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Although the German education system tracks students based on their perceived level of ability into well-defined school forms, a certain amount of flexibility operates throughout the system. This flexibility is primarily a function of formalized procedures that are available as options for assisting weak students. However, a few discretionary mechanisms also operate within the school and classroom.
Grading. Teachers at all levels have some freedom in grading students' work. However, of all the teachers we spoke to, Grundschule teachers seemed to feel the most restricted. They must follow guidelines for promoting students to the next grade level, and the only variation in grading policy allowed Grundschule teachers is a different method of evaluating in-class dictation for dyslexic students.
According to teachers at the other school forms, there is a prescribed number of tests and quizzes required in the major subjects, and students are also graded on class participation. Class participation usually counts for one-third of a student's grade. The grade for class participation is derived from notes which the teacher keeps for each student, and can be an important factor in the final grade. For students who are in academic jeopardy, the flexibility allowed by including a grade for class participation means that teachers can raise a grade from a 5 to a 4 if they believe that there are sound reasons for doing so. Both Hauptschule and Realschule teachers said that they consider this to be very important, particularly when it comes to influencing the motivation of students. One Realschule teacher in particular said, "I arrive at a grade through calculation. . . .and then I stay with the grade within a certain range for free play. The goal is to motivate as well as reflect the mastery of the topic." Class participation is also graded at the Gymnasium, but teachers and students both indicated that grades are more strictly calculated than at the other school forms.
Flexibility in grading at the Gesamtschule can also mean that the grade a student achieves in a particular subject can result in a change of course level in that subject. One student explained:
If you have a 1 (A) or a 2 (B) in a Grundkurs, you are permitted to go on to an Erweiterungskurs. However, if you had a 5 there, you would be asked to study more and put more effort in your work. With another 5, you would be asked to leave the Erweiterungskurs.
The second point at which teachers' discretionary powers can affect students' lives is at the end-of-year teachers' conference. At all of the secondary school forms, failing or near-failing grades are discussed at the teachers' conference, and the resulting recommendations can include promotion, retention, or transfer of a student. The discussion, which takes place before final assignment of grades, gives individual teachers the chance to present information relevant to the individual student's circumstances. A good grade in one subject can usually balance a poor grade in another subject. Or a student who might otherwise have received two failing grades might be given a grade of four in one subject and five in the other after some discussion by the teachers involved.
Retention. Another aspect of flexibility that can be found within German schools is the option of holding academically weak students at a particular grade level for an additional year, rather than promoting them with their classmates. The practice of retention was believed to be an effective way of giving a student a second chance to perform at the required level, when the conditions that led to the lack of performance were seen as surmountable.
One parent spoke of her perception of retention and the situation, which prompts retention in this way:
The teachers really make an effort to keep weak students in class, but at some point it is not good to overburden these students. It is good for such kids to repeat a year. I know a student who has repeated a year and is much better now.
There are clear rules regarding the maximum number of failing grades a student can receive and still be promoted. Students who receive two or more grades of 5 or lower on their end-of-year grade report are retained for a year at the same grade level, and from our discussions with teachers and students, it was apparent that retention is a fairly common practice at all of the traditional school forms: the Hauptschule, the Realschule, and the Gymnasium. However, it is uncommon for students to be retained for more than 1 year. If the student's performance does not improve during the 2nd year, the school will request that the parents transfer their son or daughter to a less demanding school form. If a student at the Gymnasium has been held back for two grades (e.g., 6th and 10th), the student will not be allowed to continue on to the Oberstufe, but will leave the Gymnasium with a certificate equivalent to the Realschule certificate. Students at the Realschule who fail the 10th grade twice leave the school with either a Hauptschule certificate or, if their achievement was extremely low, a departure certificate, rather than the Realschule certificate.
The Hauptschule teachers we spoke to said that parents may ask for only a 1-year extension of the 9 years of education which the Grundschule and Hauptschule provide. The teachers decide in conference whether the student has the ability to benefit from the extension to obtain his Hauptschule certificate. If they believe the student will be able to perform up to the required level, the extension will be granted. Otherwise, the school will recommend that the student leave school with a departure certificate rather than a degree. Students may then choose to make up the Hauptschule certificate by attending night school or go into the Berufsvorbereitungsjahr (professional preparation year) to learn a trade. This alternative also allows students to continue to pursue their Hauptschule certificate if they wish. The teachers we spoke with said that only about 8-10 percent of the Hauptschule students leave the school with a departure certificate rather than the Hauptschule certificate.
