Saarbrücken framework agreement

With the Saarbrücken framework agreement of September 1960, the range of subjects on was high school in the sixth form , so the last two years before the Abitur reduced. The ministers of culture assumed that the ideal of a comprehensive general education in the sense of an exhaustive encyclopedic education could no longer be achieved in view of the explosion of knowledge in society ; The previous 14-subject system was subsequently replaced by a division of the courses into compulsory subjects and elective subjects , and the number of subjects to be attended was reduced to nine.

The Saarbrücken framework agreement is the first significant measure to reduce the abundance of material and the large number of subjects by creating options and thus - within the framework of the various branches at the grammar school - to enable students to specialize to a certain extent. Apart from minor changes, the framework agreement was valid until the introduction of the Reformed Upper School in the Federal Republic of Germany in July 1972, which was implemented in the course of the 1970s.

Some of the objectives of the Saarbrücken framework agreement

"Reduction of the number of compulsory subjects"
"Concentration of educational substances"
"Education of the student to intellectual independence and responsibility"
"Paradigmatic selection and formation of focal points with simultaneous in-depth consideration of the set fundamental terms with the associated ways of thinking and working" (exemplary learning)

Compulsory subjects

Compulsory subjects depending on the type of school

Old-language high school type: Latin and Greek
Modern language high school type: two foreign languages

Elective courses

Music or art
Chemistry or biology or physics

Criticism of the Saarbrücken framework agreement

The reform of the upper level of the grammar schools resolved by the Conference of Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs with the Saarbrücken framework agreement took place against the violent protests of leading scientists in the Federal Republic of Germany. The scientists saw the planned reform jeopardize the basic ideas of the Humboldt educational ideal, which had been successful for 150 years, and predicted that the lack of the required breadth of humanities and natural science education for high school graduates would have devastating effects on the quality of future managers in the Federal Republic. In addition, the resolutions of the Saarbrücken Framework Agreement would have catastrophic long-term effects on the entire education system and ultimately weaken the competitiveness of the Federal Republic, since in a state characterized by a lack of land and raw materials, economic success essentially depends on scientific research and technical superiority ensure exports to peoples with cheaper labor.

Details of critical statements from the natural science faculties of various universities, natural science associations and individual scientists on the Saarbrücken framework agreement can be found in the issues of the journal Physikalische Blätter of the German Physical Society from 1960 to 1963.