Lausanne: delayed lessons for better learning

ThoseTest in Vaud schools –In Lausanne, students will start school later in the morning

From the start of the 2025 school year, 1000 students from the Béthusy college will start at 8:15 a.m. rather than 7:40 to preserve their circadian pace.

Posted today at 10:30 am

A thousand students from the COllège de béthusy will start the lessons half an hour later from the start of the 2025 school year. For the classes of the 7^e at 12^eit will be 8:15 am rather than 7:40 am, as RTS announced. This pilot project of the city of Lausanne should make it possible to better stick to the circadian rhythm Adolescents and, therefore, to promote learning and academic success.

The decision follows a survey with teachers, students and a sample of parents. “The result was unanimous. There was a desire to start later, not to finish later and to have a shorter break at noon, “explained Vincent Friderici, director of the Béthusy college, at” 19:30 “.

The challenge was to integrate this postponement by preserving the end of the students’ day and without complicating the morning logistics of families. By reducing the noon break, free time after lessons is not affected. For the morning, officials believe that young people from 10 years old are large enough to go to school alone. There is therefore no problem if the parents start the work before the start of the lessons.

Lausanne is no exception

If it is a pilot project on a Lausanne scale, this type of schedule is no exception. In several Vaudois colleges, students from the 7th^e Already start their day after 8 a.m. A discrepancy whose benefits are confirmed by scientists and which responds to parliamentary interventions at the municipal but also cantonal level.

In February 2024, the deputy Vincent Bonvin (the Greens) even proposed to harmonize practices throughout the Vaud territory with a start of the courses at 9 a.m. He suggested that the Council of State study the impact of such a measure “on mental health and academic results of high school students”.

Questioned by the RTS, the D^re Virginie Bayon of the Center for Investigation and Research on Sleep of the CHUV confirms that, according to studies, adolescents really take advantage of this additional time to sleep and not to bed later. This would allow them “to have better school performance, less frequenting the infirmary and having fewer depressive symptoms”.

Romaric Haddou is a journalist at the Vaud and Regions section since 2016. He covers in particular the health field.More info

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