Educational standards

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This article or paragraph presents the situation in Germany . Help us to describe the situation in other countries.

Educational standards stipulate which skills and knowledge students of a certain year should have acquired in the main subjects and foreign languages ​​(cf. Klieme report). In this meaning, the term is only used in the plural (e.g. “the German educational standards in mathematics for the secondary school leaving certificate”).

history

Current school basics such as reading, writing and arithmetic were taught in the Middle Ages, but only to a limited number of people. This mediation happened z. B. About monastery and cathedral schools. The upheaval towards the general education of the masses was initiated by a Reformation work by Martin Luther from 1524. Initially, with the introduction of compulsory schooling, depending on the regional administrative unit from 1592 to 1835, a minimum of education was made compulsory for the population in Germany.

The school reformer Wilhelm von Humboldt from Prussia around 1810 brought about a qualified development of the school system, for example in the form of Humboldt grammar schools. The Humboldt School attribute resembled a certification or outstanding standard in terms of teachers, learning material, learning methods and the performance records that the students could achieve.

Education standards are a subsystem of control of educational processes that "in Germany since the PISA shock " in education policy have become more important.

Three things have brought educational standards into focus:

It is a matter of dispute whether an overcrowding of the curricula with material is responsible. The demand for "clearing out" would first have to determine which "junk" is in them.

Educational standards (BS) should no longer control the education system in an input-oriented manner (state requirements (curricula) stipulate which content and subjects are to be dealt with in the classroom). Instead, they show a so-called output orientation : it is not objects and specific content that are specified, but long-term, sustainable abilities, skills , readiness and competencies . The extent to which certain content is necessary for this must be determined.

The basic idea is that students can acquire comparable skills on different subjects and content. The school system can simultaneously

  • give schools and teachers greater freedom in the choice and arrangement of content,
  • This enables them to better adapt the lessons to the (sometimes very different) previous knowledge and experience of the students,
  • Standardize learning outcomes more and make them more binding - in terms of abilities, skills and readiness; not in the sense of specifically learned "content". This reorientation implies a shift from material education to formal or more categorical education (according to Wolfgang Klafki ).

Educational standards in this sense (performance standards; see differentiation below) are therefore socially determined characteristics (levels) of certain competencies required by the school system or by the pupil . In order to be able to name these with sufficient precision, one needs competence definitions and models. Their clarity, detail or expressiveness (→ quality) is criticized by some (see below).

Types of educational standards

  • Input standards describe competencies to be developed and knowledge to be achieved (then they are also called content standards, e.g. curricula) or the required teaching and learning conditions.
  • Opportunity-to-learn standards describe specifications for the framework conditions for learning, for example with regard to the timetable , the equipment of schools, etc.
  • Performance standards describe competencies to be developed, i. H. Abilities, skills and readiness to be acquired on different contents and objects are largely independent of content. They make up the essential core of the so-called outcome orientation of educational policy in the 2000s. Performance standards require an underlying competency model in order to be operationalizable and measurable.
  • Management standards describe quality management systems for providers of learning services (e.g. ISO 29990 learning services for training and further education - basic requirements for service providers and QM level model PAS 1037 : 2004).

A distinction is made within the performance standards :

  • Minimum standards describe the minimum level of competence that all students in a learning group or school or school system should achieve and, if they are not achieved, measures must be taken (be it support measures for the students, improvements in school equipment or sanctions against the schools, for example increased supervision, up to and including closure; see on the latter “high-stakes testing” in the USA).
  • Standard standards describe competencies that are to be achieved on the “average”, with measures only being taken if they are not achieved to a significant extent.
  • Maximum standards define what the best students should be able to do (“optimal standards” would be better, because nobody should be prevented from performing even better).

