Educational Opportunities Differ Markedly between Germany’s Federal States
The educational opportunities of children and young people in Germany differ significantly between the federal states, finds a new ifo study. An unfavorable family background has the least negative impact on children in Berlin and Brandenburg. Here, it is about half as likely (Berlin: 53.8 percent; Brandenburg: 52.8 percent) that a child from a disadvantaged background will attend a university-track high school – or Gymnasium – as a child from a comfortable background. Nationwide, the figure is 44.6 percent. At the lower end are Saxony with 40.1 percent and Bavaria with 38.1 percent. A rate of 100 percent would imply equal opportunities. “When it comes to children’s educational opportunities in Germany, the decisive factors are their parents’ education and income. But just how decisive varies from state to state,” says Ludger Wößmann, Director of the ifo Center for the Economics of Education.