Free Schools in Thuringia: High Demand for Places exceeds Supply

Education
Free schools: Demand for places higher than supply

In Thuringia, independent schools are very popular. “The demand for school places in independent sponsorship is regularly higher than the available space,” explains Marco Eberl, spokesman for the state working group of independent school sponsors in Thuringia (LAG).

The schools can also directly confirm the great demand. According to a spokesman for the Diocese of Erfurt, there were 138 applications for the 75 new places in the grammar school branch of the Edith Stein School in Erfurt in the current school year, while the regular school recorded 75 applications for 24 places.

According to headmaster Andrea Fabry, the Waldorf school in Erfurt has had to turn down around two-thirds of applicants for a number of years, although the class sizes have already been increased somewhat. At the Emil-Petri-School in Arnstadt, there are usually 1.5 applications for a place in the community school, according to the headmaster.

Independent sponsors can be churches, but also welfare organizations, foundations or associations. The Evangelical School Foundation in Central Germany is considered to be one of the largest independent schools in Thuringia.

In contrast to state schools, which are fully financed by the public purse, independent schools depend on school fees. As a rule, these are socially staggered, on average the school fees are between 100 and 200 euros a month, according to the LAG. However, these costs include all-day care, which in some cases still has to be paid for separately in state schools.

According to the LAG, the reasons for the attractiveness of the free schools are, among other things, the differences in teaching and learning as well as the greater opportunities for parents to have a say. Reformed learning concepts are often pursued, and free schools can also react more flexibly to new challenges. This makes it easier, for example, to set up an all-day school concept or digitization. In addition, free schools are succeeding in focusing more on the needs of students and parents and developing a “service mentality” instead of an administrative mentality.

According to the LAG, the proportion of pupils at free schools has increased constantly in recent years. Eberl laments what he sees as insufficient funding for free schools. “We are currently observing with concern the growing unequal treatment of free and state schools by the Ministry of Education,” said Eberl. “The current non-recognition of administrative costs and depreciation exclusively for independent school authorities endangers the stability of the entire school network and school peace in the country.”

According to the Ministry of Education, there are currently 158 independent schools in Thuringia, including 31 elementary schools, 8 regular schools, 20 community schools, 11 grammar schools, 7 comprehensive schools or other schools, 22 special needs schools and 59 vocational schools.

dpa