Schwerin/Berlin (dpa/mv) - In a nationwide study on the German and math skills of fourth graders, data from Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania is missing - this is causing heavy criticism from the opposition in the Schwerin state parliament. The education policy spokesman for the CDU, Torsten Renz, described the process as "entirely unacceptable".
The core results of the study had already been announced in July. The Conference of Ministers of Education (KMK) also published the detailed country analyzes on Monday. The basis was tests at almost 1,500 schools throughout Germany with around 27,000 fourth graders between April and August 2021. The study revealed growing deficits.
Education Minister Simone Oldenburg (left) explained that due to the pandemic-related school closures, the tests could only have taken place in a fifth of the schools in the state intended for participation. "Therefore, no results for Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania are reported in the IQB education trend 2021."
Renz asked Oldenburg, who has been in office since autumn 2021, and her predecessor and current Science Minister Bettina Martin (SPD) for an explanation for this "incredible process". "All federal states had to struggle with closures due to the pandemic, it cannot be that Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, unlike all other states, simply does not participate properly in a national education study and justifies this with Corona, especially since the time corridor for the survey is really wide enough was."
The nationwide comparative study IQB-Bildungsmonitor for the year 2021 showed that fourth graders in Germany have increasing spelling, reading and math problems and have fallen significantly behind compared to fourth graders ten years ago. According to the analysis, between 18 and 30 percent of fourth graders failed in the areas of reading, listening and spelling.
Oldenburg was alarmed. The nationwide results showed that the children still need more support and encouragement after the challenging past few years. Among other things, she referred to the recruitment of 120 everyday helpers who are to support the teachers in grades one to six in MV. Further performance surveys are planned, such as compulsory comparative work in class three.
The AfD, which is also an opposition party, criticized the fact that the reasons for the deficits identified by many elementary school students were stereotyped either in social differences or in the pandemic period. This is "school policy self-deception," said education policy spokesman Enrico Schult. The school law secures equal opportunities for all children and guarantees them all day long. "A changed understanding of teaching - substance and goal-oriented, motivating but demanding - would finally ensure better results in the long run," he said. In elementary school, it must be more about a solid basic education with calm mediation, practice and repetition.
The IQB survey shows that Germany-wide performance in all areas examined was significantly worse in 2021 than in 2016. The exceptions are the states of Bremen, Hamburg and Rhineland-Palatinate, where there was only a significant deterioration in the area of listening compared to 2016. Hamburg is also the only federal state in which the performance of students in reading and mathematics has remained stable since 2011.
The authors of the study from the Institute for Quality Development in Education (IQB) also note that the pandemic situation “may have had an impact on the students’ ability to acquire skills”. However, they also point out that there were already deteriorations between 2011 and 2016.
