Status: 05/05/2022 04:41 a.m
The Saarland was the first western German state to introduce the G8 – the so-called Turbo Abi. Now it returns to G9. What brings the reform of the reform?
By Julia Berdin, SR
In her first government statement, the new Saarland SPD Prime Minister, Anke Rehlinger, said they now want to correct the G8 mistake. In 2001, the Abitur was introduced in Saarland after the twelfth grade.
Young people should enter the labor market earlier and thus pay social security contributions earlier. In this way, the social security system in Germany should be relieved. After the reform in Saarland, almost all of the old federal states followed with G8, only Rhineland-Palatinate remained with G9.
The effects of the reform were sobering. Studies, including those by the German Institute for Economic Research, have shown that G8 high school graduates are less likely to start studying immediately after graduation. There are also more people who remain seated. After all, no significantly worse Abitur grades can be observed.
The bottom line is that there are no significant differences between G8 and G9 high school graduates, summarizes educational researcher Olaf Köller from the Kiel Leibniz Institute for Science and Mathematics Education. But – and this coincides with the criticism of many parents – G8 students have significantly less free time.
The Re-Reform: Back to G9
Nationwide, parent initiatives for the return to the G9 emerged. Public pressure against the so-called Turbo Abi grew. In the meantime, all West German states that opted for the G8 at the time have returned to the G9 in whole or in part.
Bavaria, Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia said goodbye to the G8 completely. Freedom of choice prevails in Hesse, Baden-Württemberg and Schleswig-Holstein. There are grammar schools there that lead to the Abitur in eight or nine years and some that have a parallel G8/G9 system.
According to education researcher Köller, too much is expected from the reform. The return to the G9 was primarily a political decision, for example to capture votes before elections. The price, however, is high: the re-reform causes costs in the tens of millions.
Historically grown patchwork quilt
In the new federal states and the city states, the G8 is still mainly used in the grammar schools. In Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, Brandenburg, Berlin, Bremen and Hamburg, the Abitur is also offered after nine years at other school types.
The fact that the east of Germany tends towards the G8 and the west towards the G9 has grown historically. From the early 19th century to the Weimar Republic, G8 was dominant. When the German school system was fundamentally reformed 100 years ago and a common four-year elementary school was introduced, the total school time up to the Abitur was extended to 13 years.
During the Nazi regime, it was shortened to twelve years in order to attract an additional officer candidate class. At the end of the Second World War, the West German states continued with the Weimar school system, which resulted in G9.
The GDR initially stayed with the G8. After reunification, some countries introduced the Abitur after nine years, but returned to the old system in the 2000s.
transition to the next school year
Saarland will start switching to G9 after the summer holidays. The new fifth graders will again be a pure G9 cohort. That much is clear.
What is still missing is a concept of exactly how the transition should be designed. Teachers’ associations and unions in particular, as well as the state student representatives, therefore consider the reform to be hasty.
The Saarland Ministry of Education, on the other hand, relies on a co-determination process in which, among other things, parents, school administrators and pupils are to be involved. In any case, the schedule that the Saarland state government has set for this is sporty.