The question of whether an Abitur from Bremen is worth as much as one from Bavaria is almost as old as the Abitur itself. This is discussed at the latest when the final grades are announced. How can it be, many people asked themselves last year, that in Thuringia 46 percent of graduates had a one before the decimal point, but only 25 percent in Schleswig-Holstein?
At the end of 2017, the Federal Constitutional Court commissioned the Conference of Ministers of Education (KMK) to ensure greater comparability in the Abitur so that admission to studies via the numerus clausus becomes fairer. Now, a good five years later, the school ministers are presenting the first reform decisions. They do not affect the Abitur exams themselves, but the two-year “qualification phase” before that. It’s also not about content, but about the number and weighting of exams.
Three advanced courses in all federal states
In the two years before the Abitur, grades are collected, which form two thirds of the final grade. So far, there has not been a uniform definition of how these come about, whether and how many exams have to be written for them. This is going to change. From 2027 – ten years after the Karlsruhe judgment – one or two exams should be written nationwide every six months in advanced courses and some basic courses. In addition, prospective high school graduates will then only be able to take a maximum of three advanced courses everywhere, previously up to four were possible. You have to complete 40 courses in the four semesters of the qualification phase, 36 of which are included in the final assessment.
“There really has never been so much uniformity in the Abitur exams and Abitur certificates,” says Hamburg’s Education Senator Ties Rabe (SDP). The German Association of Philologists, which represents teachers at grammar schools and secondary schools, welcomes the adjustments. Not everything has been achieved, but much of what has been advocated for a long time. Heinz-Peter Meidinger, President of the German Teachers’ Association, speaks of a “triple step”. One is still a long way from a real comparability, for example because of the differences in the Abitur tasks.
The Education and Science Union (GEW) criticizes the decision as “setting the wrong course”, which would result in neither more comparable grades nor more justice. The GEW and the “Alliance for a Sustainable Abitur” made up of school management, parents’ councils and student representatives are committed to a flexible upper school in which, among other things, work can be carried out in learning groups and there are alternative examination formats. Next Monday, the alliance wants the so-called “Potsdam declaration for a sustainable Abitur” sign with appropriate requirements.