End of the Hauptschule – solution to the education dilemma?

Should the German school system be transformed into a two-track structure of secondary schools and Gymnasium and the Hauptschule (lower-achiever secondary school) be abolished? Annette Schavan, Federal Minister for Education and Research, favours keeping the Hauptschule: "A strong Hauptschule was, is and remains the school for trade, technical and social occupations." Simple demands for an abolition of the Hauptschule neither benefits the youths nor the dedicated teachers. Instead each kind of school ought to be given the chance of offering an education that could be the prerequisite for another phase of education and training. Furthermore, one should not overlook the pedagogical quality that prevails in particular at the Hauptschule. This opinion is supported by Siegfried Schneider, the Bavarian State Minister for Education and Culture, who also argues against the abolition of the Hauptschule. He refers to the example of the Bavarian school system that in its entirety is said to be high-performing. Instead of abolishing the Hauptschule, it would be more important to strengthen it specifically. In contrast, Wilfried Bos and Ernst Rösner, University of Dortmund, confirm the decline of the Hauptschule. They are, however, sceptical about the alternative of a two-track system, as this retains early selection as a German characteristic and would also hold on to the self-contained Gymnasium. In the view of Bos und Rösner only those schools can be successful on a sustained basis that (also) offer the educational standards of a Gymnasium. Need for action is also seen by Klaus Klemm, University of Duisburg-Essen. In his opinion, the abolition of the Hauptschule and its integration into other forms of schools would create a development setting that would offer, above all, more development chances to weaker youths. Kerstin Schneider, University of Wuppertal, refers to the differences among individual federal states. The Hauptschule has not become a "loser school" in all federal states. Especially in rural regions the Hauptschule has a high level of education. For Dieter Dohmen, Research Institute for Education and Social Economics, Berlin, it is also consistent, especially when considering the demographic development and the changing transitional conduct, to rethink the existence of this school form. However, an essential problem of the German education system, i.e. the large share of young people leaving school before graduation, can not be solved by abolishing the Hauptschule.