Transfer to a less demanding school form. Transfer to another school is usually the second option parents and teachers consider when a student is not working up to the level of ability required of the school form in which they are enrolled. Grade retention is often tried first, but if students are unhappy with the school environment they are in, they may decide to transfer to a less demanding school form right away rather than stay for another year. The flexibility of changing to a school form, which is less demanding, allows students to continue on an education track, which should lead to the successful completion of a certificate. Rather than fail in their education, they are likely to achieve a certificate, which will lead to other education and vocation options.
One parent spoke of the difference for her daughter after she transferred from the Gymnasium to the Realschule:
At the Gymnasium it was just too much. I tried to encourage her, but she did not have what it takes. Despite studying she had 3's, 4's and sometimes 5's. Then she cried. She no longer holds back now that she is at the Realschule. This is her level. She studies, does her homework. It is fun for her. I think it is better for her to have a good Realschule degree than a bad Gymnasium degree.
Transfer from the Gymnasium to the Realschule is common, since obtaining a Realschule certificate does not preclude a student from enrolling in a Gymnasium or Berufliches Gymnasium to pursue the Abitur. It is less common to transfer from the Realschule to the Hauptschule, and most teachers we spoke with said that they try to do what they can to help students raise their level of performance and stay in the Realschule. Although students who graduate from the Hauptschule also have pathways to the Abitur, the Hauptschule has a poor reputation and the education received there does not provide adequate preparation for continuing in an academically based program. As a result, teachers and parents try to avoid sending a student from the Realschule to the Hauptschule. However, transfer to a lower school form does not have to be permanent. One parent spoke of her son, who had received poor grades at the Realschule and transferred to a Hauptschule. He applied himself at the Hauptschule for half a year and achieved grades that allowed him to transfer back to the same Realschule.
Two other options also exist for some Gymnasium students who are experiencing difficulty in meeting the demands of the Gymnasium's curriculum. Rather than transfer to a Realschule, students at a Gymnasium may decide to transfer to a Gymnasium with a less demanding reputation or to a Berufliches Gymnasium. These transfers are seen as lateral moves within the school system. For geographical reasons, however, opportunities for making such transfers are not available to everyone.
Transfer to a more demanding school form. Student movement between schools was usually cited as an opportunity to place students at a level for which they were best suited, and in most of the cases described the movement was either lateral or downward to a less demanding school form. However, there were a few instances where students moved to a higher school form at a point in time that was not one of the "standard" points of transfer. For instance, so-called "late bloomers" move to the Gymnasium from the Förderstufe in the sixth or seventh grade rather than in the fifth grade. Also, students in the southern region of Germany were not precluded from moving into the Gymnasium from the sixth grade although they did not have the Förderstufe operating in their schools, and the transition was seen as more difficult to make at this stage.
Hauptschule students can transfer to the Realschule if their grades are high enough. They can also test into the Realschule if they do not have the requisite grade average for direct admittance. In the southern region of Germany, which has a reputation for more rigorous standards across all schools forms than other parts of Germany, a significant proportion of students entered the Realschule by taking the admission test. We were told:
Approximately 60 percent of a year's kids attend continuing schools, 30 percent in the Realschule and 30 percent in the Gymnasium. Two-thirds of the students enter the Realschule on the basis of their grades and one-third enters on the basis of the admissions test.
The flexibility between school forms therefore is not entirely one way. Students are allowed to try out a new school form if they have the required grades or if they pass the admissions test. If they prove themselves capable of performing at the required level during the probationary period, they are allowed to stay there. Otherwise, they are transferred to the appropriate school form.
We asked students, parents, and teachers what they thought of the differentiated school system and whether they saw it as being fair. Teachers were the system's strongest advocates. They voiced the opinion that the system was flexible and that opportunities for the Abitur or advanced training existed for everyone. The following statement from a Berufsschule teacher well reflects the opinions stated by several teachers we spoke to—all teaching at different school forms:
The German system is fairly flexible. There are many ways to the same goal. I think it is good that one can get to the Abitur through different paths, no matter on which path one has started. Even if the student has dropped out for a while, there are ways to get the Abitur. I think this is a very good thing.
Parents also were generally very supportive of the differentiated system. The rational for tracking students into different schools was clear for them. A typical statement of support for the differentiated school system was made by a parent of a Grundschule student:
I like the practice of dividing students by school. Only when the students are separated into groups according to their ability is it possible for one teacher to challenge adequately all the students in the group. If the differences among the students are too great, then the teacher can only teach to the average, and some students are not challenged and other students are over challenged.
