Schopper: We don't want to introduce a cuddly pedagogy

Created: 08/05/2022Updated: 08/05/2022 07:15

Theresa Schopper (Bündnis 90/Die Grünen) speaks.

© Bernd Weißbrod/dpa/archive image

Do six digits say more than a thousand words?

Not at all, says the Baden-Württemberg Minister of Education - at least when it comes to assessing the performance of children in the classroom.

Stuttgart – At dozens of elementary schools in the southwest, the grades will end after the summer – but according to Minister of Education Theresa Schopper, the performance principle will be adhered to.

In an interview with the German Press Agency in Stuttgart, the Green politician vigorously defended the soon-to-be-launched school trial against criticism.

"It's not at all about the fact that we want to introduce cuddly pedagogy or that we're going to lose the idea of ​​performance," she said.

"I can calm down all shy horses."

Background: According to the plans of the Ministry of Education, boys and girls at 39 schools from the first to the fourth grade will no longer receive grades from the coming school year.

The test run was agreed in the Green-Black coalition agreement.

The idea is not new: almost ten years ago there was already such a pilot project in the south-west.

In the 2013/2014 school year, ten primary schools took part in the “Primary schools without grades” project.

In 2017, Schopper's predecessor Susanne Eisenmann (CDU) announced the end of the project.

While the Education and Science Union (GEW), SPD and Greens welcome the project, there has been heavy criticism from the FDP and the Philologists' Association.

Association leader Ralf Scholl criticized that school should not degenerate into a "lonely sanctuary".

He even spoke of a "contempt for grades" at many community schools.

The Association of Philologists represents grammar school teachers, including those who teach at community and comprehensive schools.

Schopper's school project aims to "maximize the children's well-being at the expense of learning progress".

Scholl worries about the performance principle, far too many teachers are guided by the principle of "not shaming the students".

"I honestly have to say, regardless of number grades or other feedback: I don't really want to shame any children," Schopper protests.

"It is not the purpose and task of schools to shame children and put them down." Children with deficits must be told clearly that they still have to practice.

"But telling them that they are the fool in front of the Lord, that doesn't belong in school."

It is basically about checking whether numerical grades are the right tool at all to give children performance feedback, said the minister.

"Sure: notes are practiced and practiced, so everyone can do something," she said.

But Schopper doubts the meaningfulness: "What does that mean, you're in German with a four?

How good are you at reading or writing?

Or was the child distracted at work that day because their guinea pig is sick?

None of that comes out of it.” It is much more important to see the development of the child.

Even the good ones would get a different kind of feedback on what they can still work on.

For teachers, the form of assessment is more strenuous.

"Those who have set out there say: It is much more targeted so that they can also make adjustments," said Schopper.

In business, employees would not be rated with digits from 1 to 6 either.

It's about continuous feedback.

"That means that the knowledge is not collected beforehand and then queried and given a grade like in a class test, but the feedback is always given step by step and accompanying."

However, the State Parents' Advisory Board is backing the Philologists' Association.

"At a time when cuddly pedagogy is becoming socially viable, one must be able to ask whether performance will still be there or not," said Michael Mittelstaedt, chairman.

He speaks of a "strange package" and many unanswered questions.

In the experiment almost ten years ago, everyone in the schools did what they wanted.

The head of the association calls for a uniform and binding standard for the assessments.

"It can't be that everyone muddles along."

It is also unclear who enables the teachers to hold the pedagogical discussions.

Mittelstaedt also doubts that the assessment is understandable for parents who "rather personally or culturally avoid such lengthy discussions with teachers".

He is also bothered by the comparison with the economy.

Job references have no pedagogical claim and are often “warm words instead of hard numbers”.

“How do I formulate when a child is supposed to repeat the class?” The project also needs an independent evaluation.

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Schopper acknowledged that it was an unfamiliar tool for some, but stressed that participation was voluntary.

When asked about extending the project to all elementary schools in the south-west, she is still reluctant.

The pilot project is scheduled to run for three years.

School conference and school community should be on board.

Affected parents are free to change schools.

"It shouldn't be imposed on anyone who would like to keep their children in the system with grades," she said.

"Trying to impose on someone who is deeply convinced of grades - we don't need to make that Catholic." You are simply testing a modern type of feedback - "and not in an ideological mode," said Schopper.

An expansion to other school types is currently not an issue for her, said the minister.

"We do that in elementary schools and that's good for now." dpa