Measurement / verification of standards

The achievement of standards can be ascertained empirically in various forms, with various instruments and for various purposes:

  • Assessment refers to the measurement of the level of competencies achieved at a specific point in time, usually with average access in larger groups and without considering the individual learning paths on which they are based. Assessments say something above all about the performance of the school system or teaching, less about the “performance” of the individual pupil;
  • Diagnostics refers to the recording of competencies with a differentiating view of the differences in individual learning areas and the (mostly) individual learning development;
  • Evaluation describes the measurement of the attainment of competence levels or their change depending on the measures taken. Here, too, more is said about the suitability of the measures (e.g. teaching methods, materials, etc.) than about the performance of the individual student.

Introduction of nationwide educational standards in Germany

Reasons for introduction

On the occasion of various educational studies, e.g. B. the PISA study , which showed that the German general education system (the vocational education system was not examined) has a rather mediocre position internationally and that there are also clear differences between the individual federal states, the Standing Conference for selected subjects (see below ) decided to make uniform educational standards binding nationwide. They should enable a nationwide comparability of school qualifications and learning outcomes.

The shift from input-oriented educational standards (previous curricula, educational plans and curricula) to output-oriented standards is intended to show that the concept of quality management and quality assurance is becoming part of the educational system.

Development so far

Output-oriented standard standards were developed in Germany by representatives from practice and education administration and with the participation of specialist didactics for an increasing number of subjects and school levels. However, only a few of them are binding in selected subjects.

For the Abitur , the KMK has set a kind of “performance standard” for more and more subjects with the “Uniform Examination Requirements in the Abitur Examination” (EPA) since the 1970s. Less concrete content was agreed, but above all a gradation of intellectual skills: In the exams, students have to perform in three “requirement areas” (AFB), namely (pretty much the same in all subjects): AFB 1: reproduction; AFB 2: Reorganization, Transfer and Application; AFB 3: Problem solving and reflection. They have been amended several times.

For the secondary school leaving certificate (“ Mittlere Reife ”) educational standards in the subjects German , mathematics and first foreign language were adopted.

In 1997, the Conference of Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs decided to raise the educational standards

  • to develop further for the secondary school leaving certificate,
  • to extend to the secondary school leaving certificate,
  • for the secondary school leaving certificate to include the subjects of physics, chemistry and biology.

Since the 2004 school year, the federal states have committed themselves to applying the educational standards for the secondary school leaving certificate (“Mittlere Reife”) in the subjects of German, mathematics and the first foreign language (English and French). Since 2005, this has also applied to physics, chemistry and biology, as well as to secondary school leaving certificates and primary school leavers. In Baden-Württemberg, state educational standards have been in place for all schools and subjects since 2004.

This was followed by binding educational standards for the Abitur examination in German, mathematics, English and French. They are to be introduced for the natural sciences of biology, chemistry and physics.

The national educational standards adopted by the Standing Conference are only to be understood as a framework for the individual federal states. If educational sovereignty continues to apply, each of the 16 federal states will have its own ordinances, which will either take up the external form of the educational standards (e.g. North Rhine-Westphalia or Lower Saxony), use their own forms (Baden-Württemberg) or use old curriculum formats (Bavaria). . The consequence of a joint Abitur examination is still pending.

Further planning, IQB

In June 2004, a nationwide active " Institute for Quality Development in Education - Scientific Institution of the States at the Humboldt University of Berlin" (IQB) was founded by the federal states. The main task of the IQB is the review and further development of educational standards, for which considerable funds are used. In 2006, the standardization of the test instruments for later use to check compliance with the national educational standards began.

Evaluation

The skills described in the educational standards are regularly evaluated throughout Germany under the direction of the IQB. For this purpose, written comparative papers (VERA) are developed by teachers, didactic specialists and psychologists . The tests primarily serve to describe the level of education at a certain point in time (e.g. end of lower secondary level) and to compare the federal states, the so-called IQB country comparison . An individual diagnosis, i.e. the measurement of the abilities of individual students, is not the aim of these studies and would only be possible to a limited extent with the instruments used.

