After the Pisa debacle: Head of Education Committee calls for special MPK

Education - After the Pisa debacle: Head of Education Committee calls for special MPK

Following the collapse in German school performance in the PISA study, fundamental consequences and swift political action are being called for. The chairman of the Bundestag Education Committee, Kai Gehring, proposed on Wednesday that a special conference of state premiers be convened for this purpose. The direction of the planned Startchancen program of the federal government and the federal states for schools in trouble spots will also be discussed.

In the study published on Tuesday, German 15/16-year-olds achieved the weakest performance values in reading, mathematics and science that have ever been measured for Germany as part of Pisa. The study by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) compares industrialized countries.

"The worst educational results for 23 years are more than just another alarm signal: they indicate a very urgent need for action," Green Party MP Gehring told the German Press Agency in Berlin. "In view of the Pisa diagnosis, the backlog of renovations at our schools in the high double-digit billion range and the blatant shortage of teachers, a special MPK must now take place. This could be well prepared and scheduled for the first quarter of 2024."

Federal government expresses concern

All too often, the minister presidents call for such a special MPK when the amounts involved are smaller in comparison - for example, for the accommodation of refugees."Education needs top priority and is a national responsibility because it lays the foundation for our business and innovation location as well as for securing skilled workers," said the politician. "The federal states must not continue to sit out the education crisis, otherwise their sovereignty over education and setting of priorities is more than doubtful."

The German government called the Pisa results worrying. There is a strong correlation between social background and educational success, said government spokesperson Steffen Hebestreit. He pointed out that education is a matter for the federal states, but that the federal government provides support and assistance. The aim is to make progress again.

SPD chairwoman Saskia Esken reiterated her call for the planned Startchancen program to be expanded. She told the Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland (Wednesday) that far too many pupils leave school without a qualification. "The federal government's Startchancen program, which is due to start in the autumn, is a good approach, but it needs to be much broader." The program is intended to provide 4000 schools in difficult situations with special state funding worth billions in the coming years.

Criticism from education researcher

However, education researcher Olaf Köller takes a critical view. "We need to ensure that we bring evidence-based programs into schools that really help young people who have German as a second language to learn German so well that they gain an understanding of the subjects. That will be one of the central tasks," Köller from the Leibniz Institute for Science and Mathematics Education in Kiel told dpa. "The federal government's Startchancen program will not be able to solve this, because it's a lot about school construction or refurbishment and also about school social work." But it is not really about promoting basic skills.

The Pisa results will probably also be a topic at the Conference of Education Ministers on Thursday and Friday. A report on teacher recruitment and teacher training will also be presented.