Middle School Enrollments Plunge: What's the Cause?

Rectors complain about image problems

Created: 07/17/2022 05:57

By: Dominik Stallein

According to many children in elementary school, they feel under pressure.

The goal is to transfer to Realschule or Gymnasium – middle schools have been observing lower numbers of students for years.

© Martin Schutt

Middle school enrollments are plummeting in some communities.

Headmasters consider middle schools to be an "unrecognized type of school"

Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen – At the schools in Waldram and Bad Tölz, the atmosphere is tense: some sixth-graders at the Tölzer Südschule are to be taught in Gaißach, all fifth-graders at the Waldramer Mittelschule in the old town of Wolfratshausen.

The reason is the same in both cases: there are too few students in the respective years.

And that at a time when craft businesses are desperately looking for young colleagues and the much-cited shortage of skilled workers has long been part of everyday life.

Middle school registrations in Wolfratshausen collapse: why is it?

When asked by our newspaper, school inspector Ute Hübner says: "On the basis of the planning figures, only slight upward and downward fluctuations can be determined, which can vary locally and annually." If you listen to the secondary schools in the district, a different picture emerges: Judith Rupp, headmistress of the elementary and middle school in Königsdorf, says with regard to the transfer rates in the entire district: “After fourth grade, the majority of pupils go to secondary school or high school.” This development has been observed for years.

The middle school has lost a lot of its attractiveness in the public eye - wrongly, in her opinion.

"Middle school isn't valued the way it deserves."

Judith Rupp, principal of the primary and middle school in Königsdorf © Sabine Hermsdorf-Hiss

Veronika Murböck, deputy principal in Lenggries, has found that many children feel "great pressure" after the second grade to at least reach secondary school.

She thinks that's wrong: "Middle school offers all kinds of opportunities for boys and girls.

We shouldn't put this pressure on some children, but let them be children."

Middle schools in Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen: "Middle school qualifications are definitely in demand"

Secondary school is misunderstood "yet brilliant", after all it offers the "fastest way to a school leaving certificate" and "sets the course for starting a career".

Rupp agrees: "It's not a question of the type of school - it's more a question of how the children want to work and learn." At middle school, practical work is much more important than at other types of school.

"The students get to know many professions here and can try themselves out." In Königsdorf, the number of students is relatively stable, the number of registrations has even increased slightly in the past two years, "whereby some children also use the fifth grade as a joint class for a transfer to the Realschule “ want to use.

Also: “Many would like to take up a practical job,

some come from families of craftsmen – and that’s where a high school diploma is definitely in demand,” says Rupp.

"It's often different in more urban regions."

School inspector Hübner expresses the hope that something could change: "It just needs to be made clearer that middle school offers children numerous opportunities on their way into working life."

Veronika Murböck, deputy director of the elementary and middle school in Lenggries © TK

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Not only that: Pupils who have completed middle school can also do their Abitur via the M-Zug, the BOS or the FOS.

Murböck speaks here of a "high permeability of the Bavarian school system" - there are "all possibilities" for the children who continue after primary school to middle school.

"Middle school is definitely not a terminus, but a school that only moves forward, that offers options that then only have to be used."

The headmistress of Königsdorf, Rupp, does not actively advertise in the fourth grade.

“We advise students and parents.

The teachers give an assessment of which type of school would suit the children best.” In the end, the grades would decide – and the parents.

Secondary school numbers: baby boomer cohorts and densification could increase registrations

It's hard to predict what's going to happen in middle school.

However, the population forecast indicates that more children will be enrolled in school, partly as a result of densification and baby boomers.

Hübner: "Increasing numbers of students in primary school suggest that the number of students in middle school will also increase." However, there is no certainty because it is completely unclear "how the transition behavior will continue to develop after the fourth grade".

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