The social situation of many young people has become more difficult. This is how Germany's longest-serving Minister of Education, Ties Rabe, described it on Tuesday in the Hanseatic city's town hall - and justified this with language, family and financial problems. From the point of view of the social democrat, the development has an effect on adult education, i.e. on school qualifications that people can catch up on in adulthood. Because the number of those students is constantly falling, Hamburg now wants to counteract this with a cash injection.
"We want to give more adults than before the opportunity to improve their school-leaving qualifications," emphasizes Rabe, but the demands on adult education have become more varied and complicated. By merging the three smaller schools in Hamburg into one large school, the city can significantly expand the range of schools and offer all school-leaving qualifications.
In concrete terms, this means that Hamburg will have a new center for adult education. According to this, adult schoolchildren can catch up on all their school-leaving qualifications from February 1, 2023 in the city center on Holzdamm next to the Atlantic Hotel. The facility merges the previous adult education schools – the St. Georg evening school, the evening school in front of the Holstentor and the Hansa College – with their 100 teachers and 1,215 students. According to the red-green Senate, it is investing six million euros for this.
According to Rabe, the support will be expanded and more advice and support courses will be offered. "We are also creating the possibility of making the lessons more flexible in terms of time and thus tailoring them more precisely to the very different life situations of the pupils," says the school senator. The offer is open to all interested parties, the number of future school places and teachers depends on demand.
According to the school authorities, 1,571 adults attended the three schools for adult education in Hamburg in 2011; this figure is still 1,215 in the current school year. Furthermore, the number of school dropouts is very high. Currently, less than 50 percent of the students on the second chance of education achieve the Abitur, around half fail. Only just under 60 percent of the students in the corresponding courses receive the first or intermediate qualification.
"The new center for adult education on Holzdamm offers a modern learning environment for all Hamburg adults who want to catch up on a school qualification," emphasizes the school senator. The school communities of the three existing schools agreed to the restructuring and designed the new facility together with the school authorities. Rabe continues: "This will enable us to take better account of the changing demands of adults and hopefully lead more adults to better school-leaving qualifications in the future."
The opposition, however, doubts that the centralization of adult education planned from 2023 will have the desired positive effect. The parliamentary group leader of the left, Sabine Boeddinghaus, describes the actions of the school authorities as "unacceptable". "There was no agreement with the schools on a concept or on a way to further develop adult education," criticizes the education expert. Clearing the "extremely suitable building" of the night school Am Holstentor within a short period of time leaves the impression that "the authorities are more interested in a quick and peaceful letting than in sustainable education".
In addition, Boeddinghaus complains that Rabe is sticking to an entrance exam: “To sort out in advance closes the educational paths instead of opening them up. The hurdles are already high enough to go to school alongside work.” There is a lack of individual and financial support for students on second chance education to successfully complete school. There is also "no well-founded analysis of the state of the second chance of education, no joint agreements and plans between those involved and no jointly developed pedagogical concept". The school authorities are therefore on the wrong track.
According to the department of Schulsenator Rabe, the previous three schools for adult education aimed primarily at enabling adults to subsequently acquire their Abitur in a compact school course. However, the requirements have changed. Since 2011, Hamburg's students have been able to obtain their Abitur and all school-leaving certificates at any secondary school and also as part of vocational training at vocational schools. Conversely, many adults with no school qualifications immigrated to Hamburg from abroad. "They need all school-leaving certificates for their successful professional development, above all a good first or middle school-leaving certificate," according to the school authorities.
The new school location on Holzdamm opens up the possibility of offering more lessons in the morning with all-day lessons and thus also for single parents whose children are being cared for at the time. So far, classes have mostly taken place in the evenings, out of consideration for working people. The group of interested parties includes employees in the catering trade, as well as immigrants or refugees.
The new school – open daily from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. – should also ensure through better preparation, support and social counseling that fewer students than before fail the exam or drop out beforehand.
Anyone who is interested can register for a training course every six months at the new Hamburg Center for Adult Education. Pupils should expect two years of night school to achieve the first and second educational qualifications, and three years for the Abitur. The "Abitur Online" class will be set up for suitably motivated adults, where up to 40 percent of the lessons will be completed online.
