Preschool, elementary, and secondary

Full-time schooling is free and compulsory for children age 6 to 15 or 16; the exact age is determined at the state level. Although the control of education rests with the states, there is a nationalcommission that strives for uniformity of curriculum, requirements, and standards. Some books and study materials are free, and financial assistance and other forms of support are available in cases of hardship.

Preschooling, to which the notably German contribution in modern times is enshrined in the universal wordkindergarten, can begin at 3 years of age. Some four-fifths of children attend kindergarten. All children attend theGrundschule (“basic school”) from age 6 until about age 10. Somewhat less than half continue elementary schooling in a junior secondary school called theHauptschule (“head school”) until about age 15 or 16. Afterward students are assigned to aBerufsschule (“vocational school”) that theyattend part-time in conjunction with an apprenticeship or other on-the-job training. This program makes it possible for virtually every young person in the vocational track to learn a useful skill or trade, constantly adapted to the actual demands of the employment market.

Children who receive a commercial or clerical education, somewhat less than one-third of the school-age population, attend an intermediate school called theRealschule (roughly meaning practical school) and earn an intermediate-level certificate that entitles them to enter aFachschule (“technical” or “special-training school”), the completion of which is a prerequisite for careers in the middle levels of business, administration, and thecivil service.

Approximately one-third of all children are chosen to study at aGymnasium (senior secondary school, equivalent to agrammar school in the United Kingdom), in which a rigorous program lasting for nine years (levels 5 to 13) prepares them—with emphasis variously on the classics, modern languages, mathematics, and natural science—for theAbitur orReifezeugnis (“certificate of maturity”), the prerequisite for matriculation at a German university. The traditional structure of the GermanGymnasium has mainly shifted from being built around a single branch of studies to offering a “reformed upper phase” with a choice of courses.

Many so-calledGesamtschulen (equivalent to Britishcomprehensive schools), which were established beginning in the 1960s, are now operated in each state, thoughconservative areas were generally resistant to them. TheseGesamtschulen are intended as analternative to the previously rigid division into three levels, often criticized for forcing the choice of a child’s future at too early an age, a choice that, once entered upon, was almost impossible to change. These schools offer a large range of choices and permit pupils more freedom in seeking the level best suited for them.

Higher education

German universities, famed in history and noted for their enormous contributions to learning, especially in the 19th and early 20th centuries, have been severely strained by theswelling numbers of students and changing social conditions that have taxed the traditional structures of the universities beyond their capacities or accustomed functions. Today it has become all but impossible for students to take as long as they wish to complete their studies or to move from university to university. Lecture rooms, seminars, and libraries are greatly overburdened. In response, a small number of specialized private universities were founded, and there has been considerable debate about the financing of education, particularly whether tuition charges should be introduced.

To meet the rapidly rising demand forhigher education, the number of universities also has increased. Entirely new academic universities have been added to the ranks of the ancient institutions, and the status of institutes and colleges of technology, education, and art have been upgraded to university rank. At the same time, new specialized or technical institutions such as theFachhochschule, a higher technical college specializing in a singlediscipline, such as engineering, architecture, design, art, agriculture, or business administration, have been created. Little difference inprestige is attached to whether a student has studied atHeidelberg, founded in 1386, or at the University of Hagen, established in 1976, adistance learning university that supplemented online lessons with meetings at regional study centers. Among Germany’s leading universities are theHumboldt University of Berlin (founded 1809–10), theFree University of Berlin (founded 1948), theUniversity of Cologne (founded 1388), the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University of Frankfurt (founded 1914), theUniversity of Göttingen (founded 1737), theUniversity of Leipzig (founded 1409), and theUniversity of Tübingen (founded 1477). At the beginning of the 21st century Germany had more than 300 universities or institutions of equivalent rank (about half of which wereFachhochschule).

The rough equivalent of abachelor’s degree is aDiplom, though some consider the degree a closer equivalent to the Americanmaster’s degree. A fairly large number of students also earn degrees in education (by way of theLehramtspruefung) and in technical schools. A small number of institutions have begun offering an American-style bachelor’s degree.

There is an extensive range of possibilities for extended education orextramural studies. Each year about 1,000Volkshochschulen (adult education centers) enroll some 10 million adults for complete courses or individual subjects, whether in preparation for or furtherance of a career or out of personal interest. The government has also promoted the retraining and furthervocational education of workers.

Problems of transition

Integration of the formerEast German educational system brought a host of problems. As the focus of education was to inculcate the values of the communist state, even textbooks and some school materials were unsuitable for the educational aims of united Germany. English replaced Russian as the primary foreign language taught, forcing unemployment for untold numbers of Russian teachers and creating a shortage of qualified English teachers. The reorientation of primary and secondary schoolteachers to the standards and aims of therepublic became an important concern and a focus of retraining.

At the university level the issue of competence becameacute. Since many of the faculty of East Germany’s universities had been appointed based on their soundness in Marxism-Leninism or loyalty to the SED, upon unification their qualifications became obsolete. The federal authority for qualifying universities to confer degrees and diplomas were unable to give recognition to some institutions of university rank, while the ministers of education of the new states were subjected to great pressures to reconfirm existing appointments. Reappointment committees staffed largely by western Germans reassessed the qualifications of eastern faculty. These committees failed to rehire many easterners, and institutions in eastern Germany were flooded with westerners. Whereas the former East German research institutions had generally been separate from universities, the western system combining research and teaching wasimplemented nationally following unification.