German Education Council

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The German Education Council existed from 1966 to 1975 as a commission for educational planning . It was founded in 1965 by the federal and state governments to draft requirements and development plans for the German education system, to make structural proposals, to calculate the financial framework and to make recommendations for long-term planning.

background

Due to the cultural sovereignty of the federal states, different laws, ordinances and curricula apply in the field of education in the German federal states . Since 1948 the federal states have come together to form the Conference of Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs for the purpose of coordinating and mutual recognition of qualifications . Nevertheless, problems and complications continue to arise, for example for schoolchildren and students who move across national borders. Federal and state founded with the German Committee on Education and Training (1953-1965), the Science Council (since 1957), the German Board of Education (1965-1975) and the Federal-State Commission for Educational Planning and Research Promotion ( BLK , since 1970) bodies at the national level. From January 1, 2008, the tasks of the BLK were partly taken over by the newly founded Joint Science Conference.

prehistory

In the 1950s, the concept of educational planning was virtually unknown: the number of births rose continuously after 1945, and it was clear that this trend would intensify when the baby boomers of the 1930s reached parental age. But it was not until the beginning of the 1960s that the impending capacity bottleneck in schools and universities, which threatened the training of young people, came into the public eye.

The German Education Council was then set up as a national political body to plan the entire education system.

composition

The education commission of the German Education Council consisted of eighteen members: fourteen of them were proposed by the federal states, four by the federal government. They also represented interest groups such as church, industry or trade union or were scientists. The Kiel historian Karl Dietrich Erdmann chaired the meeting .

Members (selection, with period of membership): the maths didactics Heinrich Bauersfeld , Hellmut Becker , Ralf Dahrendorf (1966–1968), Willy Dehnkamp (1968–1972, Bremen Education Senator), Hermann Krings (1966–1975, philosopher), Hans Maier ( 1966–1970), Theodor Pfizer (1966–1975, previously chairman of the German Committee), Ludwig Rosenberg (1966–1968, trade unionist), the pedagogue Heinrich Roth (from 1966). Two of the 18 members were female: the sociologist Renate Mayntz and, after 1970, Emilie Stahl from Bremen , the only one who headed the committee for pre-school education .

In addition, there was a "government commission" in which government representatives (from the federal, state and local levels) worked. However, this only had to be heard and was therefore only of minor importance (in contrast to the Science Council , in which government representatives also have voting rights). Therefore, in this article, the education commission of the German Education Council is also referred to as the "Education Council" for the sake of simplicity.

Work until 1970

For its work, the German Education Council set up committees and sub-committees on individual topics such as “Finances”, “ Preschool Education ”, “ Promoting the Gifted ”, “Time of Differentiation”, “ Teacher Training ”, “ Equal Opportunities ”, “Adult and Continuing Education” and “Working with the Science Council ".

This was a labor-intensive, originally not intended form of work. Since the members were involved in other professional positions and only worked part-time for the Education Council, scientific assistants were applied for and approved by the federal and state governments. The German Education Council appointed a total of 55 other members to the committees and obtained 98 external reports.

Conceptually, important guidelines were developed, such as the principle of learning to learn and the science-based learning in elementary school. This gave clear impetus for the development of general science as a subject. The German Education Council had also clearly spoken out in favor of exemplary teaching and learning .

In the first term of office until 1970, important publications were:

The definitions and systematics such as B. on the concept of continuing education are now often used in the relevant specialist literature .

Change to the "joint tasks of the Federation and the Länder" 1969/1970

In 1969 the Basic Law was changed: The federal government was now involved in the construction of the university, while the federal and state governments were able to work together on educational planning based on agreements.

A Federal Ministry of Education was newly established , which in 1970 presented the Education Report '70 , which was closely related to the structural plan for the education system of the German Education Council, which was published almost at the same time . Also in 1970 the federal-state commission was founded, which consisted of administrative representatives and was thus able to carry out politically legitimate planning.

Work from 1970

In its second term of office (1970–1974), the German Education Council saw itself as a group of independent experts who could decide for themselves which problems it regarded as urgent. It deliberately wanted to create a distance from day- to- day politics and turn to central problem areas that had not yet been dealt with. He was later criticized for not having dealt with issues that had become topical in the 1970s such as financing, numerus clausus or youth unemployment (or not dealt with them in his second term of office). In addition, he did not want to publish any more interim reports - between spring 1970 and spring 1973 there was intensive work, but nothing was published. To this end, a great number of reports, recommendations and expert opinions were submitted in 1973/74, about twice as extensive as during the entire first term of office.

A recommendation on the subject of “Increased independence in schools and the participation of teachers, parents and students” (1973) met with serious concerns among administrators and politicians, not only in the CDU-ruled countries at the time. The German Education Council suddenly lost its reputation . The low involvement of administrative representatives had a very negative effect here. Other drafts that argued similarly were criticized by the Education Council itself and downgraded from the status of a “recommendation” to that of a “report”.

In 1974 his term of office was extended by one year so that the federal and state governments could gain time for negotiations. Some argued for the dissolution of the German Education Council without replacement, others for a new construction of an advisory body, which should no longer have the power to determine its topics and working methods itself. Without an agreement, the German Education Council was dissolved in 1975.

Finally (1975) one of the first attempts at comprehensive educational reporting was published as a retrospect .

Publications (selection)

  • 1969: Establishment of school trials with comprehensive schools . Stuttgart, Klett Verlag
  • 1970: Structure plan for education . Stuttgart, Klett Verlag
  • 1973: German Education Council (Ed.): For the educational support of disabled children and young people at risk of disability . Bonn
  • 1975: Report '75 - Developments in Education . Bonn

literature

  • Klaus Hüfner , Jens Naumann: Cyclicals in education policy in the Federal Republic of Germany. Volume I: The Upswing (1960-1967) . 1st edition 1977. Ernst Klett Verlag, Stuttgart
  • Klaus Hüfner u. A. (1986): Boom and Slack. Education Policy in the Federal Republic of Germany. Ernst Klett Verlag, Stuttgart (p. 149 ff.)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ bidok.uibk.ac.at (June 20, 2012)