6.4 Fourth phase: Upper secondary, age 15/16 - 18/19 [see 3.2.4]
6.4.1 Control
6.4.2 Purpose(s)
6.4.3 Participation
6.4.4 Nature
6.4.5 Administration
6.4.6 Grading process
6.4.7 Consequences
6.4.8 Use of results
6.4.9 Output statistics
[see 3.2.4]
Assessment is a common feature of classroom life in Germany. However, due to devolved responsibility to Land level, there is generally no national system of assessment for students during this phase.38,512
Abitur
Traditionally, the Abitur - the upper secondary leaving certificate/higher education entry qualification - has been set by individual schools/teachers and also marked by students' own teachers, with some papers being verified by the education authority of the Land concerned. 95 See section 6.4.5 in addition.
Although set and marked at the school level, in accordance with a national agreement of the Standing Conference of the Ministries of Education and Cultural Affairs of all the Länder, there are some national guidelines which aim to ensure uniformity in the level of ability required to pass the Abitur. The Standing Conference has, for example, adopted standard examination requirements for 33 subjects in the Abitur. These detail such items as the tasks to be set in the written examination, the expected written and oral examination performance, or the weighting to be allocated to specific tasks. The Länder have, in turn, implemented the decisions adopted by the Conference of Ministers of Education and Culture concerning standard examination requirements for the Abitur in the form of Land regulations for the written and oral Abitur examinations in individual subjects.25 (The Standing Conference's agreement also covers the national six-point marking system (see section 6.4.6). and the recognition of teaching qualifications.) 12
In addition, a 1997 agreement of the Standing Conference allowed the Länder to introduce fast-track schemes in order to reduce the overall duration of the course leading to the Abitur examination from nine to eight years (students usually commence the course which leads to the Abitur at around age 10), or the length of compulsory education as a whole from around 13 to around 12 years. However, the required minimum number of hours of taught time remains the same, whether students achieve their Abitur on a nine-year course or on the new shorter course. The Land of Rhineland-Palatinate, for example, has introduced a scheme that reduces the overall duration to around eight-and-a-half years, and therefore allows students to enter higher education slightly earlier.13
Although individual schools have traditionally set their own Abitur examination in line with the agreements and guidelines outlined above, in the seven Länder of Bavaria, Baden-Wuerttemberg, Mecklenburg-Pomerania, Saarland, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia a centrally-set Abitur is used. That is, in these seven Länder, schools use an Abitur examination drawn up by a commission of teachers and Länder Education Ministry officials and not at the individual school level. Brandenburg, in addition, looks set to use a central Abitur from 2005. The Länder of Hesse and Lower Saxony may also follow suit. Berlin will use a central Abitur for the core subjects of German, mathematics and the first foreign language from 2006, leaving other subjects to be examined by the school. 95
Responsible agencies
Responsibility for arrangements to monitor and assess performance lies with the highest authority with responsibility for educational policy in each Land (Ministries, Senates). In Länder where there is a centralised final Abitur examination, the implementation and standard of this examination is again determined by the highest authorities in the Land.45
General
The educational and formative task of the school, in addition to transmitting knowledge, abilities and skills, is to record these in order to determine progress and to accredit performance. Consequently, the assessment of student performance is an integral part of teaching and lesson planning.45
The purpose of assessing a student's achievement is, first of all, to obtain information about the student's learning process and to serve as a basis for giving the student further assistance.23 The results of the various written assessment assignments undertaken also provide teachers with feedback on the success of their teaching and a basis for proceeding further.45
Abitur and university admission
Candidates who are successful in the Abitur (the achievement examination taken on completion of upper secondary education, after, in most Länder, 13 years at school) are awarded a general higher education entrance qualification (Allgemeine Hochschulreife). The 1972 Agreement on the gymnasiale Oberstufe, and subsequent relevant resolutions and amendments of the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs of all the Länder (see 6.4.1), upheld the general principle that the Abitur grants access to any course of study and all subject areas at universities and higher education institutions.12
The agreements reached also mean that some courses within Gymnasium-type education can lead to double qualifications. That is, at the end of some courses, some students can receive the right to pursue higher education (by successfully completing the Abitur and receiving the Allgemeine Hochschulreife), in addition to a vocational qualification (Hochschulreife or Fachgebunde Hochschulreife). Such courses are usually provided in Gymnasien with a technical bias (e.g. berufliche Gymnasien or Fachgymnasien) and lead to the Abitur and a final vocational examination after four years.12 Holders of the Fachgebunde Hochschulreife (vocational qualification) alone are permitted entry only to specified courses of university study.16
