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Teaching in North Rhine-Westphalia: According to a survey, a majority of German school administrations see a fundamental need for reform
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Rainer Unkel / IMAGO
They would like to throw the old structures overboard and rebuild Germany's schools with completely new structures: The vast majority of headmasters agree that the Federal Republic needs a "new culture of learning".
This is how the Berlin research institute for educational and social issues summarizes the results of a survey of 1,100 school administrators and 50 additional, detailed telephone calls that will be presented this Wednesday.
Radically revise the canon of subjects, hire new and different people
The most important areas to be worked on, according to the rectors, include the revision of timetables, the expansion of all-day schools (but not just any) and a reorganization of the colleges.
The results in detail:
Reform timetables:
82 percent of school administrations are in favor of turning the timetables inside out with the traditional canon of subjects.
This is "no longer up-to-date" but requires a fundamental revision.
Almost half of those surveyed would like subject teaching to be more thematically networked.
About a quarter would prefer overall interdisciplinary teaching.
"School has not yet arrived in the 21st century," the headmaster of a grammar school is quoted as saying in the study.
This is due to the traditional system, which has long been out of date.
"The range of subjects is amazing," says the headmaster.
Interest-based, individualized learning is not the priority, »but it should be«.
More and different all-day schools:
89 percent of those surveyed believe that so-called all-day schools are the model of the future.
82 percent think it can make a significant contribution to equal opportunities.
With this concept, all students stay together at school on at least three days of the week until the afternoon.
Learning, playing and relaxation phases alternate.
Such schools already exist, but by no means nationwide.
Open all-day schools with voluntary afternoon offers are predominant and, moreover, in short supply in some federal states.
Baden-Württemberg, for example, still has a lot of catching up to do before the all-day entitlement for elementary school children from class 1 will come into effect in 2026.
Good-quality, all-day schools are seen as an important instrument for decoupling school success more closely from the parental home.
Schools must enable equal opportunities:
Almost all school administrations surveyed share this view.
92 percent rely on individual support offers to do justice to all students.
93 percent would also like more life skills to be taught in the classroom in order to better prepare children and young people for adulthood and the world of work.
One of the interviewees, who has been head of a primary school for 21 years, is quoted as saying in the study on this subject: »I see an increasing loss of educational quality in the parents' homes.
The school has to compensate more and more.«
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According to the school management, other important topics are: "Health and nutrition" (90 percent), "Democracy" (88 percent), "Digital education and maturity" (92 percent).
Almost all those surveyed stated that schoolchildren should learn how to use digital media responsibly at school.
The study was commissioned by the school book publisher Cornelsen;
The educational researcher Klaus Hurrelmann was also involved.
He is surprised by the results: »Who would have thought?
The majority of German school principals are reformers.« They did not deny »that there are still encrusted structures in German schools that are deeply rooted in everyday life.
But this is exactly what they want to overcome.«
Ten hours a week for administration, three for school development
80 percent of those surveyed are in favor of the school management concentrating on strategy and lesson development and the learning success of the students.
According to the talks, however, everyday life often looks different.
Around half of those surveyed stated that they had a maximum of three hours a week for the topic of school development.
Administrative tasks take up a large part of the working time.
After all, according to the survey, 54 percent of school administrations spend more than ten hours a week on this.
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Lessons from the pandemic: Children are not our future, an interjection from Silke Fokken
"I can still plan so much, but then everyday life gets in the way," a headmistress is quoted as saying in the study.
She gets a lot of tasks every day: "That makes me disoriented."
The authors of the study suspect that this may be one reason why almost three quarters of all school administrations looked back on the past year with dissatisfaction.
Crisis management during the corona pandemic was particularly demanding for school managers.
Nevertheless, 52 percent state that they are optimistic about the future.
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