ready for your first day of school in germany for me this is a school tutor a giant homemade or shop bought cone filled with cool stationery suites and other goodies that young kids get on their first day of school in germany the german school day traditionally runs from around 8am to 1pm but things are changing and many schools are now offering full days which might include time for homework or extracurricular activities this also means more schools are offering warm lunchtime meals in a school canteen the reputation for school food isn't great which might be why some pupils opt for a packed lunch or eat at home a big difference from my school days in the uk is no school uniform and there are restrictions on homework at the weekends max the marking system goes from one to six with one being the best although in the last few years of some secondary schools 15 is the best essentially a one plus which means you could technically end up with a very german 0.67 grade average if you get a five in two or more subjects you might have to repeat the year from there the most common foreign languages to learn are english french and latin yep latin dante positive one thing that really bugs me is that in german schools an hour is not necessarily an hour classes are split up into stunts literally hours sometimes you might have a doppelstunder literally double hour but one classic school hour is only 45 minutes long interestingly competitive sport between schools isn't a big thing most people play sports in organizations outside of school okay the next bit will require all your brain power the german school system is complicated education is the responsibility of the state government so there are many differences across the country municipalities and individual schools also take some decisions this allows for more freedom but it also means that a lot of work gets done many times over so this is roughly what the system looks like primary or elementary school is called grundchula and in most states that runs from grades one to four at the secondary level the traditional model is a three-tier system at a help tula pupils aim to get their hub true absolutes in grade nine or ten and then go on to a vocational college and or an apprenticeship the middle stream is real where people's aim to get their abs loss in grade ten they then might do an apprenticeship and vocational training but for more technical trades or they might go on to the next type of school that's a gymnasium the more academic route where pupils take their abi tour exams after the 12th or 13th grade and often go on to university that's the most popular type of school gazan children are comprehensive schools combining the traditional streams and qualifications they were introduced in the 1960s as an alternative to the three-tier model but they weren't universally welcomed some states rejected the concept altogether there has long been criticism of furushun where pupils with special needs are separated from mainstream schooling and the majority of them don't end up graduating but some states have taken huge steps towards inclusion in recent years you might also hear other names like uber schuler mittelschuler the mineshaft these are different names for or combinations of the other types of schools and they might mean different things in different states and this is the simplistic version primary school teachers will provide a recommendation for which kind of secondary school each child should go to in a few states this recommendation is binding but in most states parents have the final say there is also some flexibility to move between the streams at certain points but still some people argue the system is elitist and separates kids too early on fewer than 10 percent of pupils in germany attend private schools but the number is growing with the highest percentage in eastern states private schools might be run by religious denominations or follow particular educational principles like waldorf or yinaplan schools homeschooling is illegal in germany because children are seen to have a right to both a good education and socialization the pisa report evaluates education systems around the world the most recent report shows germany performing above average in reading maths and science but seriously underperforming when it comes to equal opportunities for children from different social backgrounds and another area where germany performed embarrassingly badly digitalization in the comparison of digital training for teachers germany came 76th out of 78 countries the country's digital woes were clearly exposed once covid19 came along not enough students had access to digital devices online learning platforms were inadequate or non-existent some schools didn't even have wi-fi money has been promised to the tune of 5 billion euros by 2024 which will go towards dedicated i.t administrators and an improved stock of computers and tablets some schools are already feeling the effects even in the analog realm how well-equipped and maintained schools are varies a great deal some have modern classrooms libraries and sports facilities while others have gross toilets shabby classrooms and missing equipment school facilities are paid for by the local municipality and some of them are simply broke federal or regional support often doesn't make it to the schools because of another one of germany's perennial problems cumbersome bureaucracy we started the episode on our first day of school so let's end on our last particularly at gymnasium schools graduation celebrations after the abi tour exams have become a rite of passage the abishtraich is when pupils take over the school on their last day planning pranks like covering the school in toilet roll there's an abbey ball a bit like a prom and an abbey mottle a motto or pun for the year and to round it all off there's the abbey fart where school leavers go on a trip together the more cheap and touristy the better [Applause] [Music]