Science and Education

More economics and business studies in the classroom – education reformers and entrepreneurs have been demanding this for some time. In the general school system this has yet to become reality. Up to now groundbreaking initiatives in this sphere tend to be launched independently by parents, teachers and managers.

On Saturday mornings, when most secondary-school pupils are still slumbering, Sinah, Christoph and about a hundred other senior pupils choose to attend classes in Dormagen at the Lower Rhine. They are not swotting for their impending Abitur (school-leaving exam and university entrance qualification), but for life after school. Every two weeks, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., they attend "Junior Management School" (JMS) over a period of two school years.

"Our course covers a broad spectrum ranging from personal self-presentation to economic overall planning. At the end there is an exam held by the Chamber of Industry and Commerce, which issues an official certificate to those who pass." This is useful, for example, when applying for a place at the Fachhochschule der Wirtschaft (University of Applied Sciences) in a neighbouring city. "School-leavers who have completed a JMS course definitely score brownie points," says Thomas Obermeier from the university staff. He and three other professors also teach at the JMS. In view of the tuition fees of only forty Euros a month, this is virtually an honorary occupation.

All the lecturers are involved in everyday economic life. Some of them are the fathers of pupils. The latter actually created the JMS. One of these is Ralph Peters, from Monday to Friday he is the manager of an engineering company. In the Saturday school he is in charge of the department "Technology of the Future". His message: "The real fuel of the economy is not accountancy or managerial discussions but new products and methods!" One of his case-oriented exercises: the management of a food company has rejected the proposed research budget for the coming year. Now the members of the board have to discuss the issue again and come to a decision - in several teams each with seven pupils. In one team Sinah plays the head of research, fellow-pupils represent the finances, the production, the sales or the employees. The discussion finally culminates in the question: whether to develop new flavour additives in the entire range of products or to invest in a major way in genetic engineering in order, for example, to put a new tomato sauce on the market?

Arousing a desire for economic success

The initiative JMS at the Norbert Secondary School in Dormagen has been in existence since 2003; since school year 2005/2006 the concept will be tried-out in other schools in the industrial region at the Rhine. And it is evidently high time for this: in comparison with thirty-three industrial nations economics and business studies have a below-average place in German curricula. This was revealed in the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor’s (GEM) report on Germany, a quasi-official survey by the Department of Economic Geography of Cologne University in association with the state-run KfW banking group (Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau, i.e. Reconstruction Loan Corporation). In the general education system economics is usually dealt with as a subordinate discipline within the subjects politics or social studies. In international competition, according to Rolf Sternberg, leader of the German GEM team, it is essential to arouse the entrepreneurial spirit and a desire for economic success as soon as possible at school.

For decades the growth of affluence in Germany seemed to be an almost automatic development. The fact that economic growth has been lingering in the doldrums for years has meanwhile created a problem for education and training. So-called Wirtschaftsgymnasien, secondary schools which concentrate at senior level on subjects such as business management, cost control, information systems are the (intermittent) pace-setters of a pedagogical reform in keeping with the times. The nationwide Netzwerk Schule – Wirtschaft (Network School – Economics) has in fact been trying to disseminate the open secrets of added value in the classroom since the 1960s. At present there are some 450 regional working groups of pedagogues and entrepreneurs. They provide pupils with industrial placements, organise visits to companies as well as occasional lessons by successful managers, support project weeks, for example, on the subject of globalisation – but obviously without achieving the widespread effect on teachers and pupils which is of the essence nowadays.

The metal and electrical industry in the federal state of Baden-Württemberg (IBM, SAP, DaimlerChrysler, Porsche) is thus sponsoring its own "Pupils-Engineers-Academies" for talented senior pupils. When school is over, they gain practical experience at least once a week, for example at a car manufacturer’s test bed. On Friday afternoons they attend courses in business management, i.e. commercial training, at the University of Applied Sciences. "The girls and boys learn very quickly and with great enthusiasm," says Dieter Wolf, head of technical training at Siemens. "The course is really tiring, but it’s also a lot of fun," confirms secondary-school pupil Kathrin. Sinah from the Rhine-based JMS echoes this sentiment: "You just have to do a bit more than the others if you want to have a good job later!" Economic expertise makes all the difference, at least in the mindset of an increasing number of pupils in Germany.