In the years 2008/2009 a first country comparison in the area of ​​languages ​​took place. In a country comparison in 2011, competencies in German and mathematics were tested. In the 2012 country comparison, competencies from the field of natural sciences were surveyed for the first time in addition to mathematical skills. In addition to the level of competence in the countries, the influence of various demographic characteristics on the test results is assessed, e. B. socio-economic background, educational level of parents or migration background.

criticism

The evaluation of educational standards fluctuates between high educational policy and educational science expectations and resolute rejection. Proponents emphasize that they can verifiably improve teaching. Critics deny this and question its scientific nature. Some see educational standards as a neoliberal instrument of rule.

The introduction of educational standards is associated with both educational science and practical teaching challenges. The former consist in particular of describing the educational standards as testable competencies, which are specified as a set of tasks that the learners can solve when they have acquired the specific competence. This gives rise to a number of problems that affect the theoretical basis of teaching-learning research . For example, it is about the appropriate definition of concepts such as “competence”, “competence model” and “teaching material” or about the target-oriented approach in a “competence-oriented teaching”. The practical teaching problems are also considerable. The theoretical and practical backgrounds of the implementation of educational standards in different countries are presented and discussed in an extensive study.

Critics doubt the success of educational standards. A look z. B. on the educational standards published by Baden-Württemberg for the subject of history shows no major changes compared to conventional curricula. The authors keep a low profile on key questions, such as the question of the comparable verifiability of the skills acquired. Despite this deficit, the educational standards in Baden-Württemberg, which are often difficult to grasp, are checked using comparative studies . In view of these very vague formulations, the teachers there often access the educational standards with the help of previous educational plans or on the basis of school books, which therefore become even more of a “ secret curriculum ”. The range of approved textbooks for individual subjects or subject groups with sometimes very little overlap is further evidence that the educational standards for pedagogical practice in Baden-Württemberg are broad and hardly control teaching.

Criticism is also directed towards the fact that the requirements named in the educational standards only specify the "domain-specific" professional and cognitive expectations. Interdisciplinary qualifications, social, communicative and personal competencies find no echo because they are more difficult to grasp in the form of technical competence descriptions. It should be noted that the educational standards currently being discussed can only be described as “cognitive performance standards” and do not adequately reflect the comprehensive educational concept of the general school. However, this criticism does not apply to all educational standards. Newer curriculum concepts, such as B. the educational standards for politics and economics at grammar schools in North Rhine-Westphalia also show social, communicative and personal skills. However, their measurability and thus empirical validity is very much in question.

The problem for pupils is that the educational standards are usually given in blocks for several school years. If you change location within the same federal state and the resulting change of school within the same school type, this can lead to massive gaps in skills. On the other hand, because of educational standards for several grade levels, textbooks are often designed and purchased for two or three years, some of which contain over 400 pages and are correspondingly heavy.

Many of the "educational standards" developed for individual subjects as well as the educational standards developed by professional associations for subjects not provided for by the KMK largely do not agree with the one in the expertise of Klieme u. a. (2003) agree with the theory elaborated, in particular the identified “standards” do not reveal which level is set as the desired goal on a defined competence. It is not clear which of the lower levels can be and which can be higher. Many standard formulations simply postulate a global "ability". This applies, for example, to the standards for geography (2006), e.g. B. for the KMK standards “educational sciences” for higher education, but also for the subject didactics standards of the Society for Subject Didactics (GFD).

This lack of many educational standards cannot be avoided as long as theoretical and empirical studies do not allow statements about the development of the individual competencies in stages. The early adoption of these standard drafts for tests (especially assessments) and their legal stipulation before the results of this research are available is sometimes seen as problematic: The educational scientist Gottfried Biewer criticizes the ignoring of problems of students with learning difficulties and disabilities, the insufficient consideration the perspective of equal opportunities, the marginalization up to the exclusion of disabled and learning-impaired students from studies and the lack of problem awareness about the consequences of their work among political and scientific actors in the field of educational standards.

The critics of the educational standards, who come from both traditional pedagogy and critical educational science, gave themselves a forum in 2010 with the Cologne congress “Educational Standards on the Test Stand”.

