Educational System

Germany is becoming a country of private schools. Since 1992, the number of privately operated general education schools has risen about fifty per cent, and every week on the average one or two new establishments are added. But are state schools really worse?

Germany’s scholastic landscape is changing. The reason is privately operated educational institutions. According to the Federal Statistical Office, their number rose in the school year 2007/8 to 5,000. This includes 3,000 general education schools, to which 80 to 100 more are added every year. That comes to an average of two new establishments per week.

If it were up to the parents, that would still be too few. In Germany every 13th child of school age attends a private school. That the number is not even greater lies in the lacking offering. “Applications exceed the available places fivefold,” says educationalist Peter Struck of the University of Hamburg. While in the aftermath of the Pisa shock state schools have registered a loss of pupils, private schools have been enjoying a rapid influx.

School climate: the decisive factor

Considering private and state schools in respect to quality of education, however, no difference can be detected. That has been discovered by education experts Gundel Schümer and Manfred Weiß. According to their study “Educational Economics and Quality of School Education”, differences become visible only at other points. “Private schools sometimes have the advantage in school climate,” the study notes. Particularly striking is “that fifteen year-olds feel they receive more support from their teachers than at state schools”.

It is felt lacks such as these that German private schools want to supply. With special focal points and varied forms of supervision, they attempt to stay abreast of social changes and the increasing demands on pupils and parents. Thus the all-day supervision often offered by private schools meets the needs of single and working parents. The schools see to lunch, supervision of homework, sports and recreational activities. Moreover, adds Struck, “the teachers are mainly more motivated and the classes smaller.”

Private schools in Germany are varied. There are those with a special emphasis in music, economics or religious instruction. There are others for gifted pupils and for the handicapped, for pupils whose parents want them to be introduced as late as possible to the pressures of competitive and achievement-oriented society, and for those whose parents want to accelerate their achievement. In rural regions, private schools are also founded to furnish an alternative to the single available state school. That these foundings are mainly the initiative of parents shows their doubts about the German educational system.

The best for the child

Parental wishes concerning choice of school, however, should not lose sight of the child. This is stressed by Birgit Koß, director of an independent school counselling service in Berlin. “It is about finding the right school for both parents and child,” she says. “But the child’s needs are foremost.” Koß points out that there are considerable differences among private schools. Since the private school model has already existed for several decades in Germany, “not all methods and structures there are up to date.”

Concerning the content of their curriculae and selection of their staff, private schools may set their own emphases, but must accept the general conditions laid down by the respective federal state. They are also subject to the principle of equality, according to which pupils may not be rejected on grounds of their financial situation. The argument that private schools are not for everyone because of their high costs is therefore not really valid. “In fact,” stresses education expert Struck, “many schools cost between 80 and 100 euros per month. ” But there is no upper limit. In many cases, private schools aid poorer pupils through scholarship programmes.

Competition educates

Privately operated schools have now long been generally strengthening the competition between school systems and for pupils in Germany. In the view of many experts, this has been good for state schools. “The state schools have become better; they have adopted elements from private schools,” says, for instance, Struck. And the President of the Association of German Private Schools, Michael Büchler, adds that “all schools must be responsive to the individual abilities and gifts of the pupil and optimally support each pupil.”

Since parents evidently associate private schools with a more intense supervision of their children, the offering will presumably continue to grow. If state schools wish to keep up with private schools, they will have to continue to change and make their change known to the public. Only in this way can they improve their image and make their achievement visible. Studies show that one of these achievements, for example, is that fifteen year-olds in state grammar schools obtain better results in mathematics and natural sciences than in private schools. If all these plans are realised, the winner in the end will be the pupil.