Comprehensive school
An integrated comprehensive school ( IGS ) is a school in which all pupils are taught together , whether they are recommended for secondary schools , secondary schools or grammar schools. The aim of the integrated comprehensive school is that the pupils experience joint learning and social interaction with one another and at the same time are taught and promoted according to their individual capabilities.
features
At the beginning of their school career, all students learn together. A differentiation according to the individual performance takes place in a number of subjects through so-called support, basic and extension courses. In comprehensive schools there are usually three levels of difficulty, the course affiliation takes place on these levels (also A, B, C course). For example, a student in the chemistry extension course may be among the best but attend the remedial course because of poor knowledge of English in that subject. At an integrated comprehensive school, the pupils have the opportunity to obtain a school leaving certificate that corresponds to their courses, from secondary school to general higher education entrance qualification (Abitur) . A repetition of classes is usually not necessary for the students, they usually switch to an easier course. For the Abitur, if their own comprehensive school does not have a gymnasium upper level , they switch to a gymnasium or the gymnasium upper level of another comprehensive school after the tenth grade .
A distinction must be made between the integrated comprehensive school and the cooperative comprehensive school (also known as an additive comprehensive school), in which the students are taught under one roof, but are basically divided into main, secondary and grammar school classes. Some educational scientists therefore equate the integrated comprehensive school with the original comprehensive school concept. For cooperative comprehensive schools, on the other hand, the term “school with several courses” is more appropriate.
Comprehensive schools are controversial within the German school system ; some states (e.g. Saxony ) do not offer them at all. From around 1970, new educational and structural concepts for integrated comprehensive schools were developed and implemented in the Federal Republic of Germany.
The Helene-Lange-Schule (Wiesbaden) and the Laborschule Bielefeld have become famous for their good performance results in the PISA study compared to other German comprehensive schools, secondary schools and secondary schools, but not compared to grammar schools .
School success and social background
The comprehensive school was linked with the hope that education there was less dependent on social origin. When analyzing the PISA results , it became apparent that test performance at comprehensive school depends most heavily on social origin, and at high school the least. However, this data is probably a statistical artifact . The results also show that the Hauptschule is the school with the lowest support.
| type of school | Very "low" social background |
"Low" social background |
"High" social background |
Very "high" social background |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| secondary schools | 400 | 429 | 436 | 450 |
| Comprehensive school | 438 | 469 | 489 | 515 |
| secondary school | 482 | 504 | 528 | 526 |
| high school | 578 | 581 | 587 | 602 |
| PISA 2003 - The educational level of young people in Germany - results of the 2nd international comparison | ||||
Differences between recommendation and qualification in integrated comprehensive schools
Since 2004, in which the orientation level was abolished in Lower Saxony, the elementary schools have made school career recommendations for fourth graders (however, these have now been abolished in this state, as of October 2018). In the summer of 2010, for example, the integrated comprehensive schools were able for the first time to compare which school leaving certificate was forecast at the end of the 4th grade or for which type of school the child was considered suitable and which intermediate educational qualification it actually achieved at the end of the 10th grade.
| School recommendation | degrees | Overall trend in financial statements | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| HS 27% | HSA 15% | Graduation improved 42% overall | ||
| RS 45% | RSA 29% | Degree equal to a total of 51% | ||
| GY 28% | ESAI 55% | Graduation bad. total 7% | ||
| (HSA = secondary school leaving certificate; RSA = secondary school leaving certificate; ESAI = extended secondary school leaving certificate) | ||||
The Lower Saxony General School Association concludes: “The comprehensive schools have thus proven that not only can it be said that positive learning and performance development is possible in the integrated systems, but that this actually takes place. The legend of the 'gifted' three-tier school system, which says that at the end of their primary school years, the pupils can be 'gifted' to three school types, is clearly refuted. "
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Olaf Köller 2003: Comprehensive School - Expansion instead of Alternative. In: Cortina, KS; J. Baumert; A. Leschinsky; KU Mayer; L. Trommer (ed.): The education system in the Federal Republic of Germany. Structures and developments at a glance. Pp. 458-486. Reinbek near Hamburg: Rowohlt.
- ↑ Ehmke et al., 2004, In: PISA-Konsortium Deutschland (Ed.): PISA 2003 - The educational level of young people in Germany - results of the 2nd international comparison, Münster / New York: Waxmann, p. 245
- ↑ Ehmke et al., 2004, In: PISA-Konsortium Deutschland (Ed.): PISA 2003 - The educational level of young people in Germany - results of the 2nd international comparison, Münster / New York: Waxmann, p. 244
- ↑ a b Gesamtschulverband Niedersachsen: "Success model comprehensive school" from January 20, 2011 (PDF; 68 kB)