Tracking Without Grade Standards: Navigating Uncertainty in the Transition to Lower-Secondary Education in Switzerland.

The Swiss education system is characterized by early tracking: at the transition from primary to lower secondary education, children are sorted into different academic tracks. Since track allocation affects further educational opportunities, track placement must be justified. In meritocratic societies, grade averages often serve as a primary criterion for this purpose. This study examines cases in which school law requires teachers to conduct a comprehensive assessment of students yet provides no explicit criteria for this purpose. Drawing on the Sociology of Conventions (SC) and based on interviews and documents from six schools across three Swiss cantons, the study shows how school actors interpret vague policy directives by mobilizing industrial, civic, and domestic principles. Moreover, they invest in various forms to stabilize compromises, reduce uncertainties, and achieve coordination in the form of successful track allocation. The paper offers insights into the dynamic nature of institutional practices and discusses how applying an SC approach allows drawing conclusions about local and the societal contexts of the education system under investigation. The paper concludes by discussing a possible SC perspective on the reproduction of educational inequalities in tracking.