Goal: We Want the Comprehensive School [Einheitsschule]!
Background: German children are assigned to different types of schools at a much younger age than in any other industrial country in the world except Austria. School students must decide after fourth grade – in Berlin after sixth – whether they want to go on to a university-preparatory school [Gymnasium], an intermediate school [Realschule], or a general secondary school [Hauptschule]. The dispute over the appropriate type of school dates back to the beginnings of the Federal Republic of Germany, when the Allies wanted the country to adopt a democratic school for everyone. Such an institution, called an Einheitsschule in German, did not catch on in any of the federal states. Whether integrated education systems really lead to better performance is debatable, but most scholars agree that putting students on separate tracks early on intensifies social exclusion, which is considered especially harsh in Germany.
Prognosis: Although structures did not change for decades, there have now been a number of new developments in this field. Several federal states are attempting to reduce the number of school forms. One of their focuses is to eliminate the general secondary school or to gradually integrate it with the intermediate school. Hamburg and Berlin have gone one step further. They want to combine all the school forms, with the exception of university-preparatory schools, into a new type of school. One special feature of their so-called city-district schools [Stadtteilschule] and regional schools is that eligible students will be able to earn their Abitur in thirteen years instead of twelve. Nevertheless, the type of comprehensive school that is common in most countries around the world – ending in eighth or tenth grade – is not on the educational agenda of any German federal state.
Goal: Abolish the Eight-Year Gymnasium!
Background: All the federal states in the western part of Germany have shortened their programs at university-preparatory schools [Gymnasien]. Saarland was the first to introduce this change: since 2001, students there have had eight years, instead of nine, to complete their Abitur. In the new federal states in the east, the eight-year Gymnasium has been the norm for quite some time. With the shortened programs, the education ministers were responding to criticism that graduates of German secondary schools were too old. This apparently put them at a labor market disadvantage vis-à-vis graduates in other countries where secondary schools last twelve years instead of thirteen. Recent figures have shown that German students complete their Abitur at an average age of 19.5 and that German university students take their final examinations at age twenty-seven. Politicians from all parties support efforts to bring the German system in line with European standards, but teacher associations criticized the reform from the start and parents and students joined the protest. The “turbocharged” university-preparatory schools are too demanding for students, they say, and they leave students little time for sports, music, and other recreational activities. After all, pupils still have to cover the same material and take the same number of lessons in order to do their Abitur. This is one reason that classes are often held in the afternoon, although most schools have not been converted to all-day facilities yet.
Prognosis: The implementation of shorter school programs is well underway. Curricula have been adapted and schedules have been revised. For most university-preparatory schools, the reform entailed enormous work, and it is unlikely that the eight-year Gymnasium will be reversed. At the same time, most federal states are streamlining curricula. In the long run, university-preparatory schools will have to become all-day schools. Good schools will then be able to schedule both classes and recreation throughout the day.
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