Report on the visit to Germany by the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Education

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On March 21, 2007 , the UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Right to Education , Vernor Muñoz , presented his Germany report in Geneva . In the spring of 2006, Muñoz had toured the Federal Republic of Germany for ten days.

A preliminary report had been submitted in confidence to the government and the KMK conference for comment.

Basis of assessment

The basis of the assessment were the international treaties also signed by Germany that concern the right to education: the Universal Declaration of Human Rights , the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights , the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the European Social Charter , the International Covenant on economic, social and cultural rights , the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights , the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, the Convention against Torture and other cruel, inhuman or derogatory treatment or punishment, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Additional Protocol on Child Trafficking, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography, the European Convention on Human Rights and the European Social Charter.

In addition, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities has been in preparation since 2001 . It was passed on December 13, 2006 and came into force on May 3, 2008, and in Germany on March 26, 2009. Germany was one of the more than eighty member states that signed all the partial treaties of the agreement on March 30, 2007. Article 24 calls for inclusive education in the English text and integrative education in the German translation.

Reactions to the preliminary report

In February 2006 he inspected the German education system ; During a ten-day trip, he visited various educational institutions, spoke to scientists, politicians, and representatives of parents and teachers . Among other things, Muñoz criticized the growing competencies of the German federal states in education (see federalism reform ). The wide-ranging powers make it difficult to ensure a uniform quality of education. Muñoz also pointed out that education in Germany is characterized by a lack of equal opportunities ; Like in no other developed country, it depends on the parents' financial circumstances . He also rated the early point in time at which the pupils were allocated to secondary schools after the fourth year of school negatively. He also criticized that kindergarten places in Germany are chargeable. With his observations, Muñoz confirmed statements from the PISA studies and the protesting students in 2005/2006 , but also received criticism that one could not evaluate the educational system of a country in such absolute terms during a ten-day visit.

After the trip, Muñoz recommended that the German government reconsider the multi-tiered school system that “has a negative impact on poor children and migrant children and children with disabilities”.

In the course of the preliminary publication, the Standing Conference tried to persuade the Special Rapporteur of the Human Rights Council to change his report. However, he saw no reason for this.

Contents of the report

structure

During his visit, the Special Rapporteur analyzed the implementation of the right to education in the light of four cross-cutting issues:

  1. the effects of the German federal system,
  2. the reform of the education system carried out as a result of the results of the OECD program for the international assessment of student achievement (PISA),
  3. the structure of the education system,
  4. the paradigm shift in migration related to demographic changes and socio-economic factors.

The report is divided into five chapters:

I. The right to education: principles, norms and standards
a. International legal framework
b. Domestic legal frameworks and national policies II. Important aspects of the German education system
III. Education reform in the light of the OECD's PISA program
IV. Educational policy challenges
a. Social and educational opportunities
b. Education of children with a migration background
c. Education of children with disabilities
d. Early childhood education and care
V. Conclusions and Recommendations

Content

The summary of the report states:

There "are numerous studies which have been carried out as part of the PISA program, shown that there is a close connection between social / migrant background of students and educational outcomes in Germany. This was u. a. also a trigger for the educational reform. The reform is largely driven by the need to create a system that better meets the specific learning needs of each student. In this regard, the Special Rapporteur urges the government to reconsider the multi-tier school system, which is selective and which could lead to some form of de facto discrimination. Indeed, the Special Rapporteur assumes that the selection process that takes place in lower secondary education (the average age of students is 10 years, depending on the regulations of the individual countries) is not adequately judged and that instead of being inclusive it is exclusive . During his visit, for example, he was able to determine that these classification systems have a negative impact on poor children and migrant children as well as children with disabilities. "
“With regard to children of migrants and children with disabilities, the Special Rapporteur believes that there is a need to take action to overcome social inequalities and to ensure equal and equitable educational opportunities for every child, especially those belonging to the marginalized sector Belonging to the population. "

requirements

  1. Change from a selective education system to a system in which the individual is supported
  2. greater independence of schools
  3. Improvement of educational content and methods, in particular through systematic language training for migrants
  4. Reinforcement of the democratic school culture
  5. increased kindergarten offers, the introduction of all-day schools and the abandonment of a structured school system
  6. another training for teachers who should be specialized not only in one subject, but also on a pedagogical level
  7. more investment and funding for early childhood support.

Responses to the education report

Jürgen Zöllner , the President of the Conference of Ministers of Education , criticized a. a. that Muñoz allegedly found that there was no evidence of a connection between the school system and school success, but still called for a fundamental change in the German school structure. In fact, however, the report states that only PIRSL and PISA do not establish a connection, since this is not their job, but that there are various elements that point to this connection. Zöllner also clearly opposed Muñoz 'proposal to allow homeschooling , as this posed the danger of parallel societies.

A discussion of the report was arranged in the Bundestag for March 29, 2007.

The Education and Science Union (GEW) welcomed the report and called for the "grotesque criticism" of the human rights monitor to be dropped and for his proposal to take up further research into the problem of educational disadvantage instead .

