Opportunities to start: New report on the support program for schoolchildren

Lessons at an elementary school

The education system in Germany is considered unfair in many areas.

(Photo: imago images/wolterfoto)

Berlin Shortly before the deadline set by the Budget Committee at the end of September, the Ministry of Education and Research presented its report on the new “Starting Chances Program”. The aim of the program is to improve “equal opportunities” in the German education system. So far, the educational opportunities for children from socially disadvantaged families in Germany have been considered very poor.

The details of the program were not yet known. The report by the ministry led by Bettina Stark-Watzinger (FDP) is now available to the Handelsblatt.

A total of 4,000 schools with a high proportion of socially disadvantaged students are to take part in the program and benefit from investments in equipment, staff and content.

The plan: The schools funded as part of the program should develop model character and thus give “impulses for a systemic change to sustainably increase the performance of the education system”, as the report puts it.

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To this end, three areas are to be particularly promoted:

  • The first of the so-called “pillars” is an investment program in infrastructure for “climate-friendly” and “barrier-free” schools.
  • The second point includes an “opportunity budget” that is made freely available to the schools.
  • Third, the social work in schools be strengthened “if necessary via a funding program”.

The federal and state governments want to jointly develop criteria to determine which schools should specifically benefit from the program. The term should be a total of ten years, with not all schools being supported at the same time, but rather staggered over time could become. The program is scheduled to start in the 2024/2025 school year.

Costs remain unclear

However, it remains largely unclear how much the “Starting Chances Program” will cost and how it could be financed. The present report to the Budget Committee has been coordinated with the Federal Ministry of Finance and the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, but it contains hardly any specific information on the financial means required.

The measures outlined can only be adopted if the appropriate funds are made available in the budget. However, the ministries admit in the report: “In the current financial plan, no funds are provided for the implementation of the program.” The financing will have to be decided in the context of future budget negotiations. The funds required should be taken into account for the 2024 budget.

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Two million euros from the budget for 2023 could be made available to advance the conception of the program with scientific support.

The Education and Science Union (GEW) had demanded at least 1.5 to 2.5 billion euros per year. From the point of view of the union, this amount is the “lower limit” of what is needed.

Scientific monitoring

Whether the funds are being used sensibly and the goals of the three pillars are being achieved is to be clarified by “scientific support” that is responsible for monitoring the programme. In order to facilitate this work, the federal states, but also the supported schools, would have to provide the necessary data for evaluation.

The federal and state governments want to work out the concrete cornerstones for the selection of schools, the use of the “opportunity budget” and the requirements for scientific support this year. In the first half of 2024, according to current planning, the Federal Cabinet is to deal with the “Starting Opportunities Program”. Only then should a decision be made as to which schools will specifically benefit from the package.

The report emphasizes that the new program is designed to complement, not replace, existing funding and initiatives. It is important for the federal ministries to emphasize that the money provided should be understood as additional funding. There should be no “substitution effects” compared to programs already running or planned by the federal states.

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