The educational discourse about all-day schooling is linked to both the PISA study and the specific topic of educational equity and inequality. The PISA study found that socio-economic status has a moderate to strong effect on the reading, mathematics, and science skills of adolescents in Switzerland. This result was surprising because educational inequality has been a major focus in Switzerland and there have been several educational programs implemented to minimize unequal learning opportunities (OECD 2001; Coradi Vellacott & Wolter 2002; Holzer, Zahner, Rossier, Brühwiler 2004: Zahner, Rossier & Holzer 2007). All-day schooling is often seen as a great solution as it provides a stimulating learning and socialization environment, as well as allows parents to actually manage their family and professional lives (Lanfranchi 2004). The effectiveness of all-day schools was shown clearly in the first two longitudinal studies in German speaking countries – Switzerland and Germany – in the StEG study (Fischer, Kuhn & Klieme 2009) and the EduCare study (Schüpbach 2010). These studies showed that positive impacts on the individual academic achievement and socio-emotional development due to regular participation in highly qualitative extracurricular activities occurred (Fischer et al. 2009; Steiner & Fischer, 2011). Public expectations for all-day schools are relatively high. The focus of our study is in whether all children, regardless of their socio-economic status, actually have equal chances of admittance and continued participation; are the  all-day schools really open to a heterogeneous public (Opielka, 2008; Steiner, 2009). As showed in the StEG study, the question is not if children with learning and family difficulties are admitted, but if they have access to information explaining the value of enrolling in such programs. Steiner (2009) showed that adolescents with a higher socioeconomic status have better chances to participate in all day schooling and show a more stable attendance in extracurricular activities.

Our study links the topic of educational equity, especially social exclusion, to all-day schooling. Who are the children in the all-day schools? What is their educational and socio-economic background? What kind of extracurricular activities are they attending, and how often?  What are the parents’ reasons for choosing certain activities with respect to their socio-economic background? Our sample includes the two different models of all-day schooling in the city of Zurich; the first is where all children are required to stay at school for lunch (compulsory model) and the second is where additional hours of school attendance is non-compulsory and individually chosen day by day by parents (non-compulsory model).

Fischer, Natalie/Kuhn, Hans Peter/Klieme, Eckhard (2009). Was kann die Ganztagsschule leisten? Wirkungen ganztägiger Beschulung auf die Entwicklung von Lernmotivation und schulischer Performanz nach dem Übergang in die Sekundarstufe. In: Zeitschrift für Pädagogik. 54. Beiheft, S. 143–167. Forrer Kasteel, Esther/Schnurr, Stefan/Schüpbach, Marianne (2010). Chancengerechtigkeit in Tagesschulen. Erste Ergebnisse aus der Evaluation «Projekt Tagesschulen in Basel-Stadt». In: SozialAktuell, Heft Nr. 3, S. 21–23. Forrer Kasteel, Esther & Schuler, Patricia (2010). Evaluation «Schülerclubs und Tagesschulen in der Stadt Zürich». Schlussbericht, Pädagogische Hochschule Zürich. Forrer Kasteel, Esther & Schuler, Patricia (2011). Nutzung und Qualität von Tagesschulen und Schülerclubs in der Stadt Zürich: Erste Ergebnisse aus einer Elternbefragung. In: Schweizerische Zeitschrift für Soziale Arbeit, Heft 10, S. 108-131. Oelkers, Jürgen (2008). Chancengleichheit im deutschen Bildungswesen. In: Coelen Thomas/Otto, Hans-Uwe (Hrsg.): Grundbegriffe Ganztagsbildung. Das Handbuch. Wiesbaden: Verlag für Sozialwissenschaft, S. 851-858. Schüpbach, Marianne (2010). Ganztägige Bildung und Betreuung im Primarschulalter. Qualität und Wirksamkeit verschiedener Schulformen im Vergleich. Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften. Steiner, Christine & Fischer, Natalie (2011). Wer nutzt Ganztagsangebote und warum? In: Zeitschrift für Erziehungswissenschaft, 14. Jg., Sonderheft 15, S. 185-203. Radisch, Falk/Fischer, Natalie/Stecher, Ludwig/Klieme, Eckhard (2008). Qualität von unterrichtsnahen Angeboten an Ganztagsschulen. In: Thomas Coelen/Hans-Uwe Otto (Hrsg.) Grundbegriffe Ganztagsbildung. Das Handbuch (S. 910–917). Wiesbaden: Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften. Reinders, Heinz/Gogolin, Ingrid/Gresser, Anne/Schnurr, Simone/Böhmer, Jule/Bremm, Nina (2011). Ganztagsschulbesuch und Integration von Kindern mit Migrationshintergrund im Primarbereich: Erste Näherungen an empirische Befunde einer vergleichenden Untersuchung. In: Zeitschrift für Erziehungswissenschaft, 14. Jg., Sonderheft 15, S. 163-183. Steiner, Christine (2009). Mehr Chancengleichheit durch die Ganztagesschule? In: Zeitschrift für Pädagogik, 55. Jg., 54. Begleitheft, S. 81-105.