The international primary school reading survey shows the reading skills of students in an international comparison. More than twenty years after the PISA shock, the German school system could look bad again.
However, when it comes to reading skills, there could be bad grades for Germany again?
Bad news about education threatens again. There are enough signs. The IQB education trend from last October shows that in 2021 between almost 13 percent (Saxony) and 31 percent (Bremen) of fourth graders did not achieve the minimum standards in reading.
Federal Education Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger said before the results of the International Elementary School Reading Study (IGLU) were published today: “Study after study shows us that our students are finding it increasingly difficult to do arithmetic, writing and reading, which is why we need an educational policy turnaround that but we can only do it together,” said the FDP politician. However, the various levels, i.e. federal, state and local authorities, parents and education experts, are still a long way from this “together”.
A lot has happened since PISA
At least one cannot assume that German education policy is inactive. A lot has happened since the PISA shock more than twenty years ago, when Germany did poorly in an international educational comparison: all-day schools are now normal, there are more daycare centers with often higher standards, more money has flowed into the education system.
But the children of today are different from the children of the past. The educational scientist Nele Mc Elvany heads the IGLU study and has found that the proportion of children who speak German at home rarely or not at all has increased. In order for these children to be able to keep up in elementary school, they must first be recognized and given special support. According to Mc Elvany, there are good examples of this in Hamburg.
schools under pressure
The educational politician Thomas Jarzombeck sees a logical need for action even before primary school: “In my opinion, it would be super important that we look at years four and five, namely what happens before school,” says the CDU politician. “To end up putting kids in primary school who have really extreme language deficits puts incredible pressure on the primary school system.”
And the schools are under pressure anyway. If only because there is often a lack of teachers. Kai Gehring is chairman of the education committee in the Bundestag. The Green now fears that the education crisis could turn into an education catastrophe.
Gehring calls for more money for the day care centers and elementary schools so that they can better deal with the language problems: “While the upper secondary school level is still very well funded, I think we have to step it up a notch in the day care centers and elementary schools.” The most diverse students come together there and you have to create the same starting opportunities.
The starting opportunities have also given the name to a program by Federal Minister of Education Stark-Watzinger. With this she wants to support 4000 schools that need it particularly. After all, 60 percent of them should be elementary schools. Although the start-up opportunities program is part of the coalition agreement, it is still in the conception phase. The federal government has to coordinate everything with the states, because they are responsible and have the educational sovereignty in the Federal Republic.
Educational climbers have a hard time:
In fact, the German education system has so far been socially impermeable. Children from less educated or poor families have worse chances in school. The Federal Minister of Education also finds this a situation that the country cannot afford. For her, “today’s literacy is the basis for tomorrow’s professionals”.
This reading ability is not in good shape – the school closures during the pandemic are likely to have made the situation worse. In recent studies, up to 31 percent of fourth graders fail to meet minimum reading standards. Bavaria (14.1 percent) and Saxony (12.9 percent) do particularly well, Berlin (27.2 percent) and Bremen (31.0 percent) particularly badly.
The IGLU study threatens to confirm this once more. After all, the scientists got to know good examples in the course of the study, which show that there are ways out of the misery. And they also bring along recommendations for action for politicians.
