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"Agreement on the lowest common denominator": The President of the German Teachers' Association is dissatisfied with the decision of the Conference of Ministers of Education
Photo: Klaus Vedfelt / Getty Images
The Standing Conference celebrated its decision as "historic", but the associations' criticism of the new state agreement for more comparability in the school system is tough.
Historically, the agreement is "only in the sense that it establishes the status quo of an educational policy of the 1950s West," said the federal chairman of the Education and Science Union (GEW), Marlis Tepe.
The GEW criticized the decision as a "roll backwards" and "black day for education".
"Exams will be centralized and standardized, quality should be ensured through even more tests and educational standards and outdated pedagogy should now also be operated digitally," said Tepe.
more on the subject
"Historic" agreement: ministers of education agree on greater comparability
The education ministers of the federal states agreed on Thursday that school education and degrees should be significantly more comparable in the coming years.
The Abitur tasks are an essential point.
Here, the federal states want to commit to taking around half of the tasks from a joint, cross-state pool.
From their point of view, the GEW misses important points.
"The dramatic shortage of teachers - especially in elementary schools, which significantly worsens the educational opportunities for children," is hardly mentioned, according to Tepe.
However, a common strategy between the federal states is necessary in order to attract more young people to the teaching profession.
No progress in educational equity
In addition, Tepe criticized that the strong dependence of educational success on the social origin of the children was not taken into account.
The Association of Education and Upbringing (VBE), on the other hand, attested that the KMK was pursuing the right goal: Federal education needs more comparability and quality-assured standards, said Chairman Udo Beckmann.
However, just like the GEW, the association warned that the question of educational equity would not be addressed, as did the blatant shortage of teachers.
The President of the German Teachers' Association, Heinz-Peter Meidinger, was also not satisfied, but above all doubted whether the resolutions would have any effect.
The KMK had only reached an "agreement on the lowest common denominator" with "many vague declarations of intent" and "gambled away the historic opportunity to finally ensure the comparability and quality of the German education system in a concrete and binding manner".
According to Meidinger, the new administrative agreement only brings progress in a few areas.
When it comes to important questions about qualifications, school structure and teacher training, as well as quality assurance, however, she remains "vague and general".
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