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

Quantitative Developments

Several trends stand out in regard to the numbers of students attending different types of schools.

First, after a decade of decline, the number of students in elementary and secondary schools increased slightly in 1990. Between 1981 and 1989, the number of students in elementary and secondary schools fell from 11.5 million to just under 9 million. In 1990, the number of students rose above 9 million (KMK 1993b).

Second, the inclusion of students attending schools in the former East Germany dramatically increased the number of students for Germany as a whole. The total number of elementary and secondary students in Germany rose to 11,633,612 in 1991. This amounted to an increase of 28.6 percent over the number of students in the West prior to unification. Table 3 shows the total number of students in elementary and lower level secondary school by school type, the number of these students in the East, and the percentage of students from the East (KMK 1993b).

School type	Total in whole of Germany	Number in Easta	Percentage of whole in East
Grundschule	3,385,732	851,160	25
Hauptschule	1,076,392	22,330	2
Realschule	1,038,982	174,720	17
Gymnasium	1,314,864	261,760	20
Gesamtschule	329,014	111,000	34
SOURCE: KMK, 1993b.

aNumbers are estimates, which include any increase in student numbers from 1990 to 1991 in the old Länder.

Table 4 shows the number of students in upper level secondary school for all of Germany and for the eastern Länder in 1991 (KMK 1993b).

School type	Total in whole of Germany	Number in Easta	Percentage of whole in East
General education schoolsb	619,528	62,310	10
Vocational schools	478,204	62,390	10
Part-time vocational schools	1,696,552	227,140	37
SOURCE: KMK, 1993b

aNumbers are estimates that include any increase in student numbers from 1990 to 1991 in the old Länder.

bIncludes the upper levels of Gymnasien and Gesamtschulen.

The decrease in the number of students in the 1980s led to a reduction in class size for all types of school except the Gymnasium and the upper-secondary trade school, as Table 5 (KMK 1993b) shows.

Despite decreasing class sizes, the average number of students per full teacher equivalent (FTE) increased slightly from 1989 to 1990 for all but vocational schools. Table 6 shows the number of students per FTE in 1990 for each school type (KMK 1993b).

Table 6—Students per full teacher equivalent by school type

A third major quantitative trend that has characterized the German education system over the past several years has been the general shift toward higher forms of education. Students are avoiding the Hauptschule and are increasingly entering the other school types. Table 7 (Arbeitsgruppe Bildungsbericht 1994) depicts the change in the distribution of 13-year-olds among the different school types since 1952.

Table 7—Percentage of 13-year-old age cohort attending different school types

^aStatistics from 1980 and 1991 are for 14-year-olds.

^bIncludes students enrolled in the private Freie Waldorfschulen.

The trend toward ever-higher levels of education is also clearly visible in the number of students entering the university. Table 8, below, shows the overall increase in the number of students entering the university system as well as the total number of students enrolled.

Table 8—Development of university enrollment, 1981-91

The number of students entering the university each year in West Germany increased approximately 26 percent between 1981 and 1991. In 1990, before reunification, the number of students enrolled in the university had risen to 1,579,000?a dramatic 42.41 percent increase since 1981 (KMK 1993a).

The Structure and Administration of the German Public School System

German schools and the German education system as a whole are tightly integrated into larger political-administrative structures. The character of the broader system both shapes and makes possible the characteristic organization of German schools. If one is to understand the local organization of German schooling, one first needs to gain a general understanding of the way in which this larger system works. This larger system encompasses institutions involved in policymaking and institutions involved in the ongoing administration and financing of schooling.

Policymaking

The formulation of educational policy in Germany involves the interplay of institutions at both the state and the federal level. The political dynamics of policy formulation is substantially shaped by the federal structure of the system.

Federalism

The German education system operates on the principle of federalism, a form of governance that is deeply rooted in Germany's political and historical structure. In accordance with this principle, German educational policy and administration involve an interplay between state and federal authorities. The Basic Law (Grundgesetz)—the equivalent of the United States Constitution—gives the Länder comprehensive responsibility for the organization of education. In principle, the Länder are autonomous with respect to their educational policies. They have the right and obligation to determine the objectives of education; regulate the establishment, maintenance, and control of schools; regulate levels of teacher training; supervise school administration; and foster cooperation among parents, teachers, and pupils (Führ 1989). Educational laws governing these issues are anchored in the Länder constitutions. The Basic Law does not accord federal authorities any powers of educational jurisdiction. Therefore, in Germany one can only speak loosely about a "national system" and must instead focus on the systems in each of the sixteen German Länder.

In practice, however, federal authorities do have a say in the administration of schools. There are three bases for legitimate federal participation (Führ 1989):

• The Basic Law provides the federal government with the mandate to ensure and regulate the freedom of teaching, scholarship, research, and art; the state inspection of schools; the availability of religious education as a regular subject in state schools; and the freedom of private schools. Where educational policy in the Länder impinges on these prerogatives, the federal authorities have the final word.

• The Basic Law ensures each German citizen the right of freedom of movement, and the right of free choice of training and employment. The Länder are obliged to cooperate with one another and with the federal authorities to ensure these rights.

• A 1969 revision of the Basic Law gives federal authorities explicit though limited powers to legislate general principles of the university system and to have a hand in educational planning. Nevertheless, no legislation concerning schools applies to German schools as a whole. Rather than ensure uniformity through central control, Germany's federalist system enforces conciliation between opposing elements in educational policy.

