From BZ/dpa
According to a new study, Berlin has again slipped significantly in the country education comparison.
In the annual education monitor commissioned by the business-oriented Initiative New Social Market Economy (INSM), the capital only came in 15th, ahead of Bremen and behind Brandenburg. In the ranking published on Wednesday, Saxony, Bavaria and Thuringia are at the top. In 2022 Berlin was still ranked 11th, in the two previous years it was 13th. In 2019 the state was last.
The authors complain that the proportion of young people without a training place in Berlin is high despite progress. Many children and young people do not reach the minimum standards of competence in German and math. Another shortcoming in the capital is the particularly close connection between social background and educational success. Among other things, it was positively emphasized that the student-teacher ratios were good, i.e. the number of children/young people per teacher. In addition, a high proportion of all-day offers in day care centers and schools attend.
The education monitor of the German Economic Institute (IW) has been collected annually since 2004 on behalf of the New Social Market Economy initiative, which is financed by the metal and electrical industry. The educational systems of the countries are compared using various criteria “from an explicitly economic perspective”, as it is said. It was the 20th edition of the study. The INSM comes to the conclusion that the level of education in Germany has deteriorated dramatically over the past ten years. There are negative developments, especially in the areas of school quality, integration and educational poverty.
A schoolchild in Brandenburg Photo: rhi vfd
“The day-care centers and schools have not yet found a good answer to the fact that the student body has become significantly more heterogeneous in recent years, that an increasing proportion does not speak German at home or only have a few books in the household,” said study author Axel Plünnecke from the German Economic Institute (IV). The consequence is that the results of children from households with a migration background or from households with little education have fallen particularly sharply. INSM Managing Director Thorsten Alsleben called for “pre-school compulsory for everyone who does not speak German or speaks poorly”. This debate has been held several times in recent years.
The President of the Conference of Ministers of Education (KMK), Katharina Günther-Wünsch (CDU), supports a “pre-school obligation” for children with language difficulties. The Berlin education senator referred to corresponding plans for children in Berlin on Wednesday: “In the final instance, we will not shy away from fines because it is about providing children with the best opportunities right from the start.”
In Berlin, according to the plans of the CDU-SPD government, it should be ready by 2025. The model is called “Kita-Chancenjahr”. From autumn 2024, children who do not go to daycare will be obliged to take language tests, as Günther-Wünsch explained on Wednesday. From spring 2025, children who have been identified as having special needs or who did not show up for the tests would then be obliged to attend a daycare center. Fines for parents who do not cooperate are not the primary goal, said the CDU politician, “but we actually want to work with the parents in an advisory and supportive manner. We will expand the day-care center social work in order to do outreach counseling again.” If everything doesn’t work, fines would be implemented.
In view of the results of the education monitor, the association of business associations in Berlin and Brandenburg appealed that the schools in Berlin urgently needed to improve the performance of their students in the core subjects. “Without sufficient knowledge of mathematics, German or English, the young people can hardly manage the start of their professional life,” it said. The interest group for family businesses fears a deterrent effect on new workers: “Who would want to live in a city where they can’t rely on a good education for their children?” “Real reforms” are needed.