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Education in Germany

Education in Germany is primarily the responsibility of individual German states (Länder), with the federal government only playing a minor role.

While kindergarten (nursery school) is optional, formal education is compulsory for all children ages 6 to 18.[1] Students can complete three types of school leaving qualifications, ranging from the more vocational Hauptschulabschluss and Mittlere Reife over to the more academic Abitur. The latter permits students to apply to study at university level. a bachelor's degree and is commonly followed up with a master's degree, with 45% of all undergraduates proceeding to postgraduate studies within 1.5 years of graduating.[2] While rules vary (see → § Tuition fees) from Land (state) to Land, German public universities generally don't charge tuition fees.


Germany is well-known internationally for its vocational training model,[3][4][5] the Ausbildung (apprenticeship), with about 50 per cent of all school leavers entering vocational training.[6]

Secondary school forms[edit]

Germany's secondary education is separated into two parts, lower and upper. Lower-secondary education in Germany is individuals basic general education and gets them ready to enter upper-secondary life. In the upper secondary level Germany of vocational programs. German secondary education includes five types of school.


One, the Gymnasium, is designed to prepare pupils for higher education and finishes with the final examination, Abitur, after grade 12 or 13. From 2005 to 2018 a school reform known as G8 provided the Abitur in 8 school years. The reform failed due to high demands on learning levels for the children and were turned to G9 in 2019. Only a few Gymnasiums stay with the G8 model. Children usually attend Gymnasium from 10 to 18 years.


The Realschule has a range of emphasis for intermediate pupils and finishes with the final examination Mittlere Reife, after grade 10; the Hauptschule prepares pupils for vocational education and finishes with the final examination Hauptschulabschluss, after grade 9 and the Realschulabschluss after grade 10. There are two types of grade 10: one is the higher level called type 10b and the lower level is called type 10a; only the higher-level type 10b can lead to the Realschule and this finishes with the final examination Mittlere Reife after grade 10b. This new path of achieving the Realschulabschluss at a vocationally oriented secondary school was changed by the statutory school regulations in 1981—with a one-year qualifying period. During the one-year qualifying period of the change to the new regulations, pupils could continue with class 10 to fulfil the statutory period of education. After 1982, the new path was compulsory, as explained above.[7]


A less common[8] secondary school alternative is the so-called Gesamtschule, i.e. comprehensive school. There are two main types of Gesamtschule, namely integriert (≈integrated) or kooperativ (≈collaborative [translation note]).


There are also Förder- or Sonderschulen, schools for students with special educational needs. One in 21 pupils attends a Förderschule.[9][10] Nevertheless, the Förder- or Sonderschulen can also lead, in special circumstances, to a Hauptschulabschluss of both type 10a or type 10b, the latter of which is the Realschulabschluss. The amount of extracurricular activity is determined individually by each school and varies greatly. With the 2015 school reform the German government has tried to push more of those pupils into other schools, which is known as Inklusion. A special system of apprenticeship called Duale Ausbildung (the dual education system) allows pupils in vocational courses to do in-service training in a company as well as at a state school.[10]


Students in Germany scored above the OECD average in reading (498 score points), mathematics (500) and science (503) in PISA 2018.[11] Average reading performance in 2018 returned to levels that were last observed in 2009, reversing most gains up to 2012. In science, mean performance was below 2006 levels; while in mathematics PISA 2018 results lay significantly below those of the 2012 study.[11][12][13] The Human Rights Measurement Initiative finds that Germany is achieving 75.4% of what should be possible for the right to education, at their level of income.[14][15]

A nine-year classical Gymnasium (including study of Latin and Classical Greek or Hebrew, plus one modern language);

A nine-year Realgymnasium (focusing on Latin, modern languages, science and mathematics);

A six-year Realschule (without university entrance qualification, but with the option of becoming a trainee in one of the modern industrial, office or technical jobs); and

A nine-year Oberrealschule (focusing on modern languages, science and mathematics).

State school. State schools do not charge tuition fees. The majority of pupils attend state schools in their neighbourhood. Schools in affluent areas tend to be better than those in deprived areas. Once children reach school age, many middle-class and working-class families move away from deprived areas.

Waldorf school

Parents looking for a suitable school for their child have a wide choice of elementary schools:


The entry year can vary between 5 and 7, while stepping back or skipping a grade is also possible.