Key Länder Institutions

Within the Länder, the ministries of culture and education (Ministerien für Kultur und Bildung) are responsible for education. Although there are differences among these Länder ministries, they generally oversee schools, universities, libraries, adult education, general art and cultural institutions, and historical preservation. The ministries of culture and education have a number of functions. They produce guidelines for cultural policy in the areas of education, science, and art, and they publish legal and administrative directives. They are also responsible for coordinating their activities with the highest federal and Länder agencies and overseeing subsidiary agencies. Each of the Länder ministries is centrally governed by a minister of culture and education, who is accountable to the parliaments of the respective Länder.

Key National Institutions

Four political institutions play central roles in the federal governance of German education:

• The Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education (Ständige Konferenz der Kultusminister der Länder der Bundesrepublik Deutschland [KMK]);

• The Federal Ministry of Education and Science (Bundesministerium für Bildung und Wissenschaft [BMBW];

• The Federal-Länder Commission for Educational Planning and Advancement of Research (Bund-Länder Kommission für Bildungsplannung und Forschungsförderung [BLK]); and

• The Planning Committee for University Construction (Planungsausschu für den Hochschulbau).

The Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education. The Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education (Kultusministerkonferenz or KMK) has been in existence since 1948 as an instrument for autonomous coordination of educational policy among the Länder. Prior to the inclusion of ministers from eastern Germany, 11 ministers of education participated in the conference. Currently, 16 ministers participate, one for each of the 16 Länder. Resolutions and recommendations of this group require unanimous consent of the 16 ministers, an arrangement that creates great pressure for compromise. The jointly decided resolutions and recommendations are not binding on the Länder directly, but must first be adopted and enacted by each of the 16 Länder parliaments. Any resolution that falls within the province of the authority of the ministers of education is immediately binding.

Until the late 1960s, the Conference of Ministers of Education (KMK) was highly effective at coordinating a unified educational policy for West Germany as a whole (Führ 1989). It was able to regulate a vast array of issues, including the beginning and duration of mandatory education, the beginning and ending of the school year, and the length of holidays. Also falling under its jurisdiction were the nomenclature used by schools, the degree of transferability between types of schools, the beginning of foreign language instruction, the cross-Länder recognition of examinations, and terminology relating to grades.

Since the late 1960s, however, differences among the Länder concerning the direction of educational policy have hampered the efforts of the Conference. As co-operation and autonomous coordination among the Länder became more difficult, leading politicians demanded a stronger federal hand in educational policy. The Basic Law was altered in 1969 to give federal authorities a legal basis for developing their own autonomous educational agenda. The Federal Ministry of Education was founded in 1970 on the basis of this constitutional amendment.

The Federal Ministry of Education and Science. The Federal Ministry of Education and Science (BMBW) is primarily responsible for issues concerning financial support for research, training, and scholarship, and for issues concerning the expansion and legislation of universities (Führ 1989). Several pre-existing federal involvements in education were consolidated in the ministry. Among these were the regulation and oversight of nonschool vocational and further training, and the regulation of pay and benefits for public service employees, including teachers and university lecturers. The ministry was also given responsibility for providing assistance for scholarly research, and for the regulation of training assistance for pupils, students, and trainees. Other fundamental aspects of German education were also placed in the hands of the ministry, including governance of the university system, planning for expansion of university facilities, and promotion of the development of scholarly institutions. The ministry also acts as the liaison between the German education system and the education authorities of the European Union and other international organizations.

The Federal-Länder Commission for Educational Planning and Advancement of Research. The Federal Länder Commission for Educational Planning and Advancement of Research (BLK) was set up in 1970 to serve as the standing forum for all issues in education and the promotion of research that jointly affect the Länder and the federal government. Unlike the KMK, the BLK is composed of representatives from both the Länder and the federal government. In the BLK, Länder and federal representatives share votes equally. There is no requirement for unanimity; a majority of three-fourths of the votes is needed to pass a resolution. During the 1970s, the BLK worked primarily to develop a comprehensive plan for education. The BLK remains very active in the promotion of research (Führ 1989).

The Planning Committee for University Construction. The Planning Committee for University Construction is composed of two federal ministers and one minister from each of the Länder and is responsible for drawing up and annually revising a 4-year plan for university construction. Federal and Länder authorities are jointly concerned with enabling the universities to provide a sufficient, adequately qualified, and regionally balanced supply of places for study and research. There is parity of voting between federal and Länder representatives in committee deliberations and decisions.

Other Players in the Federal System

A number of other formal institutions play an active role in the formulation and realization of educational policy, including the courts and the Science Council (Wissenschaftsrat).

The courts. The education system is made more complicated by the involvement of the German courts. The importance of judicial decisions in educational policy has grown steadily in the past 2 decades. In controlling educational law, the courts have focused mainly on balancing the concerns of Länder autonomy over education, parental rights, and teachers' freedoms. Court intervention in education has taken place within the context of an ongoing debate over whether education is best organized through inflexible laws or through more flexible administrative directives.

The Science Council. Advisory bodies have played an important role in the formulation of educational policy at the Länder level but have been less important at the national level (Führ 1989). There is, however, one notable exception?the Wissenschaftsrat. Since its establishment in 1957, the Wissenschaftsrat has played a central and ongoing role in the formulation of university policy. The Wissenschaftsrat is composed of prominent individuals from academic and public life, and has the task of drawing up an overall plan for the promotion of the sciences in Germany. It coordinates a number of individual plans developed by various Länder and federal authorities for their respective spheres of competence, and specifies areas of emphasis or particular urgency. The council produces an annual report of spending priorities for the allocation of Länder and federal monies in higher education. Continued

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[The Educational Structure of the German School System - Part 1]

[The Educational Structure of the German School System - Part 3]