Education system in Germany

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Places of education and learning worlds in the Federal Republic of Germany

The education system in Germany has five levels . The five levels are the primary level , the lower secondary level I and the upper secondary level , the tertiary and the quaternary area, to which mainly the further education offers belong, for example professional providers or the adult education center . In this respect, the education system accompanies people for life. So far, the pre-school sector has not been included in the education system , even if this has already been changed by some state laws. After kindergarten / pre-school, the educational path begins with compulsory elementary school .

As for the cultural sovereignty of countries , responsibility for education and higher education in Germany in the countries is, parts can be designed in the education system differently and named. However, the education system follows a nationwide framework, and common educational standards are increasingly being established. When it comes to school performance examinations or educational studies, Germany often scores only mediocre or even below average in a global comparison, with individual states such as Saxony and Bavaria performing significantly better than the rest of Germany.

history

The beginnings of the German education system lie in the early Middle Ages . An institutionalized form of formation was incumbent on the Church for many centuries. It had with the formation of the clergy mostly young Dom - collegiate or monastic schools and grammar schools , where children, mostly of the nobility , and later the bourgeois were upper class taught. In addition to this theologically oriented training, there was a second group within the nobility, the knighthood , which developed its own educational system. In it, the war crafts and the management and management of the goods were placed in the foreground. From around 1100 the guilds guaranteed a craft apprenticeship with a master , which is considered to be the early form of today's vocational training . Most of the boys, however, were exclusively home-schooled by their parents. The higher education system also has its roots in the Middle Ages. The first university on today's German territory, Heidelberg University , was founded in 1386.

The broader development of the general school system did not begin until the late Middle Ages and with the Reformation . In addition to the larger cathedral and monastery schools in municipal parish churches, community schools, writing schools in the responsibility of the municipalities, private so-called angle schools for middle-class sons as well as schools with commercial knowledge, e.g. B. the cameralistics mediated. Special class schools emerged, such as knight academies , the forerunner of the secondary school that was later developed .

It was not until the 18th century that schools increasingly included all children in town and country, with commercial Sunday schools and commercial schools being added. Basic school education for girls also became increasingly important. Some historians see the introduction of compulsory schooling as an important milestone in this development for the time, which is now criticized by many educational researchers . After a few smaller territories, it was legally introduced for the whole of Prussia in the General School Regulations in 1763, but only slowly implemented in elementary schools .

New humanist educational reforms, such as the Prussian educational reform, were introduced in German universities and secondary schools from around 1800 . The first technical universities ( Technical University Braunschweig 1745, University Karlsruhe , RWTH Aachen University ) were founded. Access to the university required an Abitur examination (definitely since 1834 in Prussia). In 1900 , several types of grammar school were recognized as having equal rights for all studies: humanistic grammar school , secondary school , upper secondary school . For girls, it was only possible to obtain university entrance qualification from 1893 with the establishment of the first girls' high school in Karlsruhe, but they did not receive unrestricted access to university studies until 1919.

The Weimar Republic introduced the compulsory four-class elementary school within the elementary school in 1920 . Further demands of the Reichsschulkonferenz remained unfulfilled. The proportion of humanistic grammar schools decreased, but modern foreign languages ​​and natural sciences became more prominent in higher schools. This form of education system remained largely intact in the “ Third Reich ” until 1945, despite ideological influence. The Abitur , after eight years of high school, was introduced in 1937 to counter “over-education”. Special schools ( Napola ) were also founded to form a Nazi elite.

1949 confirmed Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany to (GG) states in the cultural federalism authority for education ( " cultural sovereignty of the country "), they occupied during the Weimar Republic. They also reintroduced the types of school and the duration of the school (eight-class elementary school, nine-class grammar school). At the beginning ( Düsseldorf Agreement ) they were careful to make the school system, which was still very different from region to region, more uniform and slowly expand it. The 1964 Hamburg Agreement , however, set a common framework. a. through the introduction of the Hauptschule . In contrast, the education system of the GDR from 1949 to 1990 - following the changes in the education system of the Soviet Zone - was strictly centralized and regulated on the ideological basis of Marxism-Leninism . With the Education Act of 1959, the first eight-grade uniform school was compulsory, followed by the four-year extended secondary school instead of the grammar school. All-day care in after- school care centers enabled more and more mothers to work.

