New Publication: Covid 19 and the Challenges Facing the German Education System

Apr 19, 2021

How must schools be further developed so that they can continue to fulfill their social mission in the future? In the book "Schule weiter denken. Was wir aus der Pandemie lernen", education experts explore this question. They address topics such as digital learning, educational federalism and the autonomy of schools, which have become the focus of social debate as a result of the Covid 19 pandemic. The book was edited by Prof. Dr. Kai Maaz (DIPF | Leibniz Institute for Educational Research and Information) and Prof. Dr. Michael Becker-Mrotzek (Mercator Institute for Language Development and German as a Second Language).

The pandemic-related school closures in spring 2020 and at the turn of the year 2020/21 represent an unprecedented challenge in the German education system. Teachers and students had to adjust to a completely new teