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Germany : Curricula (age 3-19)

Last updated: 08-Sep-2010
5.2 Second phase: Primary, age 6 - 10 (or 12) [see 3.2.2]
5.2.1 Control
5.2.2 Compulsory subjects
5.2.3 Optional/elective subjects
5.2.4 Formulation of curriculum
5.2.5 Key skills
5.2.6 Curriculum materials

 

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5.2 Second phase: Primary, age 6 - 10 (or 12) 

See 3.2.2.

 

5.2.1 Control

In Germany, in all Länder compulsory curricula exist for all subjects, as do areas of study in all types of compulsory school.⁴² These are determined by the local Länder authorities and there is a minimum standard core curriculum across most Länder.³⁰

The Ministers of Education and Culture in the Länder are responsible for the development and implementation of curricula for the subjects taught at the different types and levels of school .^12,42

Curriculum development work at the national level is legally the responsibility of the Curriculum Development Department of the Federal (National) Institute for School and Adult Education. The Department consists of a main section responsible for education and teaching, educational research and school counselling and six specialist sections which cover the main subjects taught in schools (German; foreign languages; mathematics/science; social sciences/history/religion; art/music; sport). In addition, three coordination sections (primary, lower secondary and upper secondary) are responsible for schools in the corresponding category. There is also a 'special education' section which deals with curricula for Sonderschulen, and a section which is exclusively concerned with vocational training. Depending on the type of school and the volume of curriculum development work, the sections participate in all phases of development and revision work. Since its creation in 1978, the Institute has become the central agency for curriculum development activities and continued/further teacher training.⁴²

At the regional (Land) level, curricula are usually developed in special curriculum planning commissions (committees) by teachers (including headteachers) who are assisted by other specialists such as representatives of the school (administrative) authorities and school research institutes in the appropriate Land and, to a lesser extent, by subject specialists from institutions of higher education.^12,38 . Typical curriculum commission composition would be:

• six to eight teachers of the particular subject and from the type of school concerned;
• a representative of the school inspectorate, who is frequently the Chairman of the curriculum commission; and
• a member of the Federal Institute for School and Adult Education as a supervisor.⁴²

Curriculum committees usually meet once a month and curricula are normally developed in parallel for all subjects in a particular type of school.  The process of preparing the general teaching directives for a specific type of school takes place while the curricula are being developed.⁴²

Members do not usually receive any specialist training for their curriculum committee activities. Their most important task is to incorporate the specific, practical requirements of schools, their wishes and their concern for certain provisions in the curriculum development process - by providing guidance and proposing adjustments.⁴²

Teachers on curriculum committees are allocated four hours each week away from the classroom/teaching for these activities. Committee members are appointed by the Minister of Education and Culture (of the Land concerned) (usually with the agreement of the Federal Institute for School and Adult Education).  In most cases, such teachers are staff with extensive practical experience and with skills in teaching, activity planning and the organisation of school and lessons. Consequently, many of these teachers are headteachers, who have experience of teacher training or who work as experts on study and district seminars.⁴²

Draft new or amended curricula can take over a year to produce and it usually takes three to four years to develop the curricula for all subjects for a type of school. Once they are completed, in many Länder, the curricula are submitted to schools for a pilot/trial period.^42,58 . Before any curriculum is implemented, there is also usually a procedure to ensure the participation of associations and representatives of parents, students and teachers.¹² Once new curricula are ready for implementation, the Ministers of Education and Culture (of the various Länder) make the necessary legal and organisational changes concerning schools (e.g. the number of classroom tests, amendments to timetables and hours per subject etc.). These are included as new provisions in the Education and Examination Regulations (APO) or, alternatively, orders concerning them are issued to schools.⁴²

Once agreement has been reached on the formulation of a new curriculum and this is being implemented in schools (either for a provisional period or permanently), teacher training establishments are requested to provide the necessary training for teachers and, at this stage too, textbook publishers are requested to revise or completely rewrite the relevant texts.³⁸

Headteachers are responsible for ensuring that curricula are implemented. Mostly, curricula are general enough in their formulation so as to allow individual teachers the necessary pedagogical freedom. Subject teachers in individual educational establishments collectively determine a general teaching method for the curriculum/syllabus set by the Ministry and a format for assessment.³⁸

Curricula provide instructions for teachers' planning and practical work. They can be seen as guidelines on the goals, subject matter and methods involved in learning. It is the teacher's job to implement these instructions in the teaching and learning process, that is, in the planning approach designed for their students and in teaching practice. They are consequently encouraged to take account of the individual characteristics of their students. Only the local teacher can justifiably decide how the curriculum guidelines should be implemented for his or her group of students.⁴²

A basic task for the teacher is to relate the performance targets stated in the curriculum to the specific characteristics of a class of students. It is his/her duty to cooperate with teachers of other subjects and work out common programmes for a class or year. Such 'in-school' curricula relate the general curriculum guidelines to the specific conditions applicable to each school. In addition to the characteristics of the students, a school's local conditions also play a decisive role. In the same way, important points in a school's programme and profile are defined by particular types of cooperation with outside partners, the school's traditions, extra teaching, study groups, full-day schooling, parental input, project days etc. The entire staff and subject teachers must make these internal arrangements. Subject teachers decide, for example, which of the state-approved textbooks are to be used, and teachers of the same subject working with parallel classes cooperate to plan teaching and prepare classroom tests. Teachers working on different subjects with the same class are involved in planning interdisciplinary teaching units and carrying out projects and similar activities.⁴²

It is assumed that the curriculum guidelines account for only around 70 per cent of available school time; the remainder is available for the school's own planning work. From the teacher's perception, however, the situation is frequently different. Teachers often have the impression that they are over-stretched by the amount of subject matter and demands in curricula and consider that the latitude provided for them is much smaller than the 70:30 per cent ratio.⁴²         

Common educational standards

Following an agreement by the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Culture of the 16 German Länder in 2002, common national educational standards have begun to be developed for specific stages in primary and secondary education.⁹³  It is intended that the standards should facilitate the comparison of results at national level, whilst allowing schools to provide students with individual support. The common educational standards:

• set out the basic principles for each of the subjects
• describe the specific competencies which students should have reached at this stage of their education
• promote systematic and integrated learning and
• outline the expected levels of achievement.¹⁶⁴      

At the start of the 2004/2005 school year, initial standards relating to German, mathematics and the first modern foreign language (either English or French) were adopted in the schools of all Länder as the basis for subject-specific requirements for the mittlerer Schulabschluß (the lower secondary school qualification, which is usually taken at the end of Year 10 when students are around 16 years old, see 6.3.2.).  In October 2004, the Standing Conference adopted educational standards in the subjects German and mathematics for the primary sector (Year 4, children aged nine to 10) and in the subjects German, mathematics and for the first foreign language (English or French) for the Hauptschulabschluß (the lower secondary qualification, which is usually taken at the end of Year 9 when students are around 15 years old, see 6.3.2.). In December 2004, educational standards were also adopted for the subjects biology, chemistry and physics for the mittlerer Schulabschluß. Further information is available in English at: http://www.bmbf.de/en/1154.php

The Federal Ministry of Education and Research has produced a publication which sets out a definition of the concept of educational standards and describes the national infrastructure required for the development and evaluation of the standards.  This publication is available in English on the Ministry's website (pdf file).

5.2.2 Compulsory subjects

Subjects

In most of the Länder of the Federal Republic of Germany, the statutory school curriculum comprises:

• German;
• mathematics;
• social studies (usually taught as Sachunterricht, see below, in primary level education);
• history (usually taught as Sachunterricht, see below, in primary level education);
• geography (usually taught as Sachunterricht, see below, in primary level education);
• biology (aspects of biology are taught within science, which is usually taught as Sachunterricht, see below, in primary level education);
• physics (aspects of physics are taught within science, which is usually taught as Sachunterricht, see below, in primary level education);
• chemistry (aspects of chemistry are taught within science, which is usually taught as Sachunterricht, see below, in primary level education);
• art;
• music;
• sport;
• religion (see below); and
• modern foreign languages (see below).⁴⁴

Sachunterricht
Sachunterricht is taught as a specific interdisciplinary subject at primary level. Sachunterricht provides an introduction to subjects such as economics, social studies, history, geography, science (biology, physics, chemistry etc.), and technology, which students will encounter as separate subjects later in their school life.¹² As an example, German students have no organised science until Year 5 (age 10-11). However, Sachunterricht, often includes practical or applied science problems, such as 'how does a light bulb work?' or 'why do leaves turn brown in autumn?'.⁵⁴

Art, music, sport and (in most, but not all Länder) religion, are taught as separate subjects.¹²

In addition, certain other subjects such as health and environmental studies are increasingly finding their way into the primary curriculum.³⁸ Indeed, it is increasingly common to find the following areas being included in the programme of education in the Grundschule: linguistic education (encouragement of linguistic development); mathematical education, in the sense of an introduction to logical thinking and problem solving); media education (using media in a critical way); aesthetic education (creative activities and sensory experiences); using technology; movement education; encounters with foreign languages; health and environmental studies (as mentioned above) and treating nature and one's own body in a responsible way; and the culture and perspective of one's home country or region, combined with an international outlook.¹⁷

Several of the subject areas in the primary curriculum, e.g. German, Sachunterricht, drama, music, art and handicrafts are often brought together to produce lively and varied work on topic focuses or lesson units.¹⁷

Religious education
Religious instruction is included in the curriculum in public sector schools (except those which are non-denominational) and is usually provided in accordance with the doctrine of the religious community concerned. These stipulations do not apply, however, in the Länder of Bremen and Berlin, where different regulations had already been specified by a Land law of 1 January 1949. Brandenburg also makes use of this legal provision, whilst conceding to churches and religious communities the right to teach students according to their denomination on school premises. Legislation further stipulates that parents of primary age children have the right to decide whether their child should receive religious instruction.¹⁷  Religious education in Germany is either Protestant, Catholic or secular. The Land of Berlin has also introduced the study of Islam as an option.⁵²    (Where children do not participate in religious education, they are usually taught 'ethics' as an alternative.)

Civics education
Civics education (Sozialkunde) is included in the curricula of all the German Länder as a subject in its own right and as part of other subjects. It is an obligatory subject throughout compulsory education, although at primary level it usually functions as a subsidiary subject or as a component of another subject. Civics education aims to provide students with an understanding of:

• the structural and institutional aspects of a democratic society at the local, regional and national level;
• the interrelationship of the various sectors of society; and
• the relevance of social/civic policy-making for the individual and society as a whole.

It is also intended to enable students to take effective actions and make decisions as responsible citizens and to be conscious of their rights and duties as a member of society, as a citizen of the state and as a member of the community. (German Unit of the EURYDICE information network on education in Europe, 2002).

In 2009, the Länder agreed measures to strengthen civics education in primary and secondary schools. The measures include:

• promoting a cross-curricular approach to teaching democratic education
• increasing opportunities for learning in out-of-school locations such as memorial sites and museums
• improving opportunities for pupils to influence decisions affecting school life, for example through participation in school committees.¹⁷¹

Modern foreign languages
During the primary (Grundschule) phase, students normally study all subjects, except modern foreign languages,⁴⁴ although increasingly, following an agreement of the Ministers of Education of the 16 German Länder reached in late 2001, foreign languages are offered from Year 3 of primary education (children aged 8-9).  Where modern foreign languages are introduced, these are usually characterised through play, with no assessment and English is the language most often chosen for study. ^{42, 53}

The rules governing foreign language teaching at primary level vary between the Länder. Where introduced, the study of foreign languages usually begins in Year 3 (students aged 8+) and priority is on the oral language, with very limited teaching of reading and writing, with no assessments or grades.⁸

Sex and relationships education
Sexual, family and partnership education is compulsory in Germany during primary education. It is not possible for parents to remove children from sex education lessons, and in August 2009 Germany's highest court ruled that requiring children to attend sex education programmes does not infringe upon their rights to raise children according to their own values, or religious beliefs. However, schools must consult with parents and inform them of the school's policy and programme on sexual education and develop policies which reflect the parents' and children's wishes and take particular situations into consideration. ¹⁷⁰
 
At primary level "sexual, family and partnerships" education is tailored to the age, physical and emotional maturity of the child. ¹⁷⁰

Time allocation

Timetables ensure that subjects have a fixed proportion of hours in the general curriculum. They are binding on all schools of a given type and aim to ensure comparable educational conditions for all students.⁴²

Traditional timetables are, however, increasingly criticised for giving too little scope for interdisciplinary learning processes and for blocking the possibilities of developing 'modern' methods of learning, precisely because they stick to the traditional subject system.¹²

In the Grundschule, the number of weekly class hours increases at rates which vary, depending on the Land, from 17-23 hours in Year 1 (ages 6-7) to 23-27 hours per week in Year 4 (ages 9-10). One lesson usually comprises 45 minutes. Teaching takes place over five or six days a week, Monday to Friday or Saturday, in the morning. As a rule, in Länder with a six-day school week, there are two Saturdays per month on which no lessons take place. The total number of weekly lessons remains the same with a five- or six-day week. With a five-day school week, teaching usually takes place on 188 days a year on average and, in the case of a six-day week, the number of days on which lessons are taught increases to around 208.^12,17

Homework

As primary school education in Germany usually only takes place in the mornings, homework is regarded as very important.²² It begins, as part of the statutory student regime, in Year 1 of primary education. However, homework in this Year is only a matter of 10 minutes or so. The amount of homework gradually increases, with students in Year 4 (in most Länder, the final year of Grundschule, age 9-10) generally completing about an hour a night.⁵⁴  Homework in Years 5 to 10, ages 10 - 16 (compulsory full-time lower secondary education in most Länder, although in some Länder Years 5 and 6 are still part of primary education) takes up to two hours each evening.⁵⁴

5.2.3 Optional/elective subjects

There are no optional subjects at this level, although increasingly, primary level foreign language teaching is being introduced. Where modern foreign languages are introduced, these are normally characterised through play, with no assessment and English is the language most often chosen for study.^42,53 French is the second most popular selection.⁵¹ 

Religious education is optional in the sense that students' parents (during the primary phase) decide whether their child should receive religious instruction.  In most of the Länder, children who do not participate in religious education are taught 'ethics' as an alternative.

5.2.4 Formulation of curriculum

Directives, syllabuses, areas of study and timetables are used in the formulation of the curriculum in Germany.

Directives, curricula and timetables that must be observed exist for all subjects and areas of study in all types of school in all 16 Länder. The directives mainly refer to the type of school. They define the main educational ideas to which a kind of school is committed, what is included in its educational programme and the teaching and learning principles governing its profile. The directives also provide statements on the organisation of education and teaching in the school and on performance assessment, homework, the use of staff and, where necessary, the main aspects of work in the individual school years. They also refer to the requirements for a system of organisation designed for students (school life, cooperation between schools and their environment, the need for projects etc.). Lastly, they state the certificates which can be obtained in the respective types of school and on possible transfers between schools.⁴²

In all cases, curricula make statements on individual subjects and areas of study. They cover:

• The tasks and goals involved in the subject or the area of study e.g. the qualifications to be acquired and basic aptitudes and skills.
• The teaching concept for a subject or area of study, e.g. in the form of information on elementary teaching and learning methods, the field covered by the subject and its main contents.
• The main subject matter, topics and related goals. In some cases the curricula are supplemented by advice on teaching, with suggestions for schedules and methods, as well as for practical and organisational aspects of particular teaching sequences. In most curricula, these instructions concerning subject matter are structured according to the particular Year (e.g. Years 5/6, 7/8, 9/10).
• Checks on learning goals and encouragement and assessment of work. Here, for example, statements are made on the importance of oral or written work in the system, and on the assessment of individual or group work or other forms of work relating to a subject.
• Advice on work with curricula. This is mainly intended to encourage varying planning approaches. In addition, some curricula give advice on documentation and aids for staff and students.⁴²

Directives, curricula and timetables, along with the legal and organisational rules, are binding on all schools. All 16 Länder have theoretically and structurally comparable directives, curricula and timetables, as well as comparable legal regulations for their schools.⁴²

Curricula provide instructions for teachers' planning and practical work. These can be regarded as guidelines on the goals, subject matter and methods involved in learning. It is the teacher's job to implement these instructions in the teaching and learning process, that is, to plan the appropriate approach for his/her students and to plan actual teaching/practice.  Consequently, teachers are encouraged to take account of the individual characteristics of their students. Only the local teacher can reasonably decide how the curriculum guidelines should be implemented for his or her group of students.⁴²

A basic task for the teacher is to relate the performance targets stated in the curriculum to the specific characteristics of a class of students. It is his/her duty to cooperate with teachers of other subjects and determine common programmes for a class. Such 'in-school' curricula relate the general curriculum guidelines to the specific conditions applicable to each school. In addition to the characteristics of the students, a school's local conditions also play a decisive role. In the same way, important points in a school's programme and profile are defined by particular types of cooperation with outside partners, the school's traditions, extra teaching, study groups, full-day schooling, parental input, project days etc. The entire staff and subject teachers must make these internal arrangements. Subject teachers decide, for example, which of the state-approved textbooks are to be used, and teachers of the same subject working with parallel classes cooperate in planning teaching and preparing classroom tests. Teachers working on different subjects with the same class are involved in planning interdisciplinary teaching units and carrying out projects and similar activities.⁴²

It is intended that the curriculum guidelines should account for only about 70 per cent of available school time; the remainder being available for the school's own work. From the teacher's perception, however, the situation is frequently different. Teachers often have the impression that they are over-stretched by the amount of subject matter and demands in curricula and consider that the latitude provided for them is much smaller than the 70:30 per cent ratio.⁴²                            

Common educational standards

Following an agreement of the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Culture of the 16 German Länder in 2002, common national educational are being developed for specific stages in primary and secondary education.⁹³  The first standards began to be introduced in the 2004/05 school year for students taking the mittlerer Schulabschluß (the lower secondary school qualification, which is usually taken at the end of Year 10 when students are around 16 years old, see 6.3.2). It is intended that standards will also be introduced in primary education at the end of Year 4 (children aged 9-10) in German and mathematics, as well as for the Hauptschulabschluß (the lower secondary qualification, which is usually taken at the end of Year 9 when students are around 15 years old, see 6.3.2).¹⁶⁴  See section 5.2.1 for further information.

5.2.5 Key Skills

The acquisition of reading, writing and arithmetic skills plays a central role in initial teaching at Grundschulen,¹² and is regarded as key to the acquisition of the skills required for later life.

In their "recommendations for skills to be acquired in primary education", the Ministers of the 16 German Länder emphasise that primary education should provide children with the knowledge, ability and capabilities for future life. Particular emphasis is placed on:

• factual learning to prepare children for everyday life;
• the mastery of the German language (literacy);
• mathematics (numeracy);
• developing children's creative ability;
• developing children's ability for independent learning, critical thinking, learning by their own experience etc.;
• an introduction to a foreign language; and
• providing children with a background education (the beginnings of an education) in their own culture, in the European dimension and a knowledge of the world.¹⁸

5.2.6 Curriculum materials

Textbooks

All textbooks used in schools, regardless of the type of school or level, must be approved by the School Book Committees of the Länder Ministries of Education, Cultural Affairs and Science (according to a Resolution of the Standing Conference of Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs of the 16 Länder on the approval of textbooks). Each (Land) Ministry of Education, Cultural Affairs and Science regularly publishes a list of approved textbooks. (These lists also contain some of the legal and administrative provisions governing the free supply of teaching materials and the approval of textbooks, along with indications of the criteria to be used by those who are appointed by the Ministry of Education, Cultural Affairs and Science to assess textbooks.)²⁶ Approval of school textbooks aims to ensure that students do not learn from books which fail to meet the needs of the curriculum (or which contain racist thinking etc.).³⁵

Textbooks are generally produced by private, commercial publishers who, to a large extent, specialise in this type of work.²⁶ Directives and curricula are important reference points for school textbooks.⁴²

Textbooks produced by private, commercial publishers are generally approved if:

• they are in line with the general principles of the Grundgesetz (Constitution) and the educational objectives set out in Education Acts;
• they are compatible with curricula/syllabuses and with educational research findings;
• the quality of the binding is appropriate and the price justifiable.²⁶

External criteria such as the number of pages are also taken into account for approval purposes, insofar as the size and format should be consistent with the content as laid down in the curriculum, the chosen approach to the subject, and the age of the students.²⁶

Textbooks for religious education are approved with the agreement of the church authorities.²⁶

The school staff select textbooks for use in their schools from the wide range of approved titles.⁴² This selection is generally made at meetings of subject teachers or of the whole staff. In some cases, the approval of the schools' inspectorate is required; some Länder also have rules for consulting parents' and students' representatives.²⁶

In most types of school, textbooks are still the decisive instruments in planning and the textbooks in use frequently appear to have a greater influence than the appropriate curricula on the standards and breakdown of subject matter and on the sequence planning of course content.⁴²

To enable students, regardless of their income and social circumstances, to have access to all the teaching materials used in schools, all the Länder have rules whereby teaching materials, and textbooks in particular, are provided free of charge. The costs are borne either by schools' funding bodies, such as local authorities, or by the Land itself. Generally, students attending state schools are given textbooks and other more expensive teaching materials (e.g. pocket calculators) on loan, whereas expendable items such as exercise books and pencils and other educational materials (e.g. drawing instruments, materials for needlework and handicrafts) must be provided by parents and students. However, the rules vary from one Land to another and, in rare cases, students in publicly-funded schools may be expected to pay a minor contribution towards textbook costs. Provisions for the supply of free teaching materials to students in private schools vary according to the Land. In some Länder students/parents are required to contribute to the total cost of teaching materials by paying for certain materials themselves. Some Länder do not operate a loan system but provide grants to purchase materials; these grants may depend on parents' income or the type of school attended.^26,35

The prices of textbooks are controlled at a 'reasonable' level. If a price is raised, approval of the textbook concerned may be withdrawn. In addition, competition between textbook publishers helps to ensure that prices remain reasonably low.²⁶

Other materials

There is a national Institute for Films and Visual Aids (run by the 16 Länder), which produces all kinds of support materials for schools, including films, videos, and colour slide series. In addition, most of the Länder also have Land central agencies for the distribution of audiovisual aids to schools. Some Länder also have central Land agencies for computer education, which test commercially-produced computer software and make recommendations for its use in schools.³¹

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