A r c h i v e d  I n f o r m a t i o n

Chapter 3

Individual Differences and the
German Education System

By: Roberta Nerison-Low

"If the child is not suited to the Gymnasium, if he cannot learn foreign languages and is not good at abstract thought, then this child will continually fail and will continually experience frustration, and such children are deformed in the development of their personality. They have continual experiences of failure and no successful experience. . . . As a result, we say, do not send children to the Gymnasium who are not suited for it. Such children belong as soon as possible in the correct educational path." (Gymnasium teacher)

Introduction

Individual differences in ability are overtly acknowledged by all participants in the education system in Germany, and the differentiated education paths in the German education system are a reflection of both the social and political acceptance of differences in individual ability and talent. The strictness in the separation of students into different forms of school emerges from the philosophy that to succeed and progress, a society must have an educated elite and a trained work force and that the educational needs of each group are quite different. The majority of students should receive a practical foundation in education, which leads them to function as productive members of society. However, the best and brightest students must be taught in a disciplined manner, educated in the theoretical underpinnings of key subject areas, taught to think logically, to ask questions, and to work independently in solving problems. These students will then be prepared to study at the university and will emerge from the university ready to move into positions of responsibility in society and eventually to become leaders within German society.

Generally in the more politically conservative states, primarily the southern states, the differentiation between school forms is more rigid and pronounced than in the rest of the country. In the states, which have been influenced in recent decades by the Social Democratic Party, a philosophy promoting a more open system has led to greater flexibility and cooperation between school forms. The traditional division of schools at the lower secondary level remains in these states as well, but the addition of the Förderstufe and the comprehensive school is a recognition of the need for flexibility within the education system.

In addition to the different political philosophies, which have introduced some change and variation in the education system in Germany, German society and its school system have been affected by increasing cultural diversity. Between 1960 and 1992, the number of foreign students enrolled in German schools grew from 27,800 to 831,900 (Bundesministerium für Bildung und Wissenschaft [BMBW] 1993). Many are the children of first- or second-generation immigrant workers from southern European countries, such as Greece, Italy, and Turkey. However, the breakup of the former Soviet Union has brought many recent immigrants from other countries, such as Poland, Russia, and the former Yugoslavia. As a result of Germany?s citizenship requirements, many second-generation immigrants remain foreigners in Germany, and, because of the proximity of their European homelands, immigrants maintain their cultural heritage and language, sometimes through several generations of residency in Germany.

Field Research and the Topic of Investigation

We were able to interview teachers, administrators, students, and parents of students in three different states about their views of education practices related to individual differences in ability and their beliefs concerning the efficacy and fairness of their educational system. Since our field study was limited to schools in 3 states, it is impossible to represent the views of individuals from each of the 16 different states. That our study is, nevertheless, representative of the country is suggested by the fact that despite quite different historical and political influences that have brought philosophical and structural differences to the education systems in these three states, the systems are for the most part very similar.

The focus of our field research was to investigate through interviews and observations the cultural and personal perceptions of individual differences in learning. Prior to the field research we identified four areas of investigation along which we planned to gather information. We were interested in finding out how people perceived individual differences and what they considered to be the basis for these differences. We were also interested in how the system and individuals in the system dealt with individual differences at the structural as well as the classroom level. In addition, we were interested in peoples' attitudes towards the way in which the system accommodated individual differences, such as the use of ability groups, peer tutoring, and academic tracking. Lastly, we were interested in peoples' attitudes towards the education of extremely disabled or extremely gifted students.

At the primary site, Central City, William Foraker conducted all of the interviews and observations pertaining to the topic of differences in ability, except for a few interviews at a vocational high school, which were conducted by a German research assistant. Foraker also collected interview and observation data at the schools in South City, while Ute Milotich and Mark Ashwill collected the interview and observation data relevant to the topic of differences in ability during their visits to the schools in East City. Milotich and Ashwill shared data from the secondary sites with Foraker, and these data were included in the analysis and are reflected in this chapter.

