blue letter

Blue letter is the slang term for a notification that the school uses to notify a student's parents (or the student themselves, if they are of legal age) that the promotion is at risk. Also the letter of termination are often called Blue letter. The name comes from the 18th century, when royal orders often had to be packaged and sealed so as to be opaque. For it was suitable paper , which was made of rags, often of uniforms at this time Prussian Blue , were especially good. Since today blue paper has to be specially colored due to the changed production method and therefore such blue envelopes are more expensive, at least in Germany they are rarely actually used for such documents.

Blue letter in Germany

In Germany, blue letters, like all school law , are regulated by the federal states. In Hesse , notification must be made no later than eight weeks prior to the issue date of the annual report, regardless of a note in the semi-annual report (Ordinance on School Regulations, Section 16 (2)).

Sometimes a written reprimand (= written disapproval), i.e. H. the written notification of parents about misconduct at school, known as a blue letter.

Blue letter in Austria

In Austria , a blue letter also means an RSa letter sent by an authority . This is understood to be an official document that must be personally delivered to the recipient with proof of delivery. Such documents are sent in blue envelopes to make them easier to identify.

Early warning

The early warning system is a concept introduced at Austrian schools to inform parents and students during both semesters that there is a high probability of a “Unsatisfactory” (the worst grade in the Austrian school system ) in the annual report card . However, this does not necessarily mean that the student is on “Not Sufficient”, but only that “Not Sufficient” is threatened due to poor grades in the second semester. Thus, everyone who has a “sufficient” in their semester report is a potential candidate for the early warning system, because it only takes a bad grades for schoolwork or schoolwork to come up with an insufficient result. An early warning in the first semester does not apply to the second semester. All communications according to SchUG §19 are exclusively of informational nature, that is, even if they were not made, a “not enough” can be given in the school news or in the annual report card if it is factually justified.

The early warning is in this case in the form of one of the parents to be signed form given to the students. If the pupil has already reached the age of 18, he is entitled to sign the early warning himself.

A blue letter should also alert parents to an increased number of absent hours.

Post-warning

You can also get a "follow-up warning" if the performance has deteriorated, deviating from the blue letter.

Blue letter in Switzerland

In Switzerland, the blue letter means termination by the employer.

Similar terms in other countries

• In the US, letters of termination are known as pink slip , see Pink slip party .
• In the UK, there is a P45 form that workers receive when they leave the company.