Every state has its own school system.

Each age group of students (born roughly in the same year) forms one or more grades or classes (Klassen) per school which remain the same for elementary school (years 1 to 4 or 6), orientation school (if there are orientation schools in the state), orientation phase (at Gymnasium years 5 to 6), and secondary school (years 5 or 7 to 10 in Realschulen and Hauptschulen; years 5 or 7 to 10 (differences between states) in Gymnasien) respectively. Changes are possible, though, when there is a choice of subjects, e.g. additional languages; Then classes will be split (and newly merged) either temporarily or permanently for this particular subject.

[26]

Students usually sit at tables, not desks (usually two at one table), sometimes arranged in a semicircle or another geometric or functional shape. During exams in classrooms, the tables are sometimes arranged in columns with one pupil per table (if permitted by the room's capacities) to prevent cheating; at many schools, this is only the case for some exams in the two final years of school, i.e. some of the exams counting for the final grade on the high school diploma.

There is usually no or dress code. Many private schools have a simplified dress code, for instance, such as "no shorts, no sandals, no clothes with holes". Some schools are testing school uniforms, but those are not as formal as seen in the UK. They mostly consist of a normal sweater/shirt and jeans of a certain color, sometimes with the school's symbol on it. It is however a common custom to design graduation class shirts in Gymnasium, Realschule and Hauptschule.

school uniform

School usually starts between 7.30 a.m. and 8:15 a.m. and can finish as early as 12; instruction in lower classes almost always ends before lunch. In higher grades, however, afternoon lessons are very common and periods may have longer gaps without teacher supervision between them. Usually, afternoon classes are not offered every day and/or continuously until early evening, leaving students with large parts of their afternoons free of school; some all-day schools (Ganztagsschulen), however, offer classes or mainly-supervised activities throughout the afternoons to offer supervision for the students rather than increasing teaching hours. Afternoon lessons can continue until 6 o'clock.

Depending on school, there are breaks of 5 to 20 minutes after each period. There is no lunch break as school usually finishes before 1:30 for junior school. However, at schools with Nachmittagsunterricht (afternoon classes) ending after 1:30, there may be a lunch break of 45 to 90 minutes, though many schools lack any special break in general. Some schools have regular breaks of 5 minutes between every lesson and have additional 10 or 15-minute breaks after the second and fourth lesson.

In German state schools lessons have a length of exactly 45 minutes. Each subject is usually taught for two to three periods every week (main subjects like mathematics, German or foreign languages are taught for four to six periods) and usually no more than two periods consecutively. The beginning of every period and, usually, break is announced with an audible signal such as a bell.

Exams (which are always supervised) are usually essay-based, rather than . As of 11th grade, exams usually consist of no more than three separate exercises. While most exams in the first grades of secondary schools usually span no more than 90 minutes, exams in 10th to 12th grade may span four periods or more (without breaks).

multiple choice

At every type of school, pupils study one (in most cases English) for at least five years. The study of languages is, however, far more rigorous and literature-oriented in Gymnasium. In Gymnasium, students can choose from a wider range of languages (mostly English, French, Russian—mostly in east German Bundesländer—or Latin) as the first language in 5th grade, and a second mandatory language in 7th grade. Some types of Gymnasium also require an additional third language (such as Spanish, Italian, Russian, Latin or Ancient Greek) or an alternative subject (usually based on one or two other subjects, e.g. British politics (English and politics), dietetics (biology) or media studies (arts and German) in 9th or 11th grade. Gymnasiums normally offer further subjects starting at 11th grade, with some schools offering a fourth foreign language.

foreign language

A number of schools once had a Raucherecke (smokers' corner), a small area of the schoolyard where students over the age of eighteen are permitted to smoke on their breaks. Those special areas were banned in the states of , Hessen, and Hamburg, Brandenburg at the beginning of the 2005–06 school year. (Bavaria, Schleswig-Holstein, Lower Saxony 2006–07)). Schools in these states prohibit smoking for students and teachers and offences at school will be punished. All other states in Germany introduced similar laws in the aftermath of EU regulations on smoking.

Berlin

As state schools are public, smoking is universally prohibited inside the buildings. Smoking teachers are generally asked not to smoke while at or near school.

