Wissenschaft und Bildung

Throughout Germany, pupils, parents and teachers are complaining about the knock-on effects of ‘G8’. This fast-track abitur (equivalent to A-levels) means covering too much material in too little time. Does G8 mean frustration instead of satisfaction?

In 14 out of 16 German states, pupils now spend only eight years instead of nine at secondary school before taking the abitur. The move to shorten school education at Germany’s Gymnasium schools, which prepare students for university, began a few years ago. The last two states, Schleswig-Holstein and Rhineland-Palatinate, will follow suit in 2008. Yet this large-scale education experiment is being met with increasing resistance – parents and pupils are complaining about unacceptable conditions and stress levels.

High stress brought on by ‘turbo abitur’

Thirteen years of schooling to abitur – politicians agreed that this was a luxury Germany could no longer afford in view of the need for international connectivity. German secondary school graduates need to be younger so that they can go to university sooner and enter the job market earlier. But in Germany the reform has become a Herculean task for those involved. A survey by the parents’ association of the Gymnasium schools in Bavaria (LEV) shows that the pressure on families at the start of the fifth school year has risen dramatically. 74 per cent of the 56,000 parents who responded say that high workloads are putting a strain on day-to-day family life. 80 per cent of parents certify that their child is exposed to stress as a result of school. One in ten affected children already needs professional help from an educational psychologist or paediatrician. Over 50 per cent of parents of pupils in years five to eight complain that their children do not have enough leisure time.

Same material, less time

Across Germany, pupils are swotting at their desks for up to 36 hours a week. Then there is homework and exam revision. This means that the total weekly workload quickly adds up to 45-50 hours. This is enough to make many employees with a guaranteed agreed working time of 37.5 hours flinch. So it is no surprise that many children are not happy. "I often wake up in the night. I always think that there’s something else I’m supposed to learn or that I’ve forgotten a piece of homework," reads one of the quotes from pupils collected by the parents’ initiative ‘G8 mit Lebensfreude’ in Offenburg. Another child complains, "I would like to go to Grandma and Grandpa’s again for the weekend sometime. But I haven’t got time. I still have to do so much for school."

Shortage of good concepts

Pupils, parents and teachers from Hamburg to Munich agree that things cannot continue like this with the G8. They are calling for less pressure on learning and better educational concepts. The regional ministries of education also see an urgent need for action: In Lower Saxony, Hamburg, Saarland and Hesse there are calls for the 265 eight-year aggregate of tuition hours per week that are required for abitur to be reduced. But simply reducing the number of hours will not solve the problem. What will happen to the syllabus material?

The national chairman of the German Association of Philologists in Berlin, Heinz-Peter Meininger, is alarmed: "With a few exceptions, there is hardly anything left in the syllabus that can be cut. The basic vocabulary required for foreign languages is lower than it has ever been since the war. In some German states it is even smaller than that required at the Realschule (secondary schools leading to an intermediate qualification)." Likewise, in history and mathematics Meininger believes a lot is already being dropped that should be part of an elementary education. "We must not forget that with around 9500 full-time hours, Germany has the lowest number of teaching hours to abitur of almost any other OECD country."

Abitur lite misses the mark

While politicians are still mulling over new education concepts, many parents are already taking action. "It is no coincidence that once again this year more people have chosen to go to the Gesamtschule (comprehensive school) instead. At the Gesamtschule children not only have an extra year before taking their abitur exams, but the school leaving qualifications are often left open for longer," says Udo Beckmann, the national vice-chairman of the Education Association (Verband Bildung und Erziehung – VBE) in Berlin. The independent schools, from Montessori to Waldorf, are also oversubscribed and waiting lists are long.

"Any regional government that thinks it can solve the current G8 problems by cutting material, reducing hours or making cosmetic changes is seriously mistaken," says Meininger: "At the end of the day, quality cuts in the abitur would have to be paid for by the pupils themselves, when they find that their abitur lite won’t get them into university."

This would defeat the object of the G8, the aim of which is to achieve better international connectivity. In the meantime, however, the intelligent alternative is costing money – a lot of money. In their efforts to give pupils better support and assistance, German Gymnasium schools all over the country are quickly reaching their limits. Because what they urgently need are more teachers and support staff for afternoon classes, remedial courses, homework clubs and canteens to provide hot lunches. School practices that have long been accepted in Scandinavia, France and England are still casting a long shadow on education coffers in Germany. Ernst Rösner, an educational researcher at the Institute for School Development Research (Institut für Schulentwicklungsforschung – IFS) in Dortmund, estimates the costs of expanding all-day schooling to Gymnasium schools across the country to be between 6 and 8 billion euros.