Lower Saxony’s Education Minister Julia Willie Hamburg (Greens) announced a comprehensive reform of the upper secondary level on Thursday in Hanover. “We are fundamentally rethinking upper secondary education in Lower Saxony,” she said. The goal is to better prepare students for university and work by modernizing teaching and exams and easing the burden on those involved.
Key elements of the reform are more flexible subject choices and fewer written assignments. In the introductory phase, subjects will be divided into a compulsory area and two elective areas. German, mathematics, a foreign language, and sports remain compulsory. In the elective areas, students can set individual focuses, for example in music, art, or computer science. The timetable is to comprise 30 weekly hours.
The number of written exams will be reduced, especially in the half-year before the Abitur exams. The extended essay (Facharbeit) will be dropped; instead, combined assessments such as podcasts or panel discussions can be submitted. In the Abitur itself, only three instead of four written exams are planned. Hamburg justifies this with the growing importance of oral communication in university and work.
The CDU parliamentary group in the state parliament is sharply critical. Education policy spokesperson Sophie Ramdor (CDU) accuses the minister of lowering standards: “The minister promises an unchanged high performance level, but the extended essay and the seminar subject are being scrapped, and the number of written Abitur exams is being reduced.” Moreover, the promised freedom of choice is only real if schools can actually offer the courses – which is often lacking in rural areas. The employers’ association Niedersachsenmetall also warns that STEM subjects could be dropped, but fundamentally welcomes the reform.
Source: www.ndr.de
