‐income immigrant youth’s transition to selective secondary school. Area, e70031. https://doi.org/10.1111/area.70031
Bauer, I., Landolt, L., Reh, C., & Landolt, S. (2025). Übertritt ans Gymnasium. Einblick in Ergebnisse eines SNF-Forschungsprojekts. Gymnasium Helveticum, 5, 6–8.
https://mein.fairgate.ch/vsg/files/filemanager/download/attachment/c91e123ef9cc5a3c4c434cffefa06096
Bauer, I., Landolt, L., Reh, C., & Landolt, S. (2025). Chancengerechtigkeit im Schatten des Marktes: Vermarktung, Verantwortungszuschreibung und soziale Ungleichheit beim Übertritt ans Gymnasium in der Schweiz (Zürich). GW-Unterricht, 1:47-60. https://doi.org/10.1553/gw-unterricht178s47
Landolt, S.; Reh, C.; Bauer, I.; Landolt, L. (under review). Class-based inequalities at a highly selective educational transition in Zurich, Switzerland. Class, childhood and youth: placing geographies of class inequality. Pimlott-Wilson, H.; Hall, S. M.; Horton, J. [Eds.]. Manchester University Press.
Landolt, L. (under review). Educational governance through space: a spatial analysis of student experiences at a highly selective educational transition in Zurich, Switzerland. Critical geographies of education: dialogues across unequal spaces. De Dios Oyarzún, J.: Corbalán, F.; Morrin, K.; Gamsu, S. [Eds.]. Bloomsbury Publishing.