Johannes Schult

Zusammenfassung: Mit Blick auf den wachsenden Kompetenzrückgang in der Primarstufe werden im Beitrag Lernbedingungen an unterschiedlich zusammengesetzten Grundschulen untersucht. Die Analyse stützt sich auf eine Befragung von 152 Schulleitungen an Grundschulen, die mit VERA 3‑Daten zur Komposition von 5553 Schüler*innen in Klasse 3 kombiniert wurde. Latente Profilanalysen deuten auf drei Schulprofile, die sich in Abhängigkeit von der Leseleistung, des kulturellen Kapitals sowie der Alltagsmehrsprachigkeit der Lernenden als (1) sozial privilegierte, (2) sozial benachteiligte und (3) moderate Grundschulen charakterisieren lassen. Hinsichtlich der Lernbedingungen unterscheiden sich die Profile aus Sicht der Schulleitungen insbesondere im Bildungsklima und dem Umgang mit Anforderungen im Distanzunterricht während der Pandemie. So werden der akademische Fokus, die Fähigkeiten der Lehrkräfte und das Vertrauen in die Eltern an sozial benachteiligten Grundschulen tendenziell geringer eingeschätzt. Schulleitungen dieses Grundschulprofils scheinen im Distanzunterricht auch eher Anforderungen reduziert zu haben und von dem Einfluss familiärer Determinanten auf den Bildungserfolg überzeugt zu sein. Ebenso ist der von den Schulleitungen eingeschätzte Lehrkräftemangel an sozial benachteiligten Grundschulen signifikant höher als bei privilegierteren Schulen.

This chapter examines the consequences of school disruptions precipitated by the COVID-19 pandemic for academic learning in German elementary and secondary schools. On average, German schools were fully or partially closed for 38 weeks from the onset of the pandemic. German students experienced moderate learning losses due to school closures. National and international trend studies show that competence test scores were between 0.17 and 0.22 standard deviations below pre-pandemic scores, on average. For students from households with a lower socioeconomic status, learning losses were twice as large as for socially privileged students, according to the Institute for Educational Quality Improvement Trends in Student Achievement study. The responses of the educational administration to the learning disruption were heterogeneous, as each of the 16 states enacted its own legislation. The compensatory policies were aimed at reaching all students or at reaching disadvantaged students in particular, for example by facilitating additional remedial teaching, mostly in the fundamental domains of language and mathematics. Judged on the basis of the World Bank’s ‘reach, assess, prioritise, increase and develop’ (RAPID) framework, the policies were only partly successful because of ambiguous criteria for allocating funds and a lack of enough qualified teaching personnel, especially to support at-risk students. Some actions were also delayed by intricate administrative procedures. Recent large-scale assessments from late 2022 and early 2023 indicate some learning loss recovery and a slight reduction of the socioeconomic achievement gap. This suggests that the compensatory measures worked to a considerable degree. Moving forward, the lessons learned during the pandemic should be used to address new and ongoing challenges, such as the increasing number of non-German-speaking refugee students.

Meta-analytic evidence showed robust associations between the alliance in psychotherapeutic dyads and treatment outcomes. Recent studies have indicated that facets of positive mental health are add...

School closures during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020 were associated with attenuated learning gains compared to pre-pandemic years. In Germany, two further pandemic waves led to school closures and periods of remote learning between December 2020 and May 2021. The present study investigates the academic achievement of all incoming fifth-graders in the federal state of Baden-Württemberg before and during the pandemic, using educational large-scale assessment results in reading and mathematics. Each year, the assessments took place at the beginning of the school year in September (each n > 84,000). The comparison of average competence levels in 2021 with pre-pandemic years (2017–2019) indicates that the downward trend that was observed after the first pandemic wave in 2020 came to a halt in the domain of reading and continued at a slower rate in the domain of mathematical operations. Achievements in the mathematical domain of numbers even rebounded to pre-pandemic levels. Longer periods of school closures were associated with larger learning losses. Additional analyses showed larger learning losses for the group of low-achieving students and for schools with less socio-cultural capital. The partial rebound of learning outcomes suggests that most teachers and students successfully adapted to the pandemic situation in 2021. Still, disadvantaged student groups are at high risk of further substantial learning losses due to school closures that may negatively affect their future education. Accordingly, disadvantaged student groups in particular should receive additional support to compensate for the loss of learning opportunities in the classroom.

School closures during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020 were associated with attenuated learning gains compared to pre-pandemic years. In Germany, two further pandemic waves led to school closures and periods of remote learning between December 2020 and May 2021. The present study investigates the academic achievement of all incoming fifth-graders in the federal state of Baden-Württemberg before and during the pandemic, using educational large-scale assessment results in reading and mathematics. Each year, the assessments took place at the beginning of the school year in September (each n > 84,000). The comparison of average competence levels in 2021 with pre-pandemic years (2017–2019) indicates that the downward trend that was observed after the first pandemic wave in 2020 came to a halt in the domain of reading and continued at a slower rate in the domain of mathematical operations. Achievements in the mathematical domain of numbers even rebounded to pre-pandemic levels. Longer periods of school closures were associated with larger learning losses. Additional analyses showed larger learning losses for the group of low-achieving students and for schools with less socio-cultural capital. The partial rebound of learning outcomes suggests that most teachers and students successfully adapted to the pandemic situation in 2021. Still, disadvantaged student groups are at high risk of further substantial learning losses due to school closures that may negatively affect their future education. Accordingly, disadvantaged student groups in particular should receive additional support to compensate for the loss of learning opportunities in the classroom.

Equity issues in the field of arts and culture play an important role when it comes to extracurricular activities in education. Students with special educational needs (SEN) seem not provided with equal access. Using nation-wide random samples of fourth- and fifth-graders courtesy of the German National Education Panel Study (NEPS), the main analysis compares the amount of extracurricular musical activities of students with SEN placed in special education schools (n = 365), in general schools (n = 143), and of students without SEN in inclusive settings (n = 4048). Students placed in special education schools were significantly less likely to take classes in music schools than students with SEN placed in regular schools (and than students without SEN). There were no significant group differences regarding the attendance of concerts and theatre plays. Finally, implications for special education schools and inclusive settings are proposed.