Marcelo Caruso/Patrick Ressler
The Two-Tier System: A structural change in the school system?
Introduction
Klaus Hurrelmann
The German School System: The “two-way model” prevails
During the 1970s, in the context of the debate on the pros and cons of the three-tiered school system in the Federal Republic of Germany, the author of this article suggested to combine the three existing school types (Hauptschule, Realschule, Gesamtschule) into integrated secondary schools, to provide them with their own senior levels and to equate them with the Gymnasium (high school). The present contribution sketches the scientific and political debate on this “two-way model”. The analysis reveals that, after an initially vehement rejection, a gradual acceptance of the model occurred in the course of the reunion of the two German states. The reasons for this development are to be seen in the strengthening of internationally oriented empirical educational research and the resulting pressure to create educational justice. Increased qualitative standards and demographic factors also play a role. The thesis is posited that we are here dealing with an irreversible development and that the two-way model will in the medium term assert itself in all of the 16 German Laender.
Keywords: Two-Way-School Model, Tracking System, Comprehensive School, Integrated Secondary School, Educational Research
Bernd Zymek
The Future of the Two-Tier System in Germany
What can be learnt from historical school development?
The author discusses the question of in how far the historical process of the implementation and dissolution of the three-tier school system in the German Laender during the last 150 years can provide information on the future of the two-tier school system. The analysis is not restricted to the official description of the system, but rather takes into account the development of the regional and local structures of educational provisions as well as the relevant actors. From the perspective of long-term historical processes, the author elucidates the prognosis that a two-tier system of secondary schools will only come into existence in specific local constellations and as an intermediate step in a school system that consists of integrated and partially integrated school forms in small towns and of a broadly differentiated spectrum of secondary schools in large cities.
Keywords: Future of Secondary Education, Structural Changes in Secondary Schools, Secondary Schools Differentiation, Path Dependence, Legal Frame of Schooling
Benjamin Edelstein/Rita Nikolai
Structural Change in Secondary Education
Determinants of school-political processes of reform in Saxony and Hamburg
In recent years, far-reaching reforms of the school structure have been implemented in many of the German Laender. So far, however, there is a lack of theory-guided analyses, which could disclose the determinants of these reforms or explain the differences between the Laender. This contribution reveals how neo-institutional concepts can be used in the analysis of persistence and change of educational institutions. The process analyses carried out by the authors with regard to Saxony and Hamburg show that the reform of school structures can be characterized as path-dependent. In both Saxony and Hamburg, specific potentialities and constraints regarding institutional change developed due to the partial erosion of the “reproduction mechanisms” of the respective traditional school structure.
Keywords: Path-dependence, Institutional Change, Structural Reform, Two-tier Model, Bundeslaender
Tilman Drope/Anne Jurczok
Neither Equal, Nor Similar
Particularities and problems of integrated secondary schools in a socio-economically weak district of Berlin
As of the academic year 2010/2011, Berlin has a two-tier school system consisting of the Gymnasium (high school) and integrated secondary schools. On the basis of data provided by an ethnographically oriented research project, the authors examine the perception of this re-organization and the resulting challenges in a socio-economically weak district of Berlin. It becomes apparent that the equality of the two types of school – repeatedly proclaimed in the educational-political discussion and usually grounded on the fact that, in principle, both schools provide the opportunity to achieve matriculation standard – is primarily dependent on the conditions prevailing in the respective locations.
Keywords: Educational Space, Educational Ethnography, Reform of School Structure, School Choice, Social Segregation
Peter Drewek
The Three-Tier School System within the Context of Political Upheaval and Demographic Change during the 20th Century
Using Berlin as an example, the development of the three-tier school system is examined within the context of the political upheavals of 1918, 1945, and 1989 and the accompanying recurring phases of strong decrease in the number of students. While, in this context, the relative number of enrollments at the high school (Gymnasium) always showed a sharp increase, the lower secondary schools (Voksschule, Hauptschule) were affected most strongly by a decrease in student numbers. The increase in students attending the high school was embedded in processes of politically mediated educational mobilization and of the devaluation of school-leaving qualifications lower than the Abitur (the general qualification for university entrance). It was furthermore enhanced through strategies of self-preservation developed by the high schools. Due to the also demographically initiated expansion of the high school (Gymnasium) and the accompanying marginalization of the lower secondary schools (Volksschule, Hauptschule), the canalization effects attributed to the three-tier school system have been increasingly undermined since the 1960s.
Keywords: Educational Expansion, Tripartite System of Secondary Education, Middle School, Demographic Development, Demand for Education
Deutscher Bildungsserver
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Alfred Schäfer
Controversial Categories and Problematizing Empiricism
Despite all strategic contrasting of the seemingly unequivocal categories of ‘theory’ and ‘empiricism’, these still have one problem in common: namely that of representation. This does not only refer to the fact that linguistic symbolizations do not correspond to ‘the one’ reality. The problem of representation manifests itself furthermore and above all in that a system of ‘fixed’ meanings can be achieved neither through philosophical foundations nor through the belief in an empirical reality. A field of conflict emerges in which categorical and empirical applications are granted a strategic-political status. The author argues that such an approach will be able not only to mobilize the strategically hardened corrals of ‘theory’ and ‘empiricism’ in educational science, but also to redirect them onto a more productive path.
Keywords: Problem of Representation, Hegemonic Practices of Articulation, Regime of Truth, Deconstructive Discourse Analysis, Neuroenhancement
Martin Rothland
The Sabbatical for Teachers: Who profits and in what way?
The sabbatical for teachers is programmatically discussed as a measure of stress reduction, regeneration and the strengthening of resources; however, empirical evidence for the expected effects is rare. Within the framework of a longitudinal study comprising three survey dates before, during and after the leave, the development of stress perception, health and work-related emotions (career- and life satisfaction) are investigated, based on a sample of 126 teachers. The results show that, in the course of the sabbatical year, health improves, the perception of stress is reduced and satisfaction with life (however, not so much with the job) increases. Yet, the potential effects are largely limited to the sabbatical leave itself, while the pre- and post-test values before and after the sabbatical year generally do not differ significantly. Furthermore, it appears that the positive effects of the sabbatical depend on the users’ need for recreation. As moderators of the effects of the sabbatical for teachers, gender, general self-efficacy and teacher self-efficacy as well as work-related behaviour and experience are taken into account. Consequences for the organization of the sabbatical for teachers are discussed.
Keywords: Sabbatical Leave, Teaching Profession, Respite, Teacher Health, Teacher Stress
Miriam Leuchter
The Significance of Play in Kindergarten and Early Elementary Education
The present article examines playing as a learning experience of children and enquires into the question of why the scientific discourse on children’s play is strongly superposed by a normative discourse. The short definitions of the term “play”, of different types of play, and of functions of play provided in the first part of the article serve as a basis for the discussion on the importance of play. Following a developmental psychological approach to play as a motor of development and learning, the author examines studies that enquire into the interdisciplinary and domain-specific effects of play by including different characteristics of play. Subsequently, playing is integrated into a model of learning opportunities and its uses. Several factors which influence the educational effect of play and its perception are then discussed. This allows for a deeper analysis of the normative debate on the significance of play.
Keywords: Early Education, Play, Learning, Beliefs, Educational Effectiveness
Dissertations and habilitation treatises in educational sciences in 2012