Siegfried Kuttig/imago images/imagebroker
Capitalist competition needs to be learned: lessons in a primary school
According to the state government, teachers at Saxony-Anhalt’s primary schools should be better paid. In the course of the agreement in the “black-red-yellow” coalition, the CDU is said to have demanded something in return. What does this consist of specifically?
The CDU is said to have called for stricter regulation of the transition from primary school to secondary school after the fourth grade in order to control and restrict access to high school. A recommendation from elementary schools to attend grammar school should in future be linked to certain grades in German, mathematics and general knowledge. Anyone who does not achieve this and is nevertheless asked to go to a grammar school at the parents’ request must take a test in German and mathematics and three days of trial lessons.
How do you rate the demand to start compulsory parent talks as early as the third grade in order to orientate yourself on your future school career?
This is an absolutely pointless measure. This would raise hopes or stir up fears, if necessary completely unnecessarily. The children are just coming out of the flexible school entry phase of the first and second grades and have only had experience with the grading of their performance for about a year. At this point, the significance of the grades is still much weaker than a year later – and even in fourth grade the grades only provide limited information as to whether a child will later learn successfully at the Gymnasium.
There are regular discussions between the class teachers and the parents about the learning progress and the development of the children, and these take place in a trusting atmosphere. It would be wrong to burden these discussions with early school career advice and thereby burden the primary schools with even more additional tasks.
What consequences would the early discussion of the school career have for students and teachers?
It would be learned even earlier and more intensively in formal terms in order to pass tests – and not to enjoy learning about things because they are interesting, because you can try things out and discover your talents. Should the CDU push through their plans, I hope that the teachers at the elementary schools will simply not take this school career advice in class three seriously.
Which path do you think is the right one when it comes to shaping your school career?
Nothing. Good education with equal opportunities for everyone does not require a school career. We still know that from the good level of school performance in the eastern countries before the fall of the Wall, and most countries outside the German-speaking area show us that. So far we have failed to provide any proof that dividing the children into good, not so good and needy students is a successful way. The next results of the nationwide school performance tests, which should be on the table this year, will bring us back to earth very hard. When it comes to the performance of our ninth graders in German and foreign languages, I expect the next »Pisa shock«.
How do you rate the educational policy ideas of the CDU overall? Is it primarily about trimming the students for performance?
I don’t know whether the CDU even has educational policy ideas. What you perceive of her is economy-driven belly rumbling. If the school system is essentially well structured, as it has been in Saxony-Anhalt for many years, then the CDU more or less lets everything run its course, no matter what comes of it. At the moment, however, we have very low student numbers, and for them there is also an incredibly poor supply of teachers. The result is a rampant shortage of skilled workers – and that drives the CDU to try something. But without any idea of education.