In pursuit of information on how differences in ability are treated in German schools, Foraker and his research colleagues conducted 18 interviews at academic high schools, 14 at vocational high schools, 20 at middle schools, and 25 at elementary schools. Of the total of 77 interviews pertaining to this topic, approximately 25 were held in East City and 8 in South City. In addition, approximately 35 classroom and general observations were included in the data analysis. Printed information obtained from schools, career-counseling centers, state ministries of education and their affiliated research institutes, and the Conference of Ministers of Education was also integrated into research findings in this chapter.

In order to represent clearly the findings from the field research, the topical sections of this paper are presented through a combination of integration of data, summary description, and direct quotations of parents, teachers, and students from each type of school we visited. Therefore the reader will encounter information pertaining to the major school forms, the Grundschule, Hauptschule, Realschule, Gesamtschule, Gymnasium, and Berufsschule, as it relates to each of the major issues we explored. While this may give the appearance of redundancy at times, this approach will familiarize readers with the differences and the similarities which these school forms share and will provide an opportunity for comparison across many different issues related to differences of ability.

Grundschule and Tracking Into Secondary School

Grundschule

German children are required to enter Grundschule at the age of six for the first 4 years of their education. The Grundschule provides, within a nurturing atmosphere, the educational and social foundation for children in Germany. In contrast to the education system at the higher-grade levels, the Grundschule is a highly egalitarian institution. There is no tracking of children or grouping by level of ability within classes. The school's goal is to foster each child's full potential. Grundschule teachers believe that it is their responsibility to bring the weaker children along and to help them keep up, while fostering learning for all children in the class. Teachers set aside time for helping weak students both during class and after school.

In order to promote class cohesiveness and bonding between students and teachers, Grundschule teachers often teach the same group of students for more than 1 year, and many teachers and principals noted that schools try to keep a teacher with the same class from the first grade through the fourth grade. Teachers said that this practice also increases their ability to assess each student's academic progress and provide ongoing individual support.

Children may be held back a year if their teacher determines that the weaknesses they display would only worsen if they were promoted with their classmates. However, retention is not practiced, as frequently these days as it was in the past and a teacher's decision to retain a student often must be approved by a school authority. Despite the increasing reluctance to retain students at the elementary levels, we found that there is little stigma attached to retention. Instead, it is viewed as an important method of fostering development and is done with the child's best interests in mind. Although there is some movement towards integration of children with disabilities, most are referred to one of a number of special schools called Sonderschulen and do not attend Grundschule.

Teachers at the various Grundschulen we visited shared the philosophy that school should be a pleasant experience for children. They said it is important to make school enjoyable as well as educational, and that they try to develop good relationships with the children in their class. One example of the incorporation of this philosophy into the classroom was observed in a third-grade class where the teacher began each day by having the entire class play a short musical piece together on their recorders. Teachers also noted that learning games are included in classroom exercises in order to engage students and maintain their interest. Although they suggested that this is particularly common in the first 2 years of Grundschule, we observed a third-grade mathematics exercise that also involved the entire class in game-like oral problem solving, with students earning turns at creating the problems after they supplied the correct answer to the previous problem.

Grundschule teachers also see themselves as role models for social behavior. They claimed that instruction in acceptable social behavior is an important component of children's educational experience at the Grundschule. Many teachers reported using small group work and peer tutoring as integral parts of classroom instruction to promote socialization and to facilitate learning, and they actively encouraged children to help one another. In addition, several teachers spoke of how they often had frank discussions with their class about differences in the cultural backgrounds of the children in the class, about how people have different strengths and weaknesses, or about aggressive or inappropriate behavior, which was disruptive to the class. Teaching responsibility was also stated as an important goal, and teachers assigned classroom duties such as watering plants or passing out milk bottles at snack time to promote responsibility.

Students are introduced to the concept of grades as indicators of performance in the second and third grade, so that they are accustomed to receiving grades by the time they enter the fourth grade. Teachers also change the tone of the class in the fourth grade; they begin to make the lessons more academic in nature and they incorporate fewer learning games as they try to prepare the fourth-grade students for their move to a lower secondary school. In a sense, they are weaning them from the relaxed and nurturing atmosphere of the Grundschule.

