Educating Germany

As a result of Maria's comment about German's not knowing what they are in fact paying via their taxes for education, here is a brief poll of the various regions that there is data for.



It may be helpful to refer back to this post with the graphic of the Education System in Germany.



First is a table from the German Statistics Office for the latest 2006 figures, the second from the European Commission Statistics Database from 1995-2005 and the last is a table of independent investigations between 2002 and 2005.



Expenditure for Public School per Pupil in 2006 (Euro)

		Primary School	Secondary Level Schools					Special Schools
	Region	Grund- schulen	Haupt- schulen	Schulen mit mehreren Bildungs- gaengen	Real- schulen	Gymnasien	Integrierte Gesamt- schulen	Förder- schulen
	State Average	4100	5800	6000	4500	5500	5800	12800
	Baden- Württemberg	4000	5800	-	4600	5800	-	14600
	Bavaria	4400	6100	-	5000	6300	-	10700
	Berlin	4800	-	-	5500	5900	7200	14900
	Brandenburg	3700	-	-	4300	5000	6000	13000
	Bremen	4600	5600	6600	4300	5200	5900	15800
	Hamburg	5300	7000	-	-	6200	6700	15100
	Hessen	3900	5700	-	5100	5100	5400	12900
	Mecklenburg- Vorpommern	4200	-	5400	-	4800	-	11800
	Lower Saxony	4000	5700	-	4500	4900	-	12600
	North Rhine- Westfalia	3800	5500	-	4000	4900	5500	12200
	Rheinland- Palitinate	4200	5600	5100	4200	5400	-	11200
	Saarland	3900	-	4600	-	4900	4800	12100
	Saxony	4900	-	6100	-	6000	-	13200
	Saxony- Anhalt	5100	-	6400	-	6200	-	14000
	Schleswig- Holstein	4100	5100	-	4700	5400	-	12000
	Thüringia	4900	-	7000	-	6600	-	14000

^{Note: The reason given for the cost of Special Education is the lower teacher:pupil ratio.}

Schmidt, P., Baumann, T., Eichstaedt, H., & Seifert, O. (2009).
Bildungsausgaben Ausgaben je Schüler/-in 2006
[Educational Expenditure per Pupil in 2006]
Wiesbaden: Statistische Bundesamt.

Germany's Average Annual Expenditure on Education Per Pupil 1995-2005 (Euro)

^{Note: Columns for 1996 and 1998 were empty and due to screen resolution limitations have been removed.}

European Commission. (n.d.).
Annual expenditure on public and private educational institutions per pupil/student,
By level of education (PPS based on full-time equivalents) [Data file].
Retrieved February 14, 2009, from Eurostat database (TPS00067): http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/

Average Annual Expenditure on Education Per Region Per Pupil (Euro)

		Primary School	Secondary Level Schools				Special Schools
	Region	Grund- schule	Real- schule	Haupt- schule	Gymn- asium	Gesamt- schule	Sonder- schule Förder- schule	Year data collected
	Baden-Württemberg	5364.89	5719.10	6769.95	7016.74	6272.41	15665.25	2002
	Bavaria	5266.31	6677.92	6664.93	7687.69	(a)6230.30	11147.47	2005
	Berlin	6266.32	5988.59	9389.88	6658.76	7757.12	14840.95	2004
	Brandenburg	5209.00	5089.00	5700.00	6494.00	-	13528.00	2004
	Bremen	5910.20	(b)6299.25	(b)6299.25	6464.40	7037.86	17933.37	2004
	Hamburg	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
	Hessen	5487.08	6815.54	7884.30	6916.99	6998.52	19609.10	2002
	Lower Saxony	5083.12	5766.26	6657.72	7621.39	6575.18	(c)14989.20	2003
	Mecklenburg-Vorpommern	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
	North Rhine-Westfalia	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
	Rheinland-Palitinate	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
	Saarland	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
	Saxony	5478.31	(d)5478.80	(d)5478.80	5665.82	-	11539.21	2002
	Saxony-Anhalt	6389.00	(e)6285.00	(e)6285.00	6313.00	-	13661.00	2004
	Schleswig-Holstein	4404.66	6023.79	4990.92	6869.95	7247.71	16128.16	2002
	Thüringia	6357.25	(f)6845.75	(f)6845.75	6534.75	6374.53	13333.39	2003

^{(a)Average of Realschule Gesamt 5578.70 & Gymnasium Gesamt 6881.83
(b)Secondary School General (Sekundarschule) 6299.25
(c)Average of range (11315.78 - 19083.87)
(d)Secondary School General (Mittelschule) 5478.80
(e)Secondary School General (Sekundarschule) 6285.00
(f)Secondary School General (Regelschule) 6845.75}

Eisinger, P. D. B., & Warndorf, P. D. P. K. (2004). Was kostet ein Schüler in Deutschland wirklich ?
[What does a student really cost in Germany?] [Statistical Documents].
Retrieved February 4, 2009, from http://www.software-ag-stiftung.com/005/index1.php

The ignorance over what one does actually pay for education is not isolated to Germany. We would all be well-advised to find out what this amount is, for where we live. If for nothing less than placing a value on what home educators save the government, or what in fact the value of education in our country is said to be worth!

If, of course, you or I were paying this amount out of our own pockets, I think we'd want a calculable R.O.I. (return on investment), and this is where if you take the 'return' reported in Germany's P.I.S.A results, it is arguably a goose egg.

Yet I keep hearing the sentiment from the educational bureaucrats that you have to attend a school building to learn what is really important (ie what you can't learn at home), that is why they have Forced Compulsory School Attendance (Schulpflicht / Schulzwang). Do you think the German state education system is failing in the mandate to teach literacy and mathematical skills being that they rank "Not statistically significantly different from the OECD average" ^{(i) (ii)} or is their aim something altogether different?



Who is the German government accountable to, for their educational expenditure (investment) or success (return)?



In the instance of Germany, in time to come when home education is legally recognised and supported, perhaps some of this will either be applied as a tax credit for families who educate their own, or as an allowance, following the lead of some of the states in Canada. Perhaps the State will adopt a 'fund-follows-the-child" policy, that whether a child is in a State, Private or Home School, the budget allocation per pupil can resource a parent's/child's choice, instead of a government dictated Hobson's choice.

Knowledge is power folks, so I hope that I have handed those reading this post, and actively campaigning for educational freedom in Germany, some power.

May the force be with you!



<sup>(i) /Source: OECD PISA 2006 database. Figure 6.8b, PISA 2006: Science Competencies for Tomorrow’s World.
12 http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/142046885031


(ii) Source: OECD PISA 2006 database. Figure 6.20b, PISA 2006: Science Competencies for Tomorrow’s World.
12 http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/142046885031</sup>