Educational standards in Austria

introduction

As in Germany, it was the results of international student performance studies such as PISA or PIRLS in Austria that paved the way for uniform educational standards and their verifiability.

The legal basis for this was laid in August 2008 by the Federal Ministry for Education, Art and Culture with an amendment to the School Teaching Act; the educational standards in the Austrian school system were introduced by an ordinance in January 2009 that defines for individual subjects which competencies students have after the 4th grade . and 8th grade should have acquired. Furthermore, the review of educational standards was specified in this ordinance as regular, centrally specified performance measurements. In Austria, educational standards were prescribed for the 4th grade in the subjects German / reading / writing and mathematics, for the 8th grade in German, English and mathematics.

Development so far

The educational standards have been tested since 2001 with the participation of teachers in a pilot phase at around 300 schools. In the school year 2008/09, the actual status in the subjects mathematics, German and English for the 8th grade was recorded in an initial measurement for the later comparison, in the school year 2009/10 the same surveys were carried out for the 4th grade in German and mathematics , carried out by the Federal Institute BIFIE , whose main tasks since it was founded in 2008 have included the development, implementation and review of educational standards in Austria. In the area of ​​vocational schooling in Austria, the Ministry of Education has provided first handouts - for example on the LP of the secondary technical schools (HTL).

Review and feedback

The review of educational standards began in the 2011/12 school year with the 8th grade in mathematics. Across Austria, all pupils of this school level will be tested at around 1400 schools on a test day in May 2012, which is compulsory for all. In 2012/13 the standard examination took place in English and in 2013/14 in German, for the 4th grade the examination began in mathematics from the school year 2012/13, in 2013/14 in German / reading / writing.

An essential prerequisite for valid test results are the same framework conditions for all students. For this reason, the test procedure is standardized and carried out by specially trained teachers. After verification, the tests are electronically recorded, evaluated and analyzed on the BIFIE. The performance data are scaled using the Rasch model . The results should be reported six months after the test, i.e. at the beginning of December 2012 for the first examination of the 8th grade in mathematics. According to the ordinance on educational standards, the evaluations must be carried out in such a way that quality development measures can be carried out on a national, state and school-related basis.

Pupils, teachers and school administrators can call up their results via the Internet using an access code, whereby the individual results of a pupil are only accessible to them, thus ensuring anonymity. School authorities and the BMUKK receive a summary of the results.

