The new school year has already begun in many German states, and in the others the first day of school is just around the corner.

In Germany public school is free, and despite seeing its overall score slip in recent years it still ranks among the top 25 in the world, according to the last Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) in 2022.

Of course, foreign parents, who grew up attending schools in their home country, are sure to notice some significant differences around how school is managed in Germany.

To understand how well German schools are meeting foreign parents’ expectations, we asked our readers with school-aged children in Germany about the most surprising aspects of the school system here – good and bad. 

The insights they shared paint a vivid picture of the realities faced by numerous families – from a wide variety of countries – as they navigate Germany’s education system alongside their children. 

KEY DATES: When do children go back to school in Germany?

‘Pretty chill’

Germany is not known for being particularly chill. But while many people might think of it as a country valuing discipline and success above all else, most of our respondents agree that schools in the country actually offer a relatively stress-free learning environment for their children.

Vivek Sharma, who lives in Munich, says, “Compared to primary and secondary education in India, here in Germany education is not competition-based and there is an attempt to identify a kid’s area of interest.

“I have never seen any of my kids stressed out. I remember when I was studying, exams meant stress and pressure. My kids…are super relaxed.”

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Chloé who lives in Cologne praises the German system for its “mentality which encourages independent thinking and hands-on experience. It’s much less strict and focused less on performance and more on individual development compared to the French system.”

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Another, anonymous respondent wrote: “The last four years were pretty chill for my son, whereas kids his age in India have to learn at least six subjects from 1st grade, including three languages.”

On the whole, most respondents tend to see this more relaxed approach to education in a positive light – although some did note a potential downside.  

“Sometimes it can get too easy,” wrote one anonymous respondent, whose child went to school in Bremen. “It made my son lazy as he had no competition or challenges at school.”

Separating students early on

One recurring concern from parents was around the early separation of students based on their perceived academic potential.

In the German system, all children attend elementary school (Grundschule), but then they must choose between a few different options for secondary schools. These include a more academic-focused high school, called Gymnasium, or schools that focus on vocational training, called Hauptschule or Realschule.

Chloé said she thinks that sorting students between these options after just four years of elementary school was “way too early.”

“In my opinion, there should be six years of Grundschule at least, or an intermediary school for all kids together,” she said. 

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Vivek Sharma also voiced his disapproval: “The segregation of students between the different types of schools was very surprising for me. We live in an age where no one really knows what to do in their life until they have passed high school. Segregation at a young age not only demotivates the individual but also takes away their interest.”

Sharma added that different kinds of secondary school in Germany also appear to receive different levels of investment.

“Gymnasium seem to be well funded while Realschule and Mittelschule are inadequately funded,” he wrote. “This is clear from the quality of infrastructure to the quality of the teachers.”

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Too much focus on core subjects

Some respondents also felt that German schools focus too much attention on “core” subjects such as German and Maths.

“They mainly focus on Maths and German until the 4th grade,” wrote a reader living in Bremen who did not provide their name.

“A lot of subjects are considered unimportant,” said Chloé, who added that the grading system in German schools can be opaque and excessively subjective. 

READ ALSO: German school grading is unfair on foreign students and it’s maddening

Mundliche Mitarbeit – a system whereby grades are awarded based on the teacher’s perception of a pupil’s participation in class – is “the most subjective way to give grades,” argues Chloé. “There’s no real rule as to how it should be done, and it makes-up 50 percent of the grade.”

No uniforms

One area where our respondents disagreed with one another – and where all German states take exactly the same line – was in the approach to school uniform.

The lack of uniforms was alternately described as “the best thing,” “the worst thing,” and “the most surprising thing” about German schools by various readers.

Among respondents who would prefer to see uniforms introduced, Cara Schaefer, from the UK, worries that allowing children to wear their own clothes could cause issues among older children “with teasing and bullying for their choice of clothes or the lack of new clothes and designer labels.”

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Germany’s comparatively short school day also brought in mixed reviews from our respondents.

One respondent was adamant that German schools: “start too early and finish too early, [and that] the school day is too short.”

Cara, on the other hand, welcomes the early end to the school day in Germany, because it allows “more time for children to play, relax and enjoy their childhood, without affecting their education.”

Free but under-resourced

Many parents point out that German public schooling is free, a fact which is widely appreciated.

However, some also pointed to issues with resourcing and professionalism.

Jane Metzger cited a “lack of professionalism” as a downside while another, anonymous respondent remarked on the issue of missed classes.

“In high school I am finding the degree of unterrichtsausfall (cancelled classes) alarming, especially because in many cases make-up classes or make-up work are not given. It is particularly shocking that the highest percentage of missed classes in 7th grade were in German, English and Maths (in that order).”

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Huge thanks to everyone who completed our survey. Although we weren’t able to use all the responses, we read them all and they helped inform our article. If there’s anything you’d like to add about schooling in Germany, let us know in the Comments section below, or feel free to drop us a line at news@thelocal.de.