School - High school graduates in Lower Saxony again better than before Corona
In Lower Saxony, 28,795 students passed their Abitur this year. The average grade was 2.45, according to the Cultural Ministry in Hannover. This was only slightly worse than the previous year's average of 2.43, and better than the pre-Corona year of 2019 with an average grade of 2.56.
One in fifty students achieved an Abitur with a grade of 1.0 – that's 605 students. This was almost the same as the previous year, with 603. Around one third of Abitur students passed with a grade of 2.0 or better one year ago. However, around 1,800 students did not pass the exams. This was slightly more than last time.
This year's Abitur was the first without special Corona regulations.
The trend towards better Abitur grades is viewed positively by the state.
The Philological Association of Lower Saxony (PHVN), which mainly represents teachers at grammar schools, criticized an "inflation of A grades" in May. This distorted the actual performance ability of students, according to the PHVN chairman Christoph Rabbow, and he called for nationwide countermeasures.
The ministry sees the trend towards better Abitur grades differently. "I believe that's just because school has gotten better," said a ministry spokesperson. "We don't see it as an inflation."
State Secretary Andrea Hoops explained that a reason for the better Abitur grades compared to the time before the pandemic could be the return to the Abitur after 13 years. Lower Saxony had returned to the G9 model in 2021. "With the extension of schooling, more learning time is available and students can go into the Abitur exams with greater intellectual maturity," Hoops said. "The Abitur is still challenging."
The delayed exams in the subject Politics-Economics, caused by a break-in at a school where the Abitur exams for this subject were stored, led to "no measurable disadvantages" in terms of performance, according to the ministry. In a gymnasium in Goslar, a safe containing the Abitur exams for Politics-Economics had been broken into.
The centrally set tasks were withdrawn on the morning of the exam, and the students were able to decide whether they wanted to work on the replacement tasks on the same day or at a make-up exam. "The decision did not harm them, it was rather the right one," said the ministry spokesperson.
The State Student Council criticized "psychological stress" due to the delays and demanded a grade improvement of one point in this subject. Minister of Culture Julia Willie Hamburg (Greens) rejected this.
- The Philological Association of Lower Saxony expressed concerns about an "inflation of A grades" in May, believing it distorts the true performance ability of students.
- In response to the trend of better Abitur grades, the Ministry of Culture in Hannover views it as a positive result of improvements in education, not an "inflation" of grades.
- The delayed exams in Politics-Economics due to a school break-in had no measurable impact on student performance, according to the Ministry of Culture, despite the State Student Council's calls for a grade improvement.
