As pupils return to schools in many Swiss cantons, the union representing teachers has highlighted several issues that urgently need addressing – including the need for cooler classrooms.
Foremost among the pressing topics are “climate challenges” – that is, problems related to the heatwaves that Switzerland has been experiencing this summer.
The kind of heatwaves are forecast to become more frequent, hotter and last longer in the future due to human- caused climate change.
The unions – LCH in Swiss-German cantons and SER in French-speaking ones – point to the difficulty students have had concentrating when the temperature keeps rising, while emphasising the need to make school buildings heat-resistant.
This is even more crucial since many school buildings in Switzerland were constructed in the 20th century, when heatwaves were not as frequent as they are today.
Therefore, the buildings “need to adapt to the climate realities of the 21st century,” the teachers’ associations said.
“Heatwaves make this reality particularly apparent,” they pointed out. “Studies clearly establish that as temperatures rise, concentration and learning abilities decline. Yet, many Swiss school buildings “were simply not designed to cope with increasingly frequent and intense heatwaves.”
Already in June, when the first of several heatwaves had hit Switzerland before the end of the school year, the LCH asked the federal government to establish, together with cantonal authorities, legally binding minimum standards for heat protection in public schools.
The union proposed an upper limit of 26C indoors; once this temperature is exceeded, classes should be moved to cooler rooms.
And they should be suspended altogether once the 30C threshold is passed, it said.
Observational evidence but lack of science
The LCH/SER’s observations are based on in-the-classroom experiences, as there is currently little consolidated information available to provide a reliable overview of climatic conditions in Swiss classrooms, they say.
“Regular monitoring of key parameters – temperature, humidity, and air quality – would be a valuable tool for guiding decisions by the authorities and planning necessary investments,” the two associations said.
Specifically, they want measures such as protection from sun and night-time cooling to be prioritsed in the absence of indoor air-conditioning.
“These passive approaches must be incorporated at the design stage or during renovations,” they said.
A push for political action
The unions are calling on municipal and cantonal authorities to implement effective heat-reducing measures in public schools at a national level.
According to the SER’s president David Rey, authorities must “plan ahead more effectively and develop proper action plans” for classrooms.
Concretely, the unions want school facilities to be adapted to new climate realities, in particular with external awnings, the greening of schoolyards, and adequate ventilation inside buildings.