Despite the general consensus that the differentiated system provides an appropriate level of challenge for children with differing abilities, several parents felt very strongly that the system was not working optimally when students were divided so early in their schooling. This was the most notable criticism voiced by parents in all three states. Particularly dissatisfied were the parents and teachers in the former East German state. Prior to unification the school system there did not divide students into tracks until after the 10th grade, and there was almost unanimous belief that the division following the 4th grade was far too early. Many parents from both the former East and West states said it would be better if students were not divided into tracks until "a couple of years later"; they stated that students who were "late bloomers" were at a disadvantage in the traditional school system.
For several parents we spoke to, the Gesamtschule and the Förderstufe were important additions to the differentiated system, because they allowed more time for students to mature and develop their interests. They gave late bloomers a chance at upward mobility, adding flexibility to the system which otherwise might have tracked a student into an inappropriately low school form and not allowed the student to be adequately challenged.
The parents' perception of the flexibility of the system was also evident in the examples parents gave of students who had either repeated a year of their schooling or changed school forms. Parents, teachers, and students all saw retention as a very normal occurrence and there was no particular stigma attached to it. Students easily talked about their classmates who had been held back or others who had joined their class from the previous year's class. This was particularly true of students at the Gymnasien we visited. One student from a Gymnasium in southern Germany stated that, "there was hardly a class in which less than 10 percent of the students had to stay back a year, and in my class nearly 25 percent had been held back by the eighth grade." Students and teachers did not report any negative social aspects for the class or for students who were retained.
School transfer was described as another very acceptable and common way of allowing a student to adjust within the system. Many people we spoke to noted that parents sometimes pushed students into an inappropriately difficult school form. The student is able to stay there through hard work but at the cost of excessive stress. Over and over again, parents said that it was better for the students if they were "suited" to the school in which they were enrolled. If a school was too difficult, then the student was under too much stress, would lose interest, and do poorly. Parents and teachers agreed that a student who finished the Abitur or the Realschule certificate with poor results was worse off in the job market than a student with a less demanding degree and good results. Therefore, the degree results—not just the degree—were important. Everyone recognized that if the student's grades were in jeopardy, the student could either repeat a year and learn the material in order to improve their grades or change to a less demanding school form and receive good grades on a degree which would still leave many of the same education or vocation training opportunities open.
Our understanding of issues related to equity within the education system is based on published statistics as well as on information from observations and interviews we conducted. Information on the distribution of funds and physical resources across schools and across school forms is presented in the first of three segments related to equity. However, given the fairly even distribution of funding and physical resources, we were also interested in discerning whether the school system provides the same opportunities to everyone. Therefore, the second segment deals with equal access to learning and the primary factors which people perceived as influencing access and outcomes. And lastly, we describe in the third segment information collected about gender distribution in relation to the tracking system.
Data on funding sources for schools in Germany shows that 79.2 percent of the funding for all of the primary- and secondary-level school forms comes from the states and 20.8 percent from local government and nonprofit organizations (KMK 1993). We were told by several teachers and parents that the amount of money schools receives are determined by the number of students they enroll. One parent in particular stated, "In principle, all schools have the same amount of money, allotted by the state and the municipal education office." This system was seen as providing for a relatively even distribution of resources across schools in each state. Although administrators did not complain about an inequity of funding across schools, all noted that school funding has been affected by Germany's recent economic difficulties, and they described their school budgets as tight.
A few teachers and administrators said that differences in community affluence contributed to some inequality in education experiences. However, they noted that at least at the Grundschule level, some of the inequality was not the result of differential funding levels from local governments as much as the result of parental fund-raising activities. Parent groups were active in all the Grundschule we visited, although their level of involvement and their contributions to the schools were quite diverse. We were told that money raised by parent groups was often used to provide supplemental activities, such as field trips and after-school activities. One Grundschule in a predominantly middle-class suburb was able to provide enough funding for after-school programs, including theater and music. A Grundschule in a much less affluent working-class neighborhood with a school population that was over 60 percent foreign students received materials from the city for painting the classrooms, and parents did the painting. A member of the parents' council from this school noted that they had difficulty raising funds for extra supplies and activities because of the limited financial resources of many of the parents in the neighborhood. While a parent from this school noted that government cutbacks in funding in recent years had led to an increase in differences between Grundschulen, she felt there was nothing that could be done about it. "That's just the way it is," she said.