The Sputnik shock in 1957 brought the education system of all western countries into question - in Germany Georg Picht spoke in 1964 of an alleged " educational catastrophe " and a deficit in terms of content and modernization . Others like Ralf Dahrendorf criticized the lack of education to become democratic citizens. For the second industrial revolution , more and better qualified graduates were considered essential. Intensive reform discussions gave rise, among other things, to the German Education Council , whose structural plan became decisive for the German education system. The Bund-Länder Commission for Educational Planning and Research Promotion laid in 1973 the first Education Plan ago, was to take place the development and expansion of the education system on the basis of. However, when it was passed, it was lost in the party-political dispute, above all over the comprehensive school , in the 1980s, the educational policy efforts stagnated, also because of the costs. When the new East German states were integrated after 1990, the West German structures were transferred to the East with minor deviations.

Only at the end of the 1990s did the topic of education come to the fore again, which is mainly due to poor results in international comparative studies ( e.g. PISA ). There was also an increasing shortage of skilled workers . With a view to more successful countries such as B. Finland, numerous changes were proposed (pre-school education, joint learning by all pupils, more individual support, independent school , abolition of an independent secondary school), which brought the issue of education back to the fore in politics. In particular, the poor performance of many children with a migrant background at school provided the reason for this. In terms of international comparison and the GDR education system, the Abitur after twelve school years (eight-year grammar school "G8") and the central Abitur largely prevailed. The endeavor to ensure quality z. B. through comparative work and school evaluation was implemented at high cost, the federal states founded an institute for quality development in education (IQB).

structure

The education system in Germany is vertical in four or five stages divided ; the first three of these form the German school system :

Primary and secondary area

The most important school in the primary sector in Germany is the elementary school , the attendance of which is compulsory for all children who do not take advantage of the offers of a special school . Primary schools usually include grades 1–4 (in Berlin and Brandenburg : 1–6); There are also other models at the local level.

The secondary level I comprises the orientation level and the so-called middle level of the secondary school or secondary school, in detail Hauptschule, Realschule and lower secondary level I of the grammar school and the comprehensive school. The secondary ends here with the high school or middle maturity . The latter entitles - with a corresponding qualification note - to enter the upper level of the Gymnasium.

The upper secondary level comprises the so-called upper level. The vocational training system consisting of the dual system of vocational training and vocational school, vocational preparation year , vocational school , technical college and professional school and the sixth form , are part of the secondary education. Many high school graduates aiming for a vocational training and through these secondary basically two-fold.

In addition to the system of mainstream schools in public (state, communal or joint state / communal) sponsorship, there is a system of other schools and educational institutions that are partly publicly and partly privately (privately) sponsored. Special institutes, evening schools and colleges enable the advanced training of adults and the catching up of missed or missing degrees. Special schools can school children and young people who would be disadvantaged due to disabilities at other schools.

Tertiary education

The tertiary education sector in Germany includes education at universities , colleges , vocational academies , specialist academies ( Bavaria ) and technical schools .

Quaternary

The quaternary education area includes all forms of continuing education that was defined by the German Education Council as the continuation or resumption of organized learning after completing a differently extended first phase of education. In Germany it is regarded as a separate level, while the OECD assigns it to the tertiary sector. The proportionately most significant part of continuing education is informal learning , which is difficult to pin down. On the other hand, there is formal continuing education, which is divided into vocational , general and political continuing education . In the area of ​​professional development, there is often talk of lifelong learning . The usual places of the further education sector are the libraries , adult education centers , church education centers , trade unions and chambers, private and company educational institutions, universities and evening grammar schools . A new trend is e-learning , which is becoming more and more popular, especially in the area of ​​continuing education. In general, further training has recently become increasingly important, as constant further training is necessary in order to be able to keep pace with today's social change.

