ifo Education Survey 2021: What Germans Think about Covid-19 Education Policy and Societal Competencies

Some findings of the ifo Education Survey 2021

The ifo Education Survey 2021 asks what education policy measures Germans support to address societal challenges that have been particularly exposed as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. It thus focuses both on Covid-19 education policy and on the teaching of democratic, scientific, and economic skills in the education system.

To mitigate coronavirus-related learning deficits, large majorities are in favor of mandatory online teaching in the event of school closures (74 percent), more intensive support for children from difficult social backgrounds (83 percent), and uniform education policy decisions throughout Germany during the coronavirus pandemic (66 percent). Overall, the assessment of Covid-19 schools policy is quite negative, especially with regard to the treatment of disadvantaged students. A large majority (76 percent) is in favor of state-funded tutoring programs. Support courses and vacation courses are especially popular when they are aimed at disadvantaged groups of students. In addition, a majority of Germans are in favor of the mandatory use of digital technologies in schools, even after the coronavirus pandemic, including, for example, the use of computers and tablets in the classroom and the offer of digital office hours (73–77 percent in favor).

In addition, the ifo Education Survey 2021 looks at Germans’ opinion of promoting fundamental societal competencies through the education system. Overwhelming majorities of more than three-quarters are in favor of teaching democratic, scientific, and economic skills at secondary schools and vocational and higher education institutions. In addition, large majorities favor the introduction of regular comparative testing (66–70 percent) and cross-national educational standards (73–75 percent) for all three areas of societal competencies. Significant majorities favor mandatory continuing education for teachers on how to teach societal competencies. State-funded continuing education programs for all citizens to strengthen democratic and scientific skills also meet with majority approval.