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Schoolchildren in the classroom (archive): Social background has a major impact on school success
Photo: Holger Hollemann / DPA
In an international comparison, the German education system repeatedly scores poorly on two topics: There is a lack of equal opportunities and digitization.
This is confirmed by a new evaluation of the Pisa study from 2018, which reveals considerable differences between the OECD countries - but also provides answers about what politics would have to change in order to make the respective school system fairer and better.
This is all the more necessary because the school closings during the corona pandemic "brought out the many inadequacies and inequalities in education systems around the world," said OECD Education Director Andreas Schleicher when the results were presented on Tuesday.
Socially disadvantaged young people are particularly hard hit.
"Every country should work harder to ensure that every student has the same learning and success opportunities," demanded Schleicher.
"We must not return to the status quo, we must improve education."
Money alone is not the answer
The main finding of the study: It is not enough just to have more money.
Schleicher's team of researchers evaluated the data set from the international Pisa study from 2018 and found that "it is not the amount a country spends on the education system that makes the biggest difference, but the question of what the money is spent on".
Investing in comparatively high teacher salaries, such as Luxembourg and Germany do, apparently does not help, according to Schleicher, in the fight against the shortage of staff in schools.
The shortage of teachers is a major problem in both countries.
"Money alone is not enough to make the job attractive," said the education expert.
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At the same time, the study shows what many teachers think, namely that the shortage of staff in schools has a negative effect on the performance of students.
In 17 OECD countries, students in schools with a teacher shortage scored worse on reading in the Pisa tests than in others, regardless of their socio-economic background.
According to Schleicher, it is too short-sighted to simply invest in more teaching.
In Singapore, which is always high in the Pisa ranking, the students have comparatively long lessons, but not in countries like Finland or Estonia - "and the students do very well there on average," said Schleicher.
Obviously, learning is more effective there.
It is therefore worth investing in the quality of teaching.
Equal opportunities continue to be inadequate
According to the study, comparatively high spending on education alone does not solve the problem of a lack of equal opportunities, as is particularly evident in Germany.
In this country, school success continues to depend heavily on social origin.
Sit down:
The probability that a student from a socially disadvantaged family will repeat a class is one and a half times greater in Germany than a child from a privileged family - even with exactly the same reading performance, as Schleicher emphasizes (OECD average: twice as much Probability).
"You can see how the mechanisms work against socially disadvantaged students."
Access to foreign languages:
On average, 15-year-olds in Germany who are socially better off have 66 minutes more lessons in foreign languages than disadvantaged students.
This is "one of the biggest discrepancies compared to other Pisa participating states," according to the study.
Especially when it comes to foreign languages, privileged students would have better chances of getting better jobs later, said Schleicher.
Early separation according to performance:
The Pisa researchers also found that the differences in reading performance between 15-year-olds are particularly large on average if the school system is designed to separate children according to performance at an early stage.
In Germany, this is the case at the age of 10, and the OECD average at 14.2 years.
Positive daycare effects:
15-year-olds show on average better reading performance if they attended a daycare center for two to three years as a toddler.
In Germany, these students achieve 74 points more than non-Kita children in the Pisa reading test.
The OECD average is 45 points.
According to the results, however, children from privileged families benefit more than average from attending a day care center.
Here only one percent did not attend a daycare center at all or only attended a year, in socially disadvantaged families the proportion is 5 percent.
Germany is lagging behind in terms of digitization
Because of the corona crisis in spring, schools in many countries around the world had to close ad hoc and switch to digital teaching.
Some were significantly better prepared for this than Germany, at least based on the data from the Pisa survey in 2018. Schoolchildren from socially disadvantaged families (not only in Germany) were often at a disadvantage in two respects.
They often attended schools in socially weaker milieus, which on average are less well equipped than others.
Access to learning platforms:
Only 33 percent of students in Germany had access to an online learning platform.
The OECD average was more than 54 percent.
Germany ends up in the bottom group.
In Singapore, some Chinese metropolises and Denmark, more than 90 percent of students already had access in 2018.
In Germany, there are also socio-economic differences: 37 percent of students from socially better-off schools had access to a learning platform, but only 30 percent in disadvantaged schools.
The OECD average is the ratio: 59 to 49 percent.
Available computers:
Germany was also the number of available computers per pupil with 0.61 below the OECD average (0.85).
A lot has happened in the course of the digital pact and the lockdown, but the Pisa data show how uneven the distribution was recently.
98 percent of students from socially better off schools said they had a computer at home, but only 83 percent of students in disadvantaged schools.
Teachers' digital competence:
On average, 65 percent of 15-year-olds attended a school where, according to their school management, teachers have the necessary technical and pedagogical skills to use digital devices in class.
In Austria this was true for 83 percent, in Germany for 57 percent.
Here, too, there was a socio-economic correlation in favor of socially better off schools: 63 versus 55 percent.
Time for digital lessons:
On average across OECD countries, around 60 percent of 15-year-olds attended a school where, according to the school management, teachers have sufficient time to prepare lessons in which digital devices are integrated.
In the four Chinese provinces and cities that participated in PISA 2018, the share was 90 percent, in Germany 44, in Austria around 81 percent.
The authors of the study concluded with a view to the international results: "If all students, regardless of their socio-economic background, are to be given the same opportunities for learning and success, all schools must have sufficient and high-quality resources and receive appropriate support," they write in their report .
It is therefore also worth investing in good care in daycare centers and preschools: The basis for success in school is laid early, they say.
Pupils with pre-school education did better on average at Pisa.
The next Pisa study is due in 2022.
In particular, the scientists want to focus on the effects of the corona crisis on education.
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