Spotlights on Learning Technology and Educational Policy in Germany

Describing the use of learning and educational technology (LET) in the Federal Republic of Germany is best

achieved in telling the story by showcasing examples, examples of success and of ignorance likewise. The

often contradictory images that describe the German reality in regard to educational innovation is mainly

due to it's federalist structure which tends to complicate planning and policy on a national level.

Educational issues are under the sole authority of the federal state governments, linking education policy

to the financial situation and the political agendas of the current administrations in the “Länder”,

Germany's 16 federal states. Thus, if you add the Federal Ministry to this list, there are 17 ministries of

education in Germany and all of them have their own vested interests, political obligations and ideological

constraints.

In addition to this seemingly record-high number of governing institutions (whereas these don't even

include the organizations and offices trying to coordinate the 17 ministers), Germany disposes of a variety

of school forms that in some Länder may receive different political attention and resources.

Thanks to reknowned Spaghetti western director Sergio Leone, the social sciences have been offered a

sophisticated tool of analysis, helping to bring light to any highly complex area of research: The Good, the

Bad and the Ugly (Italy 1966). I will try to offer my readers an impression of the current use of LET in the

educational landscapes Germany by looking through Leone's lens.

As to the GOOD aspects on the use of development of technology, it can be said that there is many

initiatives that are deeply aware of the advantages these technologies have to offer, be it on the political

level, the research and development of companies or on the ground in schools, educational administrations

and their partner institutions. It is especially the Länder who are pushing forward, as the federal state of

Berlin has showed in 2006, when they published the “eEducation Berlin Masterplan”, one of the broadest

policy approaches regarding LET on all levels of education (only available in German language, to be found

here). Also, both at universities and within IT-companies, research and development is undertaken

intensively, and innovative solutions for all levels of the educational world have been presented. A rather

analog, but much discussed item in related blogs and revues is the Educenter, manufactured by ALSO

Acebis, a German IT logistics and retail firm. This mobile metal cupboard might remind some of an office

antique from the 1970s, but offers a flexible solution for schools wanting to enter the world of LET-

supported pedagogy. Anyway, only one class at a time can use the up to 25 notebooks contained,

highlighting the financial pressure under which many schools in Germany have to function. A lot of

academic research and political attention focuses mainly on the level of higher education though, a fact

quite well-documented in the goals formulated in the “E-Learning Initiative ”, a cooperation of many of the

Länder on LET that targets only universities and research institutions. Nevertheless, in many regions and

schools, ambitioned teachers and regional networks are doing important pioneer's work in integrating LET

applications and contents in the regular school curricula, as can be seen in the articles from the Goethe

Institut I embedded.

As I was leaning a bit towards the BAD already, we might as well continue with “Schule 2.0 ” a survey

published in early 2011 by BITKOM, Germany's federal IT lobbying organization. While obviously not an

objective player in the field of research, the results of this study that is the only recent of its kind should

receive some attention here. The organization's president, August-Wilhelm Scheer, states that since the

initiative “Schulen ans Netz”, started in 1996 to link German schools to the digital world, no relevant

political projects on federal or even state level have followed suit. As the survey shows , more than 70% of

the teachers surveyed see significant advantages in the use of computers in schools, pointing out their role

in motivational purposes or individualized teaching. On the other hand, 77% of the teachers answered that

they use computers in the classroom only seldomly (37%) or very seldomly/not at all (40%). Thus, there

seems to be a problem of implementation, as the actors in the field are aware of the advantages of the use

of LET, but don't seem to seek or gain access to it's tools.

Last but not least, there is some UGLY details included when you talk about education in Germany, and

after the shockwaves the 2003 PISA repor t sent through the country, researchers, policy-makers and

practitioners try to find the solution to a persistent problem: the fact that the German education system

leaves 15-20%, meaning up to one fifth of the young generation without any future perspectives on the job

or educational market. As news magazine DER SPIEGEL comments in an article on the National Report on

Education published in June 2012: “a fraction of 15 to 20 percent of the children and young people are

permanently excluded from these (educational) opportunities. They can't read properly or understand

texts, drop out of school or their vocational education and do not participate in life-long learning”.

Educational success is thoroughly linked to the family's position in the social structure: children from

poorer households and from migrant families, even in the 3rd or 4th generation, are the ones who suffer the

consequences while middle-class families start to send their kids to private schools, a relatively new

phenomena in Germany. And even though the children with a “migrant background” show a significantly

higher intrinsic motivation for upwards educational mobility, the system won't meet their needs. Anyway,

the current president of the Kultusministerkonferenz, the joint organisation of the educational ministries

from the Länder still presents the report as a success story – as the number of students qualifying for

universities has risen. With these tactics of political desinformation by the responsible policy-makers, and

state ministries that don't dispose of the finances and knowledge to fundamentally change educational

practice and yet reluctantly oppose any change to their competencies, the children of the underprivileged

and uninformed are clearly sent to continue on that same path, and all good practice in LET

implementation won't reach them. This is the ugly backside to many promising developments regarding

educational technology in Germany.

Oulu, 20th of September 2012