Feb 3rd 2011 | BERLIN |
GERMANY’S economic success presents something of an educational puzzle. On the one hand, its schools turn out a workforce capable of producing the goods that have made its companies the export champions of the world. On the other, the academic achievements of its schoolchildren, measured in international tests, look only mediocre. The reading abilities of German 15-year-olds, according to the PISA studies published by the OECD, are below the average for rich countries. In a world where brainpower matters more and more, how does German business thrive?
The answer is that a combination of schooling and apprenticeship has proved a reliable supplier and shaper of the sort of labour German businesses need to make goods of high quality, even as similar jobs have disappeared in other rich economies. At the age of 10 or 11 about two-fifths of children are selected to go to a Gymnasium. A lot of these go eventually to university. Most who do not, and many of those at less academic schools, go ultimately into specialised training for one of around 350 trades, from gardening to glass-blowing.
Students divide their time between classrooms and the factory floor, acquiring a lot of knowledge on the job. According to many company bosses, this makes them both expert and flexible. Because German jobs are fairly secure, many employees invest time in learning new skills. Companies invest in teaching them, too—for example, to use computers to design parts—because their workers are not likely to quit.
Moreover, basic education seems to be getting better. The first PISA study, published in 2001, in which German children did poorly, caused much national soul-searching. Germany’s standing in the OECD rankings has improved a great deal in the past few years.
Even so, the system has flaws. Some worry, for example, that a stronger general education is needed to equip young Germans to change trades should demand for their specific expertise dry up.
A bigger concern is that early selection fails children from poor and immigrant families, who are likeliest to attend the least academic schools and to miss out on apprenticeships. Partly for this reason, there is a large group of students at the bottom of the rankings—which explains why the German average is still below par. “It is a schooling system that has left a large fraction of students behind,” says Andreas Schleicher of the OECD.
Some think that this may eventually cost the economy. Ludger Wössmann, of the Ifo institute at Munich University, reckons that the best long-run predictor of a country’s economic growth rate is the performance of its children in comparative tests in science, maths and so forth. Germany’s scores, he points out, do not bode well.
The Economist
The answer is that a combination of schooling and apprenticeship has proved a reliable supplier and shaper of the sort of labour German businesses need to make goods of high quality, even as similar jobs have disappeared in other rich economies. At the age of 10 or 11 about two-fifths of children are selected to go to a Gymnasium. A lot of these go eventually to university. Most who do not, and many of those at less academic schools, go ultimately into specialised training for one of around 350 trades, from gardening to glass-blowing.
Students divide their time between classrooms and the factory floor, acquiring a lot of knowledge on the job. According to many company bosses, this makes them both expert and flexible. Because German jobs are fairly secure, many employees invest time in learning new skills. Companies invest in teaching them, too—for example, to use computers to design parts—because their workers are not likely to quit.
Moreover, basic education seems to be getting better. The first PISA study, published in 2001, in which German children did poorly, caused much national soul-searching. Germany’s standing in the OECD rankings has improved a great deal in the past few years.
Even so, the system has flaws. Some worry, for example, that a stronger general education is needed to equip young Germans to change trades should demand for their specific expertise dry up.
A bigger concern is that early selection fails children from poor and immigrant families, who are likeliest to attend the least academic schools and to miss out on apprenticeships. Partly for this reason, there is a large group of students at the bottom of the rankings—which explains why the German average is still below par. “It is a schooling system that has left a large fraction of students behind,” says Andreas Schleicher of the OECD.
Some think that this may eventually cost the economy. Ludger Wössmann, of the Ifo institute at Munich University, reckons that the best long-run predictor of a country’s economic growth rate is the performance of its children in comparative tests in science, maths and so forth. Germany’s scores, he points out, do not bode well.
The Economist
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