School education is a matter for the states – the federal government’s hands are largely tied. Federal Education Minister Stark-Watzinger would like to change that. In an interview she brought up a change in the constitution.
In response to the poor results of German students in the most recent PISA study, Federal Education Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger has discussed changing the Basic Law.
“I would like the Basic Law to allow us to work together between the federal government and some of the federal states, I call it a coalition of the willing. This way we could initiate projects more quickly,” said the FDP politician in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung. “We have to be able to act faster to organize education well. PISA shows that time is of the essence,” warned the minister.
“We have to provide targeted support”
According to the Basic Law, school education in Germany is the responsibility of the federal states. The federal government can provide support with funding programs such as the Digital Pact, but to do so it has to negotiate costly contracts with the states. Stark-Watzinger also suggested shifting responsibility for daycare centers from the family ministries to the education departments. “Daycare centers are educational institutions. For me, they belong in the ministries of education,” she emphasized.
There also needs to be an open debate about education policy in a country of immigration, emphasized Stark-Watzinger. “It doesn’t help anyone to make this topic taboo or to put it in a populist corner. We have to provide targeted support.” It is important to support the children in those households where there is “no bookcase” or where sufficient German is spoken. “We need to work on language skills and do so as early as possible,” warned Stark-Watzinger.
Education ministers are pushing forward Basic skills
German students performed worse than ever in the most recent PISA study to compare learning performance internationally. According to the results published by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), performance in the areas examined: mathematics, science and reading skills deteriorated significantly. The main causes are the corona pandemic and an increasing proportion of students whose native language is not German.
In view of the poor German results, the Conference of State Education Ministers (KMK) emphasized the urgency of strengthening the basic skills of students. This must be done in particular through “early, targeted language support,” explained the KMK President, Berlin Senator Katharina Günther-Wünsch (CDU), on Friday. Young people with an immigrant background needed special support. Therefore, the support measures, especially in language and reading promotion, would be intensified.