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Schoolchildren in digitally supported lessons (2017)
Photo: Olaf Döring / IMAGO
Most adolescents and young adults do not believe in real equal opportunities in the German school and education system.
Fifty-nine percent consider the statement “rather not” true, that all children by and large have the same chances of a good education regardless of their social and cultural origin.
This is the result of a survey by the "Education Day Initiative", which was presented on Thursday in Berlin.
The widespread skepticism about the promise of fairness in education is therefore "the highest and thus worst value since the first survey in 2015".
Since 2018, skepticism among 14 to 21-year-olds has increased continuously.
The initiative is backed by the German Children and Youth Foundation, SOS Children's Villages worldwide and the Stifterverband.
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The survey was also intended to determine how young people perceived distance learning as part of the corona pandemic and which skills and knowledge they consider to be particularly important for their professional future.
The main results:
In the opinion of the respondents, the
educational opportunities are
most strongly influenced by the quality of the respective school: 92 percent agree with this statement.
90 percent also consider the support of their parents to be decisive, 86 percent consider their own motivation.
With regard to
digital teaching
in the pandemic, a majority of young people think that their teachers have mastered digital teaching and learning methods “not so well” (39 percent) or even only “poorly” (13 percent).
A mere 8 percent said that the teachers dealt "very well" with the challenge of distance teaching.
Even so, 53 percent said they were
overall satisfied
with the
distance class
- their expectations may not have been particularly high before.
The respondents rate their own perspective much more positively: "Despite the skepticism about equal opportunities, the vast majority of adolescents and young adults view their
professional future
positively or rather positively (86 percent),
" says the study.
The study
Open areaWho commissioned the survey?
The commission for the study comes from the "Education Day Initiative" and was carried out by the opinion research institute forsa.
AreaWhat data was collected? Expand
Forsa surveyed 1000 adolescents and young adults between 14 and 21 years of age for the study.
The data was collected online from September 22 to October 10, 2021.
Area How meaningful are the results? Expand
According to the authors, the results are representative for all 14 to 21 year olds in Germany.
The margin of error is given as +/- 3 percentage points.
The majority of those surveyed had used their own device during the distance lesson in lockdown (78 percent).
"9 percent received a device from their family, 8 percent of those surveyed had to purchase their own device for it," the study says.
Only 4 percent of those questioned used a device that had been made available to them by the school or the training company.
On the “Education Day” on December 8th, the results of the survey and the wishes of the young people should also be included in the political discussion.
Schoolchildren will then present their proposed solutions for a better education system - including the President of the Conference of Ministers of Education, Britta Ernst.
One of the demands: Germany should advocate an inclusive and equitable education system in poorer countries as well.
82 percent of adolescents and young adults support this appeal.