Montag-10/15/18-Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard-Paul Simon

Our first day in Berlin began at the Rotes Rathaus or Red City Hall.  This Red City Hall is the headquarters for the Berlin government and mayor.  The building was damaged during World War II, but has been restored and has housed the city government and mayor since the late 1940's.

While at the Red City Hall we learned some general information about Germany and had two presentations: one from the National Educational Administration and one from the Berlin Senate Department of Education.  Here we learned that Germany is made up of 16 federal states, three of which are "city states"-Berlin, Hamburg, and Bremen.  Germany has 82.7 million people and 3.7 million of them live in Berlin.  In Germany 46% of kids attend nursery school.

The German school system is generally a tiered and tracked system.  All students start with grundschule, or primary school, through 6th grade.  Then, students may track to a gymnasium secondary school, the college prep route, or a integrierte sekundarshule, which is an integrated secondary school, more of a vocational track.  They attend these secondary schools for four years until grade ten at which point students in the gymnasium track continue for two years to the Abitur which is the college entrance exam.  Students in the vocational track could continue with vocational training and then enter the workforce or take the abitur after an additional year.  Ultimately, we learned that the German system is much more fluid than it used to be with some students taking more school in the vocational track and then sitting for the Abitur, while others pursue the gymnasium track and choose to attend vocational school.  The good news is that failing a test doesn't prevent a student from accessing a track, it just means it may take a bit longer.  There are fifteen different frameworks for schools in Germany so it took much longer than just this presentation for us to understand the intricacies.

The Abitur is a high stakes college entrance exam.  There is pressure from the business community to keep the abitur prestigious.  The exam is given to all students on the same day at the same time each year.  Subjects tested include math, German, two second languages, and more.


The National Educational Administration shared information about how their schools are organized and evaluated.  Each school is measured against their own data rather than measured against other schools.  Schools must develop and publish their goals and teachers are evaluated every five years by their principal (headmaster).  Teachers are supported in coaching programs.  Each school has the same base budget but the funding is thought of more in terms of what services each school needs to provide their students rather than budgetary bottom lines.


Here are some interesting differences between schools in Germany and schools in the U.S.

• In Germany teachers are hired by the state and assigned to a school rather than be hired by individual schools.
• All German school administrators still teach at least one class.
• There are no outside substitutes so teachers must cover each other's classes.
• Homeschool is not an option.
• Attendance is taken very seriously and there are state laws restricting the number of days a parent can take their student out of school for any reason.

Here are some interesting similarities:

• The German system is becoming more and more focused on competency based education.
• They also focus on STEM fields, but in Germany it's called "MINT" which stands for math, infographics, natural sciences, and technology.
• Special Ed students are taught in an inclusive system and are integrated into regular classes as often as possible.

Overview of the German school system

Germany, and Berlin especially, is a multicultural country and there is an expectation of acceptance of cultural diversity.  In Berlin, 38% of all school students have a migrant background and 18% of their citizens have dual citizenship or a foreign nationality.  In order to build success for migrants, German schools offer "Welcome classes" for migrants which teach in their heritage language as well as teach German language and other skills.  Some schools offer courses for parents as well, especially for mothers of students in nursery school.

Our group at the Federal Foreign office.

We also learned about the European model of instruction which is a dual language immersion program.  In these schools, half of the students are native German speakers and half of the students have a different mother tongue. In Berlin there are 9 combinations of languages and 17 primary schools and 15 secondary schools taught in this way.  The teachers are native speakers in both languages and different subjects are taught in each language throughout the day.  In addition to the bi-lingual skills, one of the key goals of this program is cultural awareness of one's own culture as well as other cultures.

After these insightful presentations, we walked to the Federal Foreign Office where we learned about Germany's efforts to collaborate with other countries.  We also learned about the efforts that are made to promote education internationally and build cross-cultural understanding around the world.

My amazing dessert at La Banca restaurant in the Hotel de Rome

As our morning came to a close we had an outstanding four course lunch at the Hotel de Rome and were able to visit the rooftop terrace with beautiful views of Berlin.