More and more students are doing a very good high school diploma: in 2008, on average, every fifth graduate had a grade average of at least 1.9. Ten years later it was already more than one in four. This is shown by the figures of the Ministries of Education, which the "Rheinische Post" has identified. Only Baden-Württemberg reported a slight decline. In 15 of the 16 federal states, the proportion of Einser graduates has grown.
Because of such statistics, associations and educational researchers have been raising alarm for years. Your accusation: The quality of the Abitur sinks increasingly. "We are concerned about the grading of the Abitur grades," says Matthias Jaroch of the German University Association of the "Rheinische Post". The "touch inflation" must be stopped. Even today, new students often lacked basic knowledge, for example in mathematics.
The German Teachers Association has repeatedly warned that the grades are getting better and the requirements for high school graduates lower. Is that correct? Answers to important questions:
Where does the grade inflation come from?
"Empirically, there are no signs that students have become smarter," says Nele McElvany, director of the Institute for School Development Research at TU Dortmund.
Rather, several other reasons could play a role:
- Schools are increasingly competing with each other. The fact that the grading of high school graduates at individual schools is often open to the public, adds to the pressure, says Nele McElvany.
- Online petitions, such as the one in which thousands of students protested in May against excessive math exams in high school mathematics, suggest that students 'and parents' demands on teachers are also rising.
"Both parents, teachers and politicians have an interest in having students as successful as possible at all levels," says Marko Neumann from the Leibniz Institute for Educational Research and Education Information. Accordingly, it is quite conceivable that the requirements in tests reduced or milder grades awarded.
- Whether the teachers really grade better, is difficult to check. The Conference of Ministers of Education stated that a number of educational standards had been introduced in recent years. This could possibly have led to an improvement of grades.
- Today's examination tasks are smaller than they used to be, said the director of Munich-based Stark publishing house Christiane Heidrich in an interview with SPIEGEL in 2016. Students would also be better instructed in the exams. As a result, they could better complete the task and accumulate partial points. "That may have a positive effect on the final grade."
Is the Abitur in Thuringia easier than in Schleswig-Holstein?
The differences between the regions are huge: In Thuringia last year, almost 38 percent of high school graduates had a one before the decimal point, followed by Saxony and Bavaria. In the bottom bracket Schleswig-Holstein, there were only 17.3 percent.
Thuringia, Bavaria and Saxony are also in the usual performance surveys and education studies usually in the forefront, says education researcher Neumann. But to what extent students are more competent there shortly before graduating from high school across all subjects is questionable. "I would also not assume that Thuringia and Saxony that there are more lax performance requirements there than in other states."
But what can the differences be? According to education researcher McElvany, too, the wide range of high school diplomas is not due to quality - but rather to the different specifications and assessments of the countries or to subject combinations in examinations.
For example, the federal states compile grades from the upper secondary grades and the final Baccalaureate examinations in extremely different ways to form an average. For example, rates in the rating include twice, sometimes not.
How comparable are the numbers?
Every year, the Conference of Ministers of Education issues the Abitur grades from the individual countries; the most recent figures are from 2017. For 2018, this evaluation is not yet available.
However, the statistics that SPIEGEL has queried directly from one country to another are difficult to compare: sometimes the proportion of one-year high school graduates refers to all eligible high school graduates, sometimes just the number of examinations passed.
The example of Baden-Württemberg, however, shows that the distortions that result are small. Taking into account the failed students to calculate the rate of Einser-Abitur, the proportion of excellent students is 23.1 percent. Otherwise it is 24 percent.
Why is the data generally so poor?
Through national and international performance assessments in primary and middle school, experts know well where the strengths and weaknesses of many students are at this age. But just before graduation there are no standardized performance surveys such as Pisa or igloo. "There is a lack of nationwide information on what competences students have in the last three years of schooling before the Abitur", says education researcher Neumann. "Even the grades in the upper grades can give only limited information, because they are limited comparable."
According to education experts, standardized surveys six months before graduation could help explain the gap between states - and prepare students for exams.
So far, however, these are not planned: "Especially at the graduation, the countries shy away from exposing what skills the high school graduates actually have," says Neumann. "At the same time, transparency at this point would be much more solution-oriented than speculation, which will reduce confidence in the A-levels every year."
How should the Abitur become more comparable?
Since 2017, the federal states can make use of a common pool of high school diploma in the core subjects of German, mathematics, English and French. The goal: A Bavarian Abi should be as much value as one from North Rhine-Westphalia.
But to what extent this goal has come closer is still difficult to say: "We still can not say that the task pool has significantly improved the comparability between the federal states," says educational researcher Neumann.
McElvany does not believe that the current concept of the pools is effective at all: First, not all federal states are involved in the concept. In addition, they are not obliged to take on the tasks one-to-one - rather they may supplement or amend them. "It's just an assumption, but if I was education minister, I would not necessarily pick the hardest task, and then justify myself for bad abitur results," McElvany says.
The criteria for the grading are also not uniform - which had caused quarrels in the Matheabitur this year. And even if the Baccalaureate were assessed consistently, they only make up part of the overall performance. In addition, the grading includes the participation in the lessons, grades in exams and other achievements.
Also in the future, the abilities of high school graduates will not be easy to compare, especially not across national borders.