Students over 14 years are permitted to leave the school compound during breaks at some schools. Teachers or school personnel tend to prevent younger students from leaving early and strangers from entering the compound without permission.

Tidying up the classroom and schoolyard is often the task of the students themselves. Unless a group of volunteering students, individuals are being picked sequentially.

Many schools have AGs or Arbeitsgemeinschaften (clubs) for afternoon activities such as sports, music or acting, but participation is not necessarily common. Some schools also have student volunteer mediators trained to resolve conflicts between their classmates or younger students.

Few schools have actual sports teams that compete with other schools. Even if the school has a sports team, students are not necessarily very aware of it.

While student newspapers used to be very common until the late 20th century, with new issues often produced every couple of months, many of them are now very short-lived, usually vanishing when the class graduates. Student newspapers are often financed mostly by advertisements.

Schools don't often have their own radio stations or TV channels; larger universities often have a local student-run radio station.

Although most German schools and state universities do not have classrooms equipped with a computer for each student, schools usually have at least one or two computer rooms and most universities offer a limited number of rooms with computers on every desk. State school computers are usually maintained by the same exclusive contractor in the entire city and updated slowly. Internet access is often provided by phone companies free of charge.

At the end of their schooling, students usually undergo a cumulative written and oral examination (Abitur in Gymnasien or Abschlussprüfung in Realschulen and Hauptschulen). Students leaving Gymnasium after 9th grade have the Hauptschule leaving examination and after 10th grade they have the Mittlere Reife (leaving examination of the Realschule, also called Mittlerer Schulabschluss).

After 10th grade Gymnasium students may leave school for at least one year of job education if they do not wish to continue. Realschule and Hauptschule students who have passed their Abschlussprüfung may decide to continue schooling at a Gymnasium, but are sometimes required to take additional courses to catch up.

was banned in 1949 in East Germany and in 1973 in West Germany.

Corporal punishment

Fourth grade (or sixth, depending on the state) is often quite stressful for students of lower performance and their families. Many feel tremendous pressure when trying to achieve placement in Gymnasium, or at least when attempting to avoid placement in Hauptschule. Germany is unique compared to other western countries in its early segregation of students based on academic achievement.

1,000,000 new students at all schools put together for one year

400,000 Abitur graduations

30,000 doctoral dissertations per year

1000 per year (the traditional way to qualify as a professor, but typically postdoc or junior professorship is the preferred career path nowadays, which are not accounted for in this number)

habilitations

Alexander von Humboldt Foundation

(DFG)

Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft

(BMWi)

Federal Ministry for Economics and Technology

(DAAD), promoting international exchange of scientists and students

German Academic Exchange Service

Abitur after twelve years

Academic grading in Germany

Education in East Germany

Music schools in Germany

List of schools in Germany

List of specialist schools in Germany

List of universities in Germany

Open access in Germany

Bernstein, George, and Lottelore Bernstein. "Attitudes toward Women's Education in Germany, 1870-1914." International Journal of Women's Studies 2 (1979): 473-488.

Foght, H.W. ed. Comparative education (1918), compares United States, England, Germany, France, Canada, and Denmark

online

Green, Lowell. "The education of women in the Reformation." History of Education Quarterly 19.1 (1979): 93-116.

online

Hahn, Walter. "Education in East and West Germany a study of similarities and contrasts." Studies in Comparative Communism 5.1 (1972): 47-79.

Lundgreen, Peter. "Industrialization and the educational formation of manpower in Germany." Journal of Social History 9.1 (1975): 64-80, on 19th century.

online

Petschauer, Peter. "Improving Educational-Opportunities for Girls in 18th-Century Germany." Eighteenth-Century Life 3.2 (1976): 56-62.

DAAD.de German Academic Exchange Service

BildungsServer.de The German education system: basic facts

FZS-Online.org Free union of student bodies (FZS) of Germany

(1916)

The New Student's Reference Work/German Universities

– Contains indicators and information about Germany and how it compares to other OECD and non-OECD countries

Information on education in Germany, OECD

– Using 1997 ISCED classification of programmes and typical ages. Also in German

Diagram of German education system, OECD

– contains a full report on the state of vocational education in Germany (World TVET database)

Vocational education in Germany, UNESCO-UNEVOC