At the end of the fourth grade, children transfer from the Grundschule to one of several lower secondary school forms. (In Berlin and Brandenburg, the transfer takes place following the sixth grade.) The student's fourth-grade teacher recommends one of the lower secondary school forms. However, the final decision rests with the child's parents.

Factors in the Tracking Decision

The primary factor, which influences tracking to the secondary level, is a student's academic performance in the fourth grade. The German grading scale goes from 1 (A) to 6 (F). Some states require a certain grade average for transfer to the higher level schools, but others do not set a minimum grade requirement. In two of the three states in our study, students achieving at least an average of 2.5 were recommended for transfer to either the Gymnasium or the Realschule, although students with lower averages could attend either of these schools on a probationary basis at their parents request. In the third state, students were required to achieve at least an average of 2.3 to attend the Gymnasium. In some states, students whose grades are not within the recommended parameters for transfer to the Gymnasium or the Realschule must take an entrance examination designed and administered by the school they wish to attend. If they pass the examination they may enroll for a probationary period, and if they demonstrate they are capable of performing at the required level, they remain in the school. Within the traditional German school system, students who do not achieve the required (or recommended) grade average or obtain a sufficiently high score to be admitted to the Realschule or the Gymnasium enter the Hauptschule. In states where the Gesamtschule exists (otherwise known as a comprehensive school form), students of all level of abilities may choose to attend the Gesamtschule as an alternative to one of the traditional school forms.

The system is designed to separate students primarily on the basis of their prior academic performance. However, because decisions about tracking are so important to the child's academic and vocational future, we asked parents and teachers to describe the factors which they consider as they make this decision, how they view the decision process, and whether students play an active role in the decision process.

Many parents stated that they felt that it was difficult to make the decision about the appropriate school form in which they should enroll their child. Throughout our discussions with parents and teachers it was evident that parents relied heavily on the recommendation of their child's teacher, and in most cases did not believe they should make the decision without first hearing the recommendation from the teacher. Parents felt that while they might know what grades their child was getting in school, there were other considerations in the decision which only the teacher could fully evaluate. They had confidence in the teacher's ability to assess their child's academic capabilities and personality characteristics affecting academic performance, and teachers confirmed that they took personality into consideration when making a recommendation for tracking to a secondary level school. Two characteristics in particular—self-confidence and the ability to work independently—were often mentioned as important factors in their recommendation.

Despite the high value that was generally placed on the teacher's recommendation, many parents and teachers mentioned that an increasing number of parents are choosing to go against the teacher's recommendation. Respondents said that in most cases this was because parents want their child to attend either a Realschule or a Gymnasium. Successful completion of these school forms entitles the student to more educational opportunities leading to higher status and higher wage occupations. Parents are very aware of the occupational and educational limitations associated with the Hauptschule, and they stated that the increasing competitiveness in the labor market in Germany has led to a devaluation of the Realschule education as well. They did not want to limit the opportunities that might be available to their child in the future, so they had to consider carefully what entitlements each particular school form provided upon its completion.

A few parents said that they would discuss the tracking decision with their children, but children were not usually expected to have an opinion about the school form to which they should go. This was confirmed by the fourth-grade students. They were aware that they would be changing schools for their next academic year but did not seem to know that grades were of primary importance to the decision. They knew that both their parents and teacher would be involved in the decision, but they were not concerned with the decision themselves. Typical student responses about the tracking decision included statements such as, "I do not know yet where I will go. My parents decide." Another student said, "We have no fixed opinion where we should go." The students' lack of awareness of the importance of their grades in the 4th year is perhaps a reflection of the stressless environment which both parents and teachers believe should exist at the Grundschule. Students who voiced concerns with the tracking decision focused their concerns on other things. For example, one student said, "I resent that I have to say goodbye to some students." Another said, "There are too many different schools, and the class sizes are bigger in secondary schools than they are here."

