German School System

In Germany, children start their education by the age of 3 when they go to a kindergarten. They stay there for about 3-4 years and then advance to elementary school. At elementary school they stay for another 4 years. In contrast to the US, the students get grades from 1 to 6 while a 1 is the best grade and a 6 is the worst. School uniforms are not usual in public schools while private schools often use them. The years at elementary school are highly important for the children because after their stay the system gets trinomial.

Depending on the children’s achievements during elementary school, they get introduced either to a type of secondary school called “Hauptschule” or “Realschule”, or to an academic high school called “Gymnasium”. The students at Gymnasium have to go through nine classes before they can graduate with higher education entrance qualification. A Gymnasium graduation is the most common way that qualifies for university. Students at Realschule stay for six years in school. After that, they can either apply for job training or go to another secondary school to receive a qualification for university as well. At the Hauptschule, students stay for five years and usually try to get a job after their stay. This system is highly criticized because it puts weak students on the scrap heap early on.

In 2001 the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) showed that the knowledge of German students was rather poor compared to students of other industrial nations. This led to a political debate about the school system.

The result was the inauguration of additional full-time schools as well as the development of a uniform syllabus for all students. Also, the support of learning in kindergarten was assured with financial help.

The financial support for parents was also expanded. Any parent can take two years off the job to care for their newborns. They receive monthly about 65% of their last salary and their job has to be kept free so they can return to their job after two years.

One main problem of the school system is the promotion of migrants’ children who often do not speak the German language at all when attending elementary school. Full-time schools and support for early childhood learning will likely succeed here.

In conclusion, all of those measures are promising for the future, but have not succeeded in short term as Germany performed poorly once again in the PISA studies of 2004 and 2006.

However, a school exchange with Germany is highly recommended. You will benefit from this experience personally as well as work-related. You can learn the German language and get to know the culture, people and history.