Hessen is abolishing “writing by ear” in schools

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The measures include:

– Compulsory courses from the coming school year onwards for all preschool children with German problems. Errors should be corrected in the first grade – from the second half of the school year.

– learning methods like “Writing by ear” are not permitted.

– It’ll be one in fourth grade additional German lesson give.

– For the school year 2022/23 should binding a connected handwriting be applied.

– Then a also applies key vocabularythat all children need to know by the time they leave elementary school.

– In grades 9 and 10 a Error index which influences the grading.

According to the ministry, a total of 310 new positions are planned for the extra German lesson and preschool courses alone. Measures to promote reading, training and further education offers for teachers and projects with the Reading Foundation and the Frankfurt Polytechnic Foundation are also planned.

In addition to colloquial or youth language, the educational language is a form of application of the language, explained the chairman of the Frankfurt Foundation, Roland Kaehlbrandt. This “gives us tools to describe, explain, analyze, discuss, justify and draw conclusions.” But that has to be learned and practiced.

Criticism from the Education and Science Union

According to the ministry, the background to the package of measures is a recommendation made by the Conference of Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs at the end of 2019 on the initiative of Hesse to strengthen educational language skills.

Criticism came from the education and science union (GEW) in Hesse. Several of the announced measures pointed in the wrong direction and tended to hinder successful language acquisition. Instead of improving the framework conditions at the elementary schools, there are now guidelines, complained the chairwoman of the state group for elementary schools, Susanne Hoeth.

Trained teachers know best how the acquisition of the written language can be made successfully under the specific local conditions. “The minister is apparently planning a massive encroachment on the pedagogical freedom of teachers, which will ultimately fall back on the students,” criticized Hoeth. According to the GEW, regardless of the package, the lack of teachers in primary schools in the country is also unresolved.