Parents said that many factors complicated the decision about which secondary school form they should choose for their child, but first and foremost they felt that the school form should be appropriate for their child's personality and ability. One Grundschule parent spoke about the factors pertinent to her decision:

We have a comprehensive school with a Förderstufe in our city. This school and ours closely cooperate. The Förderstufe has the advantage of deferring the decision of where to send the child. Only after sixth grade is the decision made. In a community that is further away from us there is a Gymnasium. It is also not sure whether they will have a commuter bus. This depends on how many children from here will go there. The Gymnasium is very old, and it also has old fashioned, fossilized teachers. The school is not as open as our school here, and I probably would have qualms about sending my child there. For the children of this school here, this Gymnasium would be like a stroke with a hammer. So I would rather say now that my daughter will go to the Förderstufe.

Many parents stated that they believed the tracking decision was made too early and that it would be better for "late bloomers" if it were deferred until the end of the sixth grade. This was a greater concern for parents who lived in states which did not offer the Gesamtschule as an alternative to the traditional school forms. Parents in the former East German State were even more vocal about their unease with making this decision than parents we spoke to in central or southern Germany. The poor reputation of the combined Haupt/Realschule, which was the only alternative to the Gymnasium in this state, contributed to the difficulty of this decision. One parent also specifically complained that the comprehensive school form was not an option in their state. In fact, many parents and teachers in the former East German state said that fourth grade was too early to make such an important decision. The complexity of the decision in this former East German State was summed up well by one parent who said:

I do not like the new school system at all. It is too early to decide in fourth grade which schools the child will attend. In addition, parents have to decide to what kind of Gymnasium they will send their children. The kind of Gymnasium also determines which subject's students can study after finishing the Abitur. Parents do not feel competent to make all these important decisions for their children at such an early age. I think that it is very hard to know what talents and inclinations children will develop later in life.

The location of a school and its reputation were also often important factors in the decision. Within urban areas there was often a myriad of choices among Gymnasien, and parents and students recognized that some Gymnasien had better reputations than others. In particular, the Gymnasien which offered Latin and Greek were usually considered to be more difficult and therefore were more prestigious, although Gymnasien offering modern languages were also among those with very good reputations. Still other Gymnasien were particularly noted for their science or their music programs. On the other hand, in rural communities the choices were much more limited, and if there is a local Realschule with a good reputation, parents may decide to send their child there rather than to a Gymnasium in a neighboring town.

To assist parents with their choice of a secondary school, Grundschulen sponsor information sessions each spring at which principals from different lower secondary schools present information about their school to the parents of fourth-grade students.

Secondary School Tracks

The philosophy which guides education at the lower secondary level is based on the belief that students should be fostered within an environment which has been determined to be appropriate for them. Therefore, the different lower secondary school forms are administered with distinct social and education goals, and students are channeled into each of these school forms according to their ability to meet the required academic standard. If students "fit" the school form and are motivated to learn, then they will meet the school's standards. If the fit is not appropriate, both parents and teachers believe that the student will suffer needlessly and the consequences could be detrimental to the student's personality formation and later prospects for employment.

Hauptschule. The lowest achieving students attend the Hauptschule, where they receive slower paced and more basic instruction in the same primary academic subjects taught at the Realschule and Gymnasium. Additional subjects at the Hauptschule have a vocational orientation, and students are offered career preparation guidance focusing on vocational choices.

In most states, students enroll in the Hauptschule beginning in the fifth grade and remain through the ninth grade. However, some states require school attendance through the 10th grade, and in Bavaria all students who do not enroll in the Gymnasium for the 5th grade are sent to the Hauptschule for a minimum of 2 years. The students deemed to be capable of attending a Realschule are then transferred from the Hauptschule to the Realschule at the beginning of the seventh grade. Those who do not meet the Realschule requirements remain at the Hauptschule through the ninth grade. The Bavarian system is currently changing, however, and within a couple of years it is likely that all students leaving the Grundschule will be tracked at the fifth grade into either the Hauptschule, Realschule, or the Gymnasium.

After successfully completing the ninth grade at the Hauptschule and receiving the Hauptschule certificate, most students enter either a full-time vocational program or a part-time vocational program combined with further study. These programs generally last 2 to 3 years and provide their students with extensive training and a certified skill.