Although for the majority of higher education courses, there are currently no nationwide restrictions on the number of applicants who can be admitted (provided they have the Allgemeine Hochschulreife or equivalent), there are some quotas for certain courses as a result of large numbers of applicants and an insufficient number of places. Such courses usually include medicine, veterinary medicine, dentistry, architecture, business management and psychology. Since the summer of 1998, places on these courses have been awarded by a Central Office for the Allocation of Study Places ("Zentralstelle für die Vergabe von Studienplätzen") in Dortmund on the basis of a general selection procedure. The legal basis for this procedure is the agreement of the Länder on the allocation of study places. The courses which are subject to this nationwide selection procedure vary from year to year and from semester to semester. The main deciding factor for selection of applicants for over-subscribed subjects is the applicant's average mark in the Abitur. Other criteria may include the waiting period (between the applicant sitting the Abitur and applying for university entrance) and certain social criteria.16
For some courses, there are nationwide allocation procedures in which every applicant receives a place, but not necessarily at the institution of his/her choice. There are local restrictions on admission to a number of higher education institutions for some courses that are not included in the national admission procedure. In these cases, the university admits applicants based chiefly on the criteria of average marks and waiting period.16
Additionally, in a bid to raise standards, since the beginning of the 1997 academic year (September 1997), the Land of Baden-Wuerttemberg has introduced minimum Abitur grade requirements for university entrance for all subjects in the Land.50
University admission from 2004
Users should note that a national agreement reached (by the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs of all the Länder) in early 2003 looks likely to mean that, from 2004, universities will be permitted to select up to half their intake. Admissions tutors will, for example, be able to ask students for higher Abitur marks in specific subjects, set minimum grades for the Abitur, hold entrance examinations and interview applicants. Universities which do select half their intake will, however, continue to accept the remaining half through central allocation (25 per cent according to their Abitur average mark and 25 per cent according to university preference and time on the waiting list). 161
Continuous monitoring throughout the school year is compulsory for all students.45
Continuous assessment
Performance in all school years is assessed on the basis of ongoing observation of learning processes and applying oral, written and subject-based learning checks. Assessment covers all the work performed by the student, in particular written work, oral contributions and practical performance.25 Oral assessments are based on assessment of student contributions in lessons, and practical tests/assessments take place mostly in subjects such as sport, music and art. Written work and tests are set at regular intervals throughout the school year, and the level and content of such tests correspond to the appropriate syllabuses and curricula.19 Assessment also includes homework in the form of written or oral work.45 Summaries of achievement are provided in mid-year and year-end reports.12 In principle, the assessment covers all the subject areas of the curriculum.45
Abitur
In the Abitur, which takes place on completion of Year 13 of compulsory education in most Länder, students aged 18-19 (on completion of Year 12 in some, see 6.4.1), candidates are usually examined in at least four subjects, sometimes five. They take written examinations in their two main subjects - the two they have selected as their advanced subjects; another in which they take written and, in some cases, oral examinations; and a fourth subject which is usually examined orally.12 Each of the following three subject areas must be represented:
and all students must be tested in German or a foreign language (within the subject area languages, literature and the arts). 96
In North Rhine-Westphalia the written Abitur examinations in a student's two advanced subjects can last up to four and a quarter hours and, in the third subject, up to three hours. The oral examinations - excluding the preparatory time for students prior to the actual examination - last at least 20 minutes, but should not exceed 30.96
(See section 5.4.2 'gymnasiale Oberstufe' for further information.)
Assessment in vocational subjects
Within the framework of the dual system (work experience combined with in-school education), students in the second year of upper secondary education (usually aged around 17/18) sit an interim examination prior to the end of this year, in accordance with the syllabus and curriculum requirements. In technical vocational subjects, such examinations may be practical work tests. Written tasks must be completed to witness the level of knowledge acquired. Interim vocational examinations (for the first and second years of upper secondary education) are based on the content and capabilities expressed in the appropriate curriculum guidelines. The student receives a certificate confirming his/her participation in the interim examinations and recording his/her standard of education.19
(Various examinations are then taken at the end of the selected course of upper secondary education e.g. vocational examinations or the Abitur.)