The age and architectural structure of the school buildings were often representative of their neighborhoods. A Gymnasium in the central part of a large city was 125 years old. Another Gymnasium located on the outskirts of a smaller city was no more than 10 years old. Despite the differences, they were both considered very good schools and there did not appear to be discrepancies in terms of the resources within the buildings. This comparison holds across school forms as well. From what we could tell, the Gymnasium did not have preferential treatment; Hauptschule and Realschule seemed to be receiving their fair share of resources. The situation was similar in all three states. A combined Haupt/Realschule in the former East German state had recently been remodeled, while the Gymnasium was in a modern concrete building (in a neighborhood of concrete apartment buildings). Equipment and supplies found at all three school levels here were observed to be similar to those in use at schools in the other states, and general complaints about tight operating budgets were similar as well. While some inequities may still exist between schools in the former East and West states, great efforts have been made to support education in the economically depressed East.
The school buildings reflected the orderliness of German society in general. Regardless of the fact that some were over a century old, they all were in generally good physical condition and can be characterized as functional, clean, and uncluttered. Except for the Gesamtschule, which was an all-day school, hallways displayed very little artwork or other evidence of student activity, and most of the schools were built around a central courtyard where the main entrance was found and where students played or congregated before school.
There is complete equity of access to public education at the elementary level in Germany. The egalitarian instructional philosophy that molds education methodology at the Grundschule provides, within the limits of school, equal access to the prescribed subject material. At least this is perceived to be the situation for the children who enter Grundschule ready to learn. For foreign students lacking fluency in the German language, schools provide an additional German language course in an effort to build and strengthen their language skills and enhance their opportunities for learning in the classroom. For students needing additional work on motor skills or social skills in the first years of schooling, a social pedagogue teacher provides around six to eight supplemental teaching hours per week in the classroom. These supplemental activities are remedial and yet an extension of the philosophy that a good educational foundation must be provided to all students in the Grundschule. The foundation is, in fact, seen by teachers as a rather rigid set of curricular and testing guidelines that are set by the education authorities of the state. These guidelines prescribe what all children are required to learn through the fourth grade. The importance of these guidelines is reinforced by the fact that for the majority of children in Germany, the fourth grade is the point at which their future educational track is set. And although the school system beyond the Grundschule is somewhat flexible, upward mobility at the secondary level is less likely than lateral or downward mobility. Beyond the lower secondary level, a new set of options arises, but these are dependent on the educational foundation the student has achieved through the lower secondary level.
The individuals we spoke with saw the segregation of students into differentiated school forms at the lower secondary level as a way of providing students with an education appropriate to their capabilities and giving them the skills they need to become productive members of society. Most people stated that they believed that this system works well for a majority of the student population. Moreover, the fairness of the system was often described in terms of the multiple paths it provides to the Abitur or to advanced professional training.
At the same time, many people also acknowledged the influence of diverse cultural and environmental factors on the educational achievements of children. They described social problems that affected families and children more frequently in the lower socioeconomic levels of society and concluded that these problems contributed to different educational outcomes for these children. In particular, they pointed out that children who are naturally "late bloomers," children who enter the school system with lower levels of preparedness, and children whose out-of-school environment does not support education and learning were at a disadvantage and were often forced into the Hauptschule by their deficiencies. A lack of family support, poor home environment, and German-language difficulties were often cited as factors which kept students from performing at higher levels and kept them, in disproportionate numbers, in the least demanding school form and therefore in lower-level vocational occupations. But external influences on ability were often seen as beyond the control of the school system. A Hauptschule teacher stated it in this way:
I think that the system offers people who are willing to perform the opportunity, irrespective of their national background. The problem lies in the fact that many of the families that have come to Germany are from the uneducated classes of their homeland. The parents are often illiterate and cannot help their children.
Many teachers and parents told us they believed that parents who themselves had attended the Gymnasium or Realschule were in a much better position to assist and encourage their children in their educational pursuits than those with less education. They also said they believed that parents who had attended the Gymnasium or Realschule often had higher educational aspirations for their children and saw the opportunities that a higher degree would provide. These parents communicated more frequently with their children?s teachers through parent conferences or office hours, particularly if they thought their child was having difficulty meeting the necessary standards. One parent touched on some of these issues:
The percentage of foreigners in a Hauptschule is high. These schools would also be attended by students whose parents are unemployed, whose social background is brittle, and whose parents have no higher education. Seldom do we find children of parents who only went to a Hauptschule themselves attending a Gymnasium or even a Realschule.