Realschule. The Realschule provides students with an education which combines both liberal and practical education from the 5th through the 10th grade, but the emphasis is on the liberal education. The educational focus in the Realschule is differentiated between the Unterstufe (lower level), which incorporates the 6th and 7th grades, and the Oberstufe (upper level), which includes the 8th, 9th, and 10th grades. The lower level has a strong pedagogical emphasis, while the upper level is more closely oriented to various disciplines. A student who has a grade point average sufficient for attendance at the Gymnasium may be referred to the Realschule instead, if the student?s teacher believes the less competitive environment of the Realschule would better suit the student. Students who complete the Realschule and receive the Realschule certificate are eligible to continue their studies by transferring to a Gymnasium or one of the upper-level vocational school forms—the Berufsfachschule, the Berufsaufbauschule, the Fachoberschule, the Berufliches Gymnasium, the Fachgymnasium, or the Fachschule.

In some municipalities, the Hauptschule and Realschule occupy the same building and share administrative personnel and teachers. The Hauptschule and Realschule students, however, may have little contact with each other, remaining in separate curricular tracks. However in some combined Haupt/Realschulen, the students are integrated for some subjects and divided into separate classes for the primary subjects. In the former East German states the combined Hauptschule and Realschule has various titles: Sekundarschule, Mittelschule, or Regelschule, depending on the state. Although students enter the combined Haupt/Realschule in the fifth grade, the fifth and sixth grades are untracked, so that students do not enter either the Hauptschule track or the Realschule track until the seventh grade.

Gymnasium. The Gymnasium provides students with a liberal education, and traditionally leads to study at the university. Students may enroll in the Gymnasium at the lower secondary level (5th grade) or may transfer to the Gymnasium after the completion of the Realschule (11th grade). In some states, it is also common for students to transfer to the Gymnasium following the sixth grade. The final 3 years of Gymnasium (grades 11-13 in most states) are called the Oberstufe.

Gymnasien can choose to specialize their instruction at the lower secondary level by providing course offerings in one or more education tracks. The most common education tracks offered by standard Gymnasium include classical language, modern language, and mathematics-natural sciences. Students who successfully complete the Gymnasium and pass comprehensive examinations receive the Abitur, which entitles them to study at a university or any upper-level vocational school.

Gesamtschule. The integrated Gesamtschule is not found in all states. Unlike the traditional secondary school forms, it includes students of all levels of ability under one roof. The first 2 years of the Gesamtschule, the fifth and sixth grades, are called the Förderstufe. The Förderstufe is considered to be a period of orientation for students, and very little differentiation by ability takes place during these first 2 years. Students are not placed into differentiated classes at all at the fifth-grade level, and in the sixth grade differentiation is limited to a basic-level course and a more advanced-level course in two subjects, mathematics and English. However, in the seventh grade and eighth grade, students take most of their subjects at either the basic or advanced level, and in the ninth-grade, students enter a three-tiered system of advanced- and basic-level courses in the main subjects. This system is designed to allow students to take courses appropriate to their level of ability in each subject. For instance, a student who is strong in mathematics would be placed in either an A- or B-level mathematics course. The same student, if weak in German, would be placed in a C-level German course. There is also movement between levels as a student's performance improves or declines.

Most Gesamtschule students pursue their studies through grades 9 or 10, receiving either the Hauptschule certificate or Realschule certificate. These students are entitled to pursue the same education or vocation programs as those receiving their certificates from the traditional Hauptschule or Realschule. Students who take and successfully complete advanced-level courses through the 10th grade at the Gesamtschule, including at least two foreign languages, are entitled to study for the Abitur at a Gymnasium. Some Gesamtschulen include an Oberstufe (grades 11-13), which leads to the Abitur and is essentially identical to the Oberstufe in a traditional Gymnasium.

It is important to note that while all of the secondary school forms are distinct, movement between forms is a possibility. There is also some flexibility in when students can move from one form to another. The system provides more flexibility than first appears possible.

[Chapter 2 (Part 5 of 5)]

[Chapter 3 (Part 2 of 5)]