ifo Education Survey 2023: What Germans Think about the Quality of Schools
How do the Germans grade the schools in their federal state? Where do they see serious problems in the school system? And what solutions do they prefer - for example, for teacher shortage? The ifo Education Survey 2023 examines these and other questions.
Some results of the ifo Education Survey 2023
The ifo Education Survey 2023 shows a significant worsening in the grading of schools: only 27% of the Germans give grade A or B to the schools in their federal state, compared to 38% in 2014. 79% believe that school education has deteriorated due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Most Germans consider the teacher shortage (77%) a serious problem, followed by a lack of financial resources (68%) and the sluggishness of the system (66%). To reduce the teacher shortage, respondents support the post-qualification of teachers in shortage subjects (79%) and the use of lateral entrants (64%) but reject larger class sizes (81%). The majority of respondents are in favor of standardized Abitur exams throughout Germany (86%) and comparative tests in mathematics and German (68%). They are against the abolition of school grades (73%) and in favor of repeating classes for students with poor performance (78%). 78% favor requiring all schools to publish uniform annual reports. The Germans are in favor of the federal government equipping all students in secondary schools with computers (65%) and mandatory annual training for teachers in digital skills (81%). Slight majorities oppose teaching the use of artificial intelligence and chatbots in the classroom (54%) and support forms of testing that prevent their use (55%). 74% are in favor of higher education spending - significantly more than for any other form of government spending.
Regional Findings of the ifo Education Survey 2023
Due to an extensive sampling, the ifo Education Survey 2023 allows for the first time repre sentative evaluations of selected questions in seven German regions. Significant regional differences in the grading of schools emerge: In Bavaria 41% of respondents give the schools in their state one of the top two grades 1 or 2, while in North Rhine-Westphalia only 20% do. Between 74% in Bavaria and 82% in the region Central-East consider the shortage of teach-ers to be a serious problem. Between 58% (Bavaria and North-West) and 66% (Central-West) see learning deficits caused by coronavirus pandemic as a serious problem. In North Rhine-Westphalia, 66% perceive insufficiently refurbished school buildings as a serious problem, in Bavaria 47%. Education policy is important to the vast majority of respondents (78%) for their personal voting decisions in state elections, especially in the regions Central-East (84%) and North-East (83%). In most regions, an absolute majority (54% to 61%) is in favor of changing the Basic Law so that education policy decisions are basically made by the federal government instead of the states. The opinion is more divided in Bavaria (44% in favor, 42% against) and Baden-Wuerttemberg (46% in favor, 36% against). In all regions, more than 80% are in favor of standardizing the final exit exams for the various school qual-ifications throughout Germany.
Findings of the ifo Education Survey 2023 on the topic of educational inequality
As part of the representative opinion survey of the ifo Education Survey 2023, we also asked Germans what they think about educational inequality in Germany and various reform proposals. Due to extensive sampling, the opinions expressed on some questions can be analyzed not only nationwide but also regionally. Clear majorities of Germans see a (very) serious problem in the inequality of opportunity between children with and without a migration background (62%) and between children from good or difficult social backgrounds (61%). This opinion has worsened since 2019. In addition, 53% fear that digitization will lead to greater inequality in the German education system. As measures for more equal opportunities, Germans support an opportunity budget for schools with many students from disadvantaged backgrounds (69%) and the use of a social index for schools (65%). A majority (55%) also supports salary supplements for teachers at schools with many students from disadvantaged backgrounds. A majority (69%) is also in favor of limiting the percentage of students with foreign citizenship and insufficient language skills per school class to a maximum of 30%. In order to catch up on lessons missed due to Corona, clear majorities are in favor of mandatory remedial classes and vacation courses for disadvantaged groups of students.
Publication (in German)
Was denken die Deutschen zu Chancenungleichheit im Bildungssystem?
ifo Institut, München, 2023
ifo Schnelldienst, 2023, 76, Nr. 11, 33-39
Wie unterscheidet sich das Meinungsbild zu Schulen zwischen den deutschen Regionen? Regionale Ergebnisse des ifo Bildungsbarometers 2023
ifo Institut, München, 2023
ifo Schnelldienst, 2023, 76, Nr. 10, 29-34
Was die Deutschen über die Qualität der Schulen denken – Ergebnisse des zehnten ifo Bildungsbarometers 2023
ifo Institut, München, 2023
ifo Schnelldienst, 2023, 76, Nr. 09, 37-50
Project
The ifo Education Survey was developed by the ifo Center for the Economics of Education as part of the project “The Political Economy of Education Policy: Insights from an Opinion Survey” funded by the Leibniz Association. For several years, the survey was supported by the German Science Foundation through CRC TRR 190. The ifo Education Survey is based on an annual public opinion survey. In 2023, over 5,500 individuals were interviewed, who constitute a representative sample of Germany’s adult population between 18 and 69 years.
The Political Economy of Education Policy: Insights from a Public Opinion Survey
January 2014 - December 2017
Keywords
school quality, teacher shortage, digitization, education policy