Within all of the school forms, innate intelligence, home environment, and student effort were the primary factors, which were described as contributing to success in school. Teachers saw it as their responsibility to foster learning for all the students in their class, but student effort was seen as a factor affecting student performance and therefore achievement. Even in the Grundschulen, teachers often cited willingness to learn as an important characteristic of a successful student. Once students were tracked to a lower secondary school, they were seen as being fully capable of performing at the required level as long as they were motivated to learn and put forth effort. The educational system continued to provide access to everyone at a level which was appropriate for them, and each certificate achieved opened the door to further opportunities. Only individuals who failed to obtain a certificate were perceived as being shut out of further education or vocation paths. Even for dropouts, however, institutions such as night schools were cited as providing a path for further education or training.
Two other factors affecting equity of access were mentioned briefly by teachers and parents. However, these factors were discussed matter-of-factly and did not seem to be a source of concern. One factor was the availability of private schools as an alternative to public schools. Private Gymnasien and Realschulen were said to offer education environments for students who needed more individual attention and tutoring to succeed. They were a kind of "safety net" for those who could afford them. Because of their expense, however, they were not a viable option for everyone. The second factor, which affected equal access, was geography. While the Gymnasium was available to anyone who met the standards for entrance, students in rural areas had fewer schools to choose from than students in urban areas. Multiple Gymnasien offering different curricular tracks and different reputations for difficulty and competitiveness were available in urban areas, whereas a rural area might offer only one Gymnasium.
Gender equity was not an issue in the Grundschulen we visited. Classrooms were composed nearly equally of girls and boys. There was no attempt to separate or segregate students into separate sections by gender. In fact, this would have gone against the philosophy of the Grundschule, which promotes socialization of students and encourages them to understand each other. Many teachers stated that they try to treat all students the same and bring all students forward in their learning at about the same pace. If they noted any differences between the genders, the differences were based on classroom behavior. Some teachers felt that girls at this age were generally more focused and ready to learn.
Our classroom observations at the Realschulen and Gesamtschulen revealed that there was a relatively even distribution of males and females at both of these school forms and a smaller proportion of females at the Hauptschulen. Published statistics regarding gender and school completion support these observations. In 1992, female graduates comprised 43.8 percent of Hauptschule graduates, 51.8 percent of Realschule graduates and 52.3 percent of Abitur holders from traditional Gymnasien (Bundesministerium für Bildung und Wissenschaft 1993). Gender differentiation did not appear to be significant within the Realschule until students began their curricular-based tracks in the eighth grade. However, the different tracks did attract different proportions of male and female students. In the Realschule that we visited in one of the southern states, the gender differentiation was very pronounced. At this particular Realschule, the students we interviewed indicated that the technical-science track attracted a majority of males and the social science track a majority of females. The published data from this state supports our observations: 63 percent of the female students in grade eight in 1992 were pursuing studies in the fields of art, music, design, home economics or the social sciences; 29 percent were pursuing studies in the field of economics; and 8 percent were pursuing studies in mathematics and natural sciences (BSME 1993).
Although several curricular tracks exist in the Gymnasium, the two tracks, which attract the highest percentages of students, are mathematics-natural sciences and modern languages. Data from a southern state reveals gender enrollment patterns similar to those of the curricular tracks at the Realschulen: 43 percent of female students were enrolled in modern language tracks at Gymnasien and 29 percent in mathematics and natural sciences tracks at Gymnasien. In contrast to this, 57 percent of males were enrolled in the mathematics and natural sciences tracks at Gymnasien and 22 percent in modern language tracks at Gymnasien (BSME 1993). Gymnasien teachers we spoke with confirmed that male students are in the majority in the mathematics and natural sciences tracks. One teacher estimated that only about 30 percent of the students enrolled in the mathematics and science track in their Gymnasium were female.
In grade 11, Gymnasium students must choose the two Leistungskurse, which they will follow throughout grades 12 and 13. The grades, which they receive in these courses, count heavily in the final computation of their grade in the Abitur. Because of this, students choose fields that interest them, and fields in which they feel confident. One of the two Leistungskurse must be chosen from a foreign language the pupil has studied in years 5-10 or be mathematics or a science. The second Leistungskurse can be chosen without further limitation except that it must be from a different field of study from the first. Our observations of Leistungskurse mathematics classes, though somewhat limited in number, seemed to point to a higher selection of these advanced mathematics classes by male students than by female students. In most cases, we saw a male-female ratio of at least 2:1, and in one class the ratio was 3:1. This would seem to be further indication that girls are not pursuing mathematics as an interest with the same vigor as are boys.
[Chapter 3 (Part 5 of 5)]