Stuttgart/Berlin (dpa/lsw) - After the frightening test results in German and mathematics for many elementary school students and recommendations from education experts, the school trade union GEW expects the Baden-Württemberg state government to make significant adjustments. The green-black coalition must correct mistakes and end the years of neglect of primary schools, demanded the state chair of the Education and Science Union, Monika Stein, on Friday in Stuttgart. "The planned 500 jobs for all schools are far from sufficient for this," she said.
In view of the alarming findings, more needs to be done to support children and young people. The latest forecast for Baden-Württemberg calculated a need for an additional 1,900 jobs for the so-called social index-based resource allocation. "We are expecting a phased plan from the state government to achieve this goal agreed in the green-black coalition agreement," Stein said again.
Education researchers also see an urgent need for action nationwide in view of the relevant proportion of children with behavioral problems. The Standing Scientific Commission of the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs proposes that elementary schools should concentrate on the essentials and achieve the minimum standards. In addition, the number of hours in German and math should be increased and individual support improved, according to the scientific report for the Conference of Ministers of Education (KMK). The study was presented in Berlin on Friday.
In the report, the experts propose 20 measures. The background is the IQB education trend, a study that representatively examines the competencies of fourth graders every five years, and the child health study (Kiggs) of the Robert Koch Institute. The studies had shown that around one in five fourth graders did not meet the minimum standards in German and mathematics, and almost one in four seven to ten-year-old children showed an increased risk of mental health problems.
