Year class

The year class is an internal school form of organization in which, in contrast to cross-year classes, only pupils of the same age are taught together. The year class is the usual form of teaching today.

Historical

The principle of year classes is a consequence of the introduction of compulsory schooling in the 18th and 19th centuries. Since compulsory schooling was tied to reaching a certain age, the pupils were enrolled according to age cohorts .

Since the schools in rural areas were often too small to set up year groups, so-called dwarf schools were introduced, in which at least 10 children are taught across all grades . In Germany these were abolished in the 1960s, and the system of year classes was implemented again across the board through the establishment of central elementary schools.

Basic pedagogical assumption

Pedagogically, this principle is based on the assumption that pupils of the same age form homogeneous learning groups. Since this assumption has not proven to be correct for all students, the possibility was opened up in Germany to repeat or skip a class . 25% of the students in Germany have a delayed school career from the 1st to the 10th grade, so they sit down at least once. (Federal Statistical Office, 2005)

A departure from this principle can be observed in upper secondary schools. In some federal states, the first two classes are also taught together. For the rest of the primary and lower secondary level, there has been controversial discussion for years under the heading of “cross-year teaching”. A large number of school experiments and scientific studies deal with this topic.

Alternatives

Alternatives are found in the successful PISA countries that work with course systems after primary school.