Some German education politicians contradicted the theses of the UN inspector. Bavaria's Minister of Education, Siegfried Schneider , accused Muñoz of completely neglecting the quality of vocational training in Germany and of not being able to adequately address the Bavarian school system on a single day.

The German Teachers' Association criticized Muñoz for only addressing secondary level I. The German Association of Philologists pointed out that Muñoz ignored the importance of vocational training in Germany.

Answer from the federal government

First of all, in coordination with the Conference of Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs, the government took a position at the 4th session of the UN Human Rights Council on March 21, 2007. According to a statement by Parliamentary State Secretary Andreas Storm on November 7, 2007, no further statement was deemed necessary; the results should be commented on at PISA 2006. In principle, the Länder are responsible for implementing the right to education.

In April 2009 the Federal Government submitted a tripartite opinion. Munoz described the representation as "thin". Among other things, he recommended bringing legal action against the right to inclusion that Germany was part of international law.

Criticism of the reactions

From a large German daily newspaper, the education policy spokesman for the FDP and the President of the German Teachers Association came statements such as the following, which in turn were criticized: For example, it was said that “a professor from Costa Rica” who did a “six days -Trip " through Germany and " (...) who barely spoke German " was " (...) [he] brazen (...) [the Germans] to read the riot act (...) " . Furthermore, under the heading "The UN troublemaker from Costa Rica", the president of the teachers' association speculated that the " nagging " was due to " whisperings " and that " contradiction is a patriotic duty " against the conspiracy of the " international comprehensive school cartel " .

In a comment by Tanjev Schultz in the Süddeutsche Zeitung, such statements were criticized for having behaved like a “rogue state” and individual educational politicians like “despots” . In addition, Pascal Lechler remarked in a comment on the Tagesschau: Just as African countries have to put up with visits from human rights monitors from Europe, human rights monitors from Costa Rica are allowed to assess the human rights situation in Germany.

Since the Federal Government had still not issued an official statement, the UN human rights inspector Vernor Muñoz renewed his criticism of Germany's strictly structured school system, which disadvantages migrant children and children from educationally disadvantaged backgrounds, in Berlin in July 2007 on the occasion of the international conference of teachers' unions. He called on the federal government to finally respond to the criticism.

The Education and Science Union (GEW) declared: The Federal President must initiate a national education debate if politicians continue to react “offended, aggressive and arrogant” to Muñoz's criticism.

literature

  • Bernd Overwien, Annedore Prengel (Hrsg.): Right to education. On the visit of the United Nations Special Rapporteur to Germany . Barbara Budrich Verlag, Leverkusen 2007, ISBN 978-3-86649-076-5

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://www.un.org/Depts/german/uebereinkommen/ar61106-dbgbl.pdf
  2. ↑ Die Welt : Muñoz calls for the end of the tripartite school system . March 21, 2007 (last accessed March 21, 2007)
  3. ↑ UN education report, German working translation (PDF)
  4. ↑ 23rd March 2007. In: The innovation portal of the German education server. Retrieved April 15, 2016 .
  5. ↑ Vernor Muñoz: “It is correct that neither PISA nor PIRLS establish a direct connection between school structure and school career because they do not deal with this relationship directly. The Special Rapporteur is aware that the tripartite structure has a long tradition in Germany, but he nevertheless draws attention to the existence of numerous elements which indicate that the educational structure does have a decisive influence on school-leaving qualifications, learning success and teaching quality . " UN Education Report , German working translation
  6. ↑ GEW: "Take up Muñoz proposal for scientific research" ( Memento of the original of September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.gew.de
  7. ↑ Press release of the Bavarian Ministry of Culture No. 43 of March 21, 2007
  8. ^ Education: Harsh criticism of UN school report FAZ of March 21, 2007
  9. ↑ http://dipbt.bundestag.de/dip21/btd/16/070/1607052.pdf
  10. ↑ a b Press release of the FDP in the Bundestag from March 22, 2007: MEINHARDT: Muñoz report is an imposition ( Memento from September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  11. ^ A b Heike Schmoll: UN Special Rapporteur Muñoz: Brazen judgment on the German school system . March 21, 2007, faz-net
  12. ↑ Josef Kraus: The UN troublemaker from Costa Rica. Commentary on the report by UN envoy Vernor Muñoz ( memento of the original of July 22, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.lehrerverband.de
  13. ↑ Tanjev Schultz: Study of the United Nations - Destructive Testimony . sueddeutsche.de. March 21, 2007. Archived from the original on April 23, 2008. Retrieved June 3, 2012.
  14. ↑ Pascal Lechner: Comment from the Tagesschau of March 21, 2007
  15. ↑ Thorsten Harmsen: On the value of education , Berliner Zeitung
  16. ↑ GEW: "Federal President should deal with the Muñoz report" . gew.de. July 24, 2007. Archived from the original on September 27, 2007. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved June 3, 2012. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.gew.de