The PISA study is not the only thing that shows it: the state of education in Germany is bad. “It is worse than ever before,” warns education expert Prof. Matthias Grünke (54).
Around 8.4 million children and young people are currently studying at general education schools in Germany. But although the proportion of academics is increasing, the number of those who do not complete school is also increasing.
Grünke is an expert in the field of learning disorders and special education, as well as a behavioral therapist and Montessori teacher. He holds a chair at the University of Cologne. BILD spoke to him about what Germany will look like in 20 years if nothing changes now.
Read also
Scientists in a disaster film?
The expert criticises “massive gaps in basic skills”. Kinder have no problems with interpreting poems or calculus – they don’t even get that far because they lack basic knowledge of arithmetic, reading and writing.
“I feel like a scientist in a disaster movie: you see that something bad is coming our way and you try to warn us – but nobody listens,” he says. “The misery revealed by Pisa is massive and will also have consequences for society. We have never had such a collapse before – that makes me very nervous.”
But why? Are our children getting dumber? Are the teachers getting worse? Or who is to blame?
According to Grünke, the biggest problem is that there is no collaboration between science and practice. “We actually know the right solution for all educational problems – but people just act as if there isn’t one.” Yet pedagogy has a much larger wealth of knowledge than many other scientific fields.
100 words for starting school
For example, there are currently more children than ever before whose German skills are so poor that they are unable to learn the written language at all. “The solution would be: children who are just starting school must first learn the 100 most common words in the German language.” With the right method, this is possible within two weeks. Then a foundation is laid.
When selecting words, teachers and parents should of course refer to lists of the most common words in the German language, but should not adopt them without thinking, as many words from the “adult world” do not yet offer any added value for children. Prof. Grünke therefore names the following 100 words:
“It makes sense to start with nouns, as they are often the topics of conversations,” explains the expert. Basic verbs help to understand simple sentence structures, while adjectives expand the understanding of nouns. Finally, pronouns, articles, adverbs and question words help with sentence construction and with finding and understanding information. Use a snowball system and the first 100 words will quickly be followed by more.
Read also
Lack of education brings down society
Grünke is convinced that a lack of education will bring society down. “If we mess this up, we will put children on a track to the gutter. This is not scaremongering, this is what is happening when half of all fourth-graders in NRW’s major cities no longer even meet the minimum standards in reading. It has never been this bad. And it is clear that this is bound to go wrong.”
Germany has no other raw material than education. A horror scenario is therefore waiting: “Jobs can no longer be taken on and the few who are well-educated are bearing the brunt of it.”
Worse still: “When we have language barriers and words fail, the fist is used more and more often in school playgrounds – this has a massive impact on behavior. Lack of reading and spelling skills also leads to more crime.“
But what can help?
“We need to counteract this with sound methods – and we need to do it now,” the scientist stresses. Investments must be made in the training of teachers and equipment in schools, skills must be taught in order to measure the performance of students. And children must be integrated and taught the most important language skills.
“We are currently at a tipping point – if the situation tips, there is no turning back. But the solutions are not complex, time-consuming or expensive.”
