| Summary: | Linguistic diversity in Switzerland is generally regarded as a successful case of language management. The main purpose of this article is to analyze how multilingualism is protected in its education system. Formally, this article is divided into three parts. The first one offers an overview of language and education policies in comparative law. The second part reviews the Swiss education system and it describes the large degree of autonomy of the Swiss cantons in language education policy. In Switzerland, the main responsibility for the education system resides with the 26 cantons: the cantons are responsible for the educa-tion system wherever the Federal Constitution does not stipulate that the Confederation is responsible. The cantons specify the language of instruction, generally based on the official language of the area where the schooling takes place. Depending on the canton, the language of instruction is German, French, Italian or Romansh. The Confederation and the cantons, within the scope of their responsibilities, encourage plurilingualism among learners and teachers. The article develops a more detailed study of the language of instruction in the bilingual cantons of Fribourg, Bern and Valais. Finally, it describes the Intercantonal Agreement on Harmonisation of Compulsory Education (HarmoS Agreement), a Swiss agreement on schooling. HarmoS Agreement obliges the cantons to harmonise the curricula and to coordinate the teaching material on the level of the linguistic regions.
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