literature

  • Volker Elsenbast et al. (Ed.): On the development of educational standards. Positions, comments, questions, perspectives for church educational action . Munster 2004.
  • Dietlind Fischer, Volker Elsenbast (Hrsg.): Basic competencies of religious education. For the development of Protestant religious instruction through educational standards for the completion of lower secondary level . Comenius Institute, Münster 2006.
  • Annette Frühwacht: Educational standards in primary school. Educational standards and comparative work from the point of view of German and Finnish teachers. Klinkhardt, 2012, ISBN 978-3-7815-1876-6 .
  • Helmut Heid: What can the standardization of desirable learning outputs contribute to improving the quality of the education system? In: D. Benner (Ed.): Educational standards. Instruments for quality assurance in education. Chances and Limits - Examples and Perspectives. Paderborn 2007, ISBN 978-3-506-76331-0 , pp. 29-48.
  • Walter Herzog : educational standards. A critical introduction . Verlag W. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 2013, ISBN 978-3-17-022600-5 .
  • Thomas Jahnke: On the ideology of PISA & Co. In: Thomas Jahnke, Wolfram Meyerhöfer (Hrsg.): PISA & Co - criticism of a program. 2., ext. Edition. Franzbecker, Hildesheim 2007, ISBN 978-3-88120-464-4 .
  • Thomas Jahnke: German PISA consequences. In: Stefan T. Hopmann, Gertrude Brinek, Martin Retzl (eds.): PISA according to PISA. PISA According to PISA. LIT-Verlag, Vienna 2007, ISBN 978-3-7000-0771-5 .
  • Eckhard Klieme, Hermann Avenarius, Werner Blum, Peter Döbrich, Hans Gruber, Manfred Prenzel, Kristina Reiss , Kurt Riquarts, Jürgen Rost, Heinz-Elmar Tenorth, Helmuth J. Vollmer: On the development of national educational standards. BMBF, Bonn 2007. (PDF)
  • Andreas Körber: Basic terms and concepts: educational standards, competencies and competence models. In: Andreas Körber, Waltraud Schreiber , Alexander Schöner (eds.): Competencies in historical thinking. A structural model as a contribution to competence orientation in history didactics. ars una, Neuried 2007, ISBN 978-3-89391-788-4 , pp. 54-86.
  • Gabriele Obst: Competence-oriented teaching and learning in religious education. 1st edition. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2008. (4th edition 2015, revised and updated by Hartmut Lenhard)
  • J. Oelkers, K. Reusser: Developing quality - securing standards - dealing with differences. (= Educational research. Volume 27). Federal Ministry of Education and Research, Berlin 2008.
  • Martin Rothgangel , Dietlind Fischer (Hrsg.): Standards for religious education? For the reform discussion in schools and teacher training . Munster 2004.
  • F. Schott, S. Azizi Ghanbari: Educational standards, competence diagnostics and competence-oriented teaching for quality assurance in the educational system. A problem-oriented introduction to the theoretical basics. Waxmann Verlag, Münster 2012, ISBN 978-3-8309-2635-1 .
  • Michael Wermke (Ed.): Educational standards and religious instruction. Perspectives from Thuringia. (= Religious education in discourse. 1). IKS Garamond, Jena 2005.
  • Gerhard Ziener: Educational standards in practice - competence-oriented teaching. 2nd Edition. Kallmeyersche Verlagsbuchhandlung, Seelze 2010, ISBN 978-3-7800-1010-0 .

Web links

Single receipts

  1. ↑ Nicole Wellnitz and others: Evaluation of the educational standards - an interdisciplinary test concept for the competence area acquisition of knowledge. (PDF; 719 kB). In: Journal for Didactics of Natural Sciences. 18, 2012, pp. 261-291.
  2. ↑ Overview of the IQB country comparisons ( Memento from October 15, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
  3. ↑ L. Criblez, J. Oelkers, K. Reusser, E. Berner, U. Halbheer, C. Huber: Educational standards . Klett and Balmer Verlag, Zug 2009, ISBN 978-3-7800-8013-4 .
  4. ↑ W. Blum, C. Drueker-Noe, R. Hartung, O. Köller: educational standards Math: concretely. Secondary level I: example exercises, suggestions for lessons, ideas for further training . Cornelsen Verlag Scriptor, Berlin 2006, ISBN 978-3-589-22321-3 .
  5. ↑ K.-H. Dammer: Measured educational research. The history of science behind a neoliberal instrument of rule . Schneider Verlag Hohengehren, Baltmannsweiler 2015, ISBN 978-3-8340-1485-6 .
  6. ^ F. Schott, S. Azizi Ghanbari: Educational standards, competence diagnostics and competence-oriented teaching for quality assurance in the educational system. A problem-oriented introduction to the theoretical basics . Waxmann Verlag, Münster 2012, ISBN 978-3-8309-2635-1 .
  7. ↑ J. Oelkers, K. Reusser: Develop quality - secure standards - deal with differences . tape 27 . Federal Ministry of Education and Research, Berlin 2008.
  8. ↑ Gottfried Biewer : The new world of educational standards and their educational science reception from the perspective of an inclusive education. In: Quarterly journal for curative education and its neighboring areas. 81 (1), 2012, pp. 9-21.
  9. ↑ bdw educational standards put to the test (PDF; 431 kB)
  10. ↑ Federal Law Gazette I No. 117/2008 : Amendment of the School Education Act / 2008
  11. ↑ Federal Law Gazette II No. 1/2009 : Educational standards in schools / 2009
  12. ↑ bifie educational standards
  13. ↑ Educational standards for vocational schools - HTL ( Memento from July 28, 2015 in the Internet Archive )