Professional training

According to the Vocational Training Act, advanced training aims at those qualifications that have already been acquired in a training occupation. They should be maintained, expanded, adapted to technical developments or expanded in such a way that career advancement is possible. A distinction is made between:

  • Maintenance training
  • Extension training
  • Adaptation training
  • Advancement training

Depending on the type of training, the qualifications acquired can be verified by examinations carried out by the responsible bodies. Some advanced training courses are regulated by statutes that are valid nationwide. Professional advancement training is, for example:

The professional training takes place partly during working hours and partly in leisure time. The employer and employee sometimes also share the costs. However, further training can also be funded by public funds and grants, depending on the training and personal situation, if, for example, a better individual competitive situation can be achieved with changed personal aptitude or changed labor market.

Actors in education

In Germany, three groups of actors are active in the education system. The students, as the most important group, have only a marginal influence due to their age and status.

  1. The state takes action in the form of the federal government , the federal states , local authorities and bodies of cooperative federalism ( Standing Conference KMK, Joint Science Conference GWK).
  2. Some state bodies for political advice such as the Science Council or, until 1975, the Education Council are involved.
  3. At the non-governmental level, there are mainly interest groups for various parties involved in education: the universities ( HRK University Rectors' Conference); the interest groups of the economy and the craft ( Institute of German Economy ), the teachers 'associations and unions ( trade union education and science (GEW) , German teachers' association ) and other organizations of free schools and other educational institutions ( Federal Association of German Private Schools , Association of Free Waldorf Schools , Federal Association of free alternative schools BFAS, German Institute for Adult Education ).

Due to the state sovereignty in the school system , the federal government has to limit itself to its framework competencies in questions of education policy , which are mainly in the higher education sector and in vocational training. The Länder are exclusively responsible for internal school matters . These shape the school system and carry out school supervision . They finance the school system, issue laws and ordinances or approve school books. The task of the municipalities is the external school affairs , which mainly extend to the administration of the buildings and the equipment. In order to achieve a certain degree of uniformity in the educational system, the bodies of cooperative federalism are necessary, especially the KMK . The BLK, on the other hand, was originally conceived as a planning committee, but has developed more into a committee for selective innovation and research funding.

The non-state actors and advisory bodies have no direct influence on the education system, but primarily act in an advisory capacity. They draft concepts and recommendations or make demands on educational policy, participate in educational research or conduct studies. These have an enormous influence on education policy, which is difficult to grasp.

Legal terms

According to Article 7 of the Basic Law, the school system is the responsibility of the state. Due to the cultural sovereignty of the federal states , they are also responsible for the implementation, supervision and organization of the school system, which happens through the school laws and school regulations as well as curricula and curricula of the federal states. Additional laws may exist for the upper secondary level. The area of ​​vocational training in particular is regulated by federal laws and regulations, such as the Vocational Training Act (BBiG) and general training plans . In the field of higher education that exist Higher Education Act , numerous state laws and university internal regulations. The area of ​​continuing education is little regulated.

Teachers

The following important information is missing from this article or section:
Unfortunately, nothing at all about the training of teachers in tertiary and quaternary education.
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Lecturers in the primary and secondary area

School teachers in Germany must have completed a special teaching degree. Trainers who work in dual vocational training must have completed training in the respective occupation and, in addition, either an examination according to the Instructor Aptitude Ordinance (AEVO) or a master craftsman examination .

See also

Portal: Education  - Overview of Wikipedia content on education

literature

Web links

Single receipts

  1. ^ Peter Lundgreen : Social history of the German school at a glance. Part I: 1770–1918 , Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1980, p. 15.
  2. ↑ Homeschooling & Co. as an alternative? Retrieved on February 20, 2020 (German).
  3. ↑ Edgar Wolfrum : The successful democracy. History of the Federal Republic of Germany from its beginnings to the present. Stuttgart 2006, p. 241: “The call for better and stronger higher education triggered in the United States by the“ Sputnik shock ”of 1957 also penetrated Europe. […] Another aspect…: the all-encompassing system conflict. Here victory in the Cold War should also be achieved in the field of education. However, compared to other industrial nations in West and East, the FRG in particular had obviously fallen dramatically behind, at least there was sheer horror when the OECD at the beginning of the 1960s certified West Germany with an extremely modest, higher intellectual potential, even an educational misery [...]. "
  4. ^ Documents from O. Anweiler, passim
  5. ^ German Education Council: Recommendations of the Education Commission. Structure plan for education. German Education Council, Bad Godesberg 1970.
  6. ↑ See §1 Vocational Training Act (BbiG)