At the start of the 2024 summer vacation period, Germans’ trust in the performance of schools is low. One in five would give them grades five (unsatisfactory/15 percent) or six (unsatisfactory/five percent). Only four percent consider very good (grade one) and 14 percent good (grade two) to be appropriate.
This is the result of a representative YouGov survey for WELT AM SONNTAG. A third of respondents are in favor of a grade of three, 21 percent of respondents are in favor of a grade of four, sufficient. Nine percent are undecided. In summary, German schools receive a grade of three minus (average 3.47). The verdict is therefore: just about satisfactory.
Between June 7 and 10, the pollsters also asked about grievances. The 2008 interviewees were allowed to name several. Citizens see the lack of teachers as the biggest problem by far (61 percent), followed by the inadequate level of teaching (36).
A similar urgency arises for measures against the poor financial resources (32 percent), the inertia of the system in making necessary changes (30), the lack of integration of children with a migrant background (28) and inadequate digitalization (28) as well as against the poor condition of many school buildings (26).
“A good education for the next generation is the basis of our future prosperity. If the population rates schools so poorly, that is an alarm signal,” said the director of the Ifo Center for the Economics of Education, Ludger Wößmann, commenting on the results of the survey. “Better schools must finally be the top priority in politics.”
“A weak grade of three cannot be the aim of our education policy,” said the chairwoman of the German Philologists’ Association, Susanne Lin-Klitzing, to WELT AM SONNTAG. The top representative of high school teachers is calling for the teaching profession to be made more attractive. Trainees, who have so far only received 50 percent of the initial salary, must finally be paid “appropriately.” Schools must become “a good place to work for teachers and a good place to learn for students.” Lin-Klitzing stresses: “The educational republic and Germany as a business location simply cannot afford a mediocre level.”
The Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs of the Länder in the Federal Republic of Germany (KMK), which says there is currently a shortage of 16,000 teachers, recently decided to make the conditions for starting a career easier. Students with only one subject will now be allowed to begin a traineeship. Graduates will also be able to switch to a teaching degree or dual study program after completing a bachelor’s degree. Prospective teachers will then teach – initially with supervision – in parallel to their studies and will be paid for this.
“These measures will make a substantial contribution to overcoming the shortage of teachers and at the same time positively change the quality of training and further education,” believes the current KMK President and Saarland Minister of Education Christine Streichert-Clivot (SPD). “We need to inspire more young people to choose this great profession for themselves. We also need to become more flexible and permeable.”
The Federal Parents’ Council is also insisting on short-term concepts. Its vice-chairwoman Claudia Koch from Thuringia reports that one in ten lessons is currently being cancelled and 15 percent of lessons are not being taught as planned: “We are temporarily trying larger classes and self-learning modules. But we must not underestimate how important a teacher is.”
Olaf Köller, the chairman of the Standing Scientific Commission of the KMK, warns of quality problems. “In recent years, many teachers have been brought into the system who have not been properly trained.” Professionalization programs, such as those recently launched for mathematics teaching, are correct. “But they will not bring us a quick alleviation of the problem because they are designed to last for a very long time. Such programs are still pending for other subjects.” Overall, one must ask whether teaching concepts such as those developed 20 years ago are still effective.
