Back to school: school phobia progresses in Switzerland

While infections and adolescents are preparing to resume the schoolingthe union of teachers from French -speaking Switzerland (SER) has just drawn attention to increased cases of absenteeism. In recent years, several cantons and cities have noted that frequent, unjustified and without physical absences were more and more numerous.

These absences of several days or weeks “are accompanied by a significant resistance to school attendance”, specifies the Ser. Clearly: more and more Swiss students suffer from school phobia, sometimes from the primary cycle. According to data published in 2023, no less than 3 to 5% of them are affected.

Lucie* knows too well what it is. Basic by some comrades, his daughter encountered difficulties from the start of secondary school. The situation has gradually worsened and, from December 2024, she was no longer able to go to class.

“Of course, I tried to” push “her a little, but I saw that she destroyed herself day after day. After several weeks, I was finally able to get an appointment with college, and she started going there, three hours a day. But she never managed to do a whole week, ”says this Friborg mother.

After the Easter holidays, the girl manages to return to class at her pace, without assessments. “As she was in the last year, she didn’t want to end up on a failure. The school has agreed not to put pressure on her and she kept good to finish the last six weeks, even if it was very difficult, ”continues her mother.

During this period, the teenager managed to put words on what she suffered. Good news even if the accumulated delay penalizes it today. “In the state she was, it was complicated to seek training,” says Lucie. She has done many courses, but she has nothing for the start of the school year and we don’t know what to do. ”

School phobia can come from parents

Today, Lucie calls into question two parameters, which she considers particularly harmful to children: performance pressure and the use of social networks. President of the Ser, David Rey underlines that the cases are different but that there are two classic diagrams: either the phobia generates absenteeism, or it is the opposite. “In the first case, there are anxieties directly linked to school and they lead to increasingly regular absences. In the second, there are independent difficulties of the school framework but they cause absences which can lead to a general fear, including the school. ”

When they are directly linked to school, anxieties may concern assessments, social interactions, leaving the family home or being a reflection of parental apprehension. “We thought that harassment on social networks would explain many situations but we see that you have to be more nuanced. Each child is different and the causes are sometimes multiple, ”reports David Rey. Same for the COVID, “who was able to aggravate the problem, but is not enough to explain it”.

Eveline Ziehli knows these situations well where social, family and school difficulties can be intertwined. She is responsible for the Medico-Pedago Therapeutic Center (Cmptj) From Martigny (VS), a competence center specializing in supporting students in school dropouts. “When we talk about dropping out, there is always the image of the Buissonnière school. In reality, with us, almost all young people are in anxious school refusal. That doesn’t mean that the problem comes from school but they can no longer set foot there. ”

The CMPTJ welcomes 24 young people from 11 to 15 years old each year. “It is generally at the time that the rupture situations arise. The transition to the orientation cycle (Editor’s note: secondary I in Valais, like in Geneva) is a sensitive moment. The pressure on the results increases and the gaze of others is very important, ”says Eveline Ziehli.

The care is done in two stages: three months in the premises of the structure, instead of the school, then two months of progressive reintegration in class with special support by a mobile team. In most cases, the young person takes the way to school, sometimes part -time. An encouraging model even if the center only covers part of the needs: a study conducted in 2024 has identified just over 300 situations of school absenteeism for the Roman Valais alone.

Lack of school resources

What suggest that certain situations are not optimally supported. When her daughter found herself in great difficulty, Lucie says she was “felt very alone”. She understands that teachers are overwhelmed by the Unscreening of mental disordersbut she would have liked more support, including school management. “Many teachers do not take the anxious school refusal seriously. For them, these are just whims. But forcing my daughter to go to “hell”, as she said about the school, it was not an option. “

Fortunately, things are moving. Valais, for example, will put this year a “kit” available to teachers and establishment departments. “This evolving file of more than 100 pages will give them tools to familiarize themselves with the theme as well as to quickly detect and defuse problematic situations,” describes Eveline Ziehli.

Tools that would also be useful for families, according to the Federation of Parents’ Associations of the Canton of Friborg: “Psychic health being a vast area, it would be wise that the school provides websites or brochures for the families concerned. Psy is overwhelmed so it is important that parents can be present to encourage the child to go to school. ”

“Parents are often helpless and if they accept that the child stays one day, then two, then three at home, it’s because they want to preserve it,” adds David Rey. The risk is that it gets used to it. The more we let the phenomenon settle, the more difficult it is to bring the young person back to class. ”

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