General
Responsibility for arrangements to monitor and assess performance lies with the highest authority with responsibility for educational policy in each Land (Ministries, Senates). The Land supervisory authorities consequently have the authority to check that schools are keeping to the prescribed curricula and examination regulations, by visiting schools and sitting in on lessons. (They do not, however, have the authority to encroach upon the pedagogical freedom of the individual teacher.) In Länder where there is a centralised final Abitur examination, the implementation and standard of this examination is again determined by the highest authorities in the Land.45, 17
Abitur
Agreements between the Länder (see 6.4.1) cover the recognition of leaving certificates and teaching qualifications.12 To ensure uniformity in the level of ability required to pass the Abitur, the Standing Conference of Ministers of Education and Culture has adopted standard examination requirements for 33 subjects in the Abitur. These detail, for example, tasks to be set in the written examination, the expected written and oral examination performance, and the weighting to be allocated to specific tasks. The Länder have, in turn, implemented the decisions adopted by the Conference of Ministers of Education and Culture concerning standard examination requirements for the Abitur in the form of Land regulations for the written and oral Abitur examinations in individual subjects.25
Depending on the Land, the Schulaufsichtsbehörden (school supervisory authority) either sets the topics for the written examination centrally (that is to say, determines the assignments/assessment tasks), or it gives approval to the assessment tasks in cases where these are set by individual schools. As a rule, the school supervisory authority takes advice from teachers and the vast majority of questions are set by the teachers of the respective schools and checked by the school supervisory authority.45, 13
The Ministry of Education, Cultural Affairs and Science of the appropriate Land issues blank certificate forms. Completed by the individual school, certificates detail student achievements and are signed by the headteacher and class teacher.19
Implementation of continuous assessment and final examinations is the responsibility of the school and the subject teacher, not of outside examiners,583 and, as far as the number of written assessment assignments set is concerned, the teachers of a school are responsible for their distribution over the course of a school year. In the case of final school examinations, a timetable is published each year, containing the main dates for individual subjects. (This also applies to those Länder which do not set central tests.)45
The results of the various written assessment assignments undertaken provide teachers with feedback on the success of their teaching and a basis for proceeding further. Länder with central examinations are able to monitor this feedback system closely, since each teacher has an anonymous co-marker.45
The agreement of the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs of all 16 Länder, which guarantees a uniform basic structure of the school system in Germany, covers the description of this national marking system which is used for school reports and teacher training examinations.12
Marks are defined as follows:-
| 1. | "Sehr gut" (very good) | Given for a performance which is well above the required standard. |
| 2. | "Gut" (good) | Fully meets the required standard. |
| 3. | "Befriedigend" (satisfactory) | Generally meets the required standard. |
| 4. | "Ausreichend" (adequate) | Shows deficiencies but, on the whole, still meets the required standard. |
| 5. | "Mangelhaft" (poor) | Given when a performance does not meet the required standard, but suggests that the basic knowledge is there and that the deficiencies could be made up in a reasonable period of time. |
| 6. | "Ungenügend" (very poor/unsatisfactory) | Performance does not meet the required standard. Basic skills are so incomplete that the deficiencies could not be made up in a reasonable period of time. |
In assessing individual performances during the school year, teachers may also award intermediate grades, e.g. 2-3, 3+, 3- etc.45
In the gymnasiale Oberstufe, performance is assessed using a points system, which corresponds with this conventional 6-point scale.12 15 points are allocated to the six grades - three points to each grade, except for a fail grade - as follows:45
The Allgemeine Hochschulreife certificate incorporates examination marks, as well as continuous assessment of student performance during the last two years of the gymnasiale Oberstufe.16
Marks (for the Abitur) are based on classwork and tests in the last two years of school, as well as final written and oral examinations. To get on to a popular higher education course such as medicine in a good faculty, students might have to score 15 in some subjects and very highly in others.37
General
The purpose of assessing a student's achievement is, first of all, to obtain information about the student's learning process and to serve as a basis for giving the student further assistance.23 The results of various written assessment assignments undertaken also provide teachers with feedback on the success of their teaching and a basis for proceeding further.45
Abitur
Successful completion of the Abitur examination results in students being awarded a general higher education entrance qualification (Allgemeine Hochschulreife). Agreements of the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs of all 16 Länder have, until recently, upheld the principle that the Abitur grants access to any course of study and all subject areas at universities and higher education institutions.12 However, it should be noted that, to study certain subjects at university, students need to achieve certain marks in the Abitur. Medicine and law, for example, usually require higher marks than more esoteric subjects which simply require a pass.41 Increased university selection procedures look likely to be introduced from 2004. See section 6.4.2 in addition.
Generally, in all forms of compulsory education in Germany, students' performances are reported twice a year, at the end of the first half of the school year and at the end of the school year.25 See 6.2.8 and 6.3.8 for further information.
Abitur
The results of the Abitur examinations are recorded for the whole country and compared between Länder. 45
The Allgemeine Hochschulreife certificate incorporates examination marks, as well as continuous assessment of student performance during the last two years of the gymnasiale Oberstufe.16
In 1999, there were 664,302 students in the gymnasiale Oberstufe and 94,775 in berufliche Gymnasien/ Fachgymnasien (vocational upper secondary schools). This amounts to approximately one third of young people following courses in general or vocational upper secondary schools; the remaining two thirds were undertaking vocational training in the 'dual system' (part-time in school/education institution; part-time training in industry).
| Percentage | ||
|
Leavers who have completed full-time compulsory schooling |
||
| of which % without a Hauptschulabschluss | 9.4 | |
| of which % with Hauptschulabschluss | 29.4 | |
| Leavers with a Realschulabschluss or similar (lower secondary leaving) qualification (mittlerer Schulabschluß) | 49.4 | |
| Leavers with a higher leaving certificate (enabling access to further/higher education) | ||
| of which % with allgemeine Hochschulreife | 27.5 | |
| of which % with Fachhochschulreife | 9.5 |
DEFINITIONS OF THE ABOVE TERMS ARE AVAILABLE VIA THE GLOSSARY.
In 1995, of the total student enrolment in (full- or part-time, public or private) upper secondary education in Germany as a whole, 2.1 per cent repeated part of their course.36
A EUROSTAT report shows that the number of students completing upper secondary education has risen over time. 83 per cent of those aged between 25 and 29 in 1999 had completed upper secondary education compared to 74 per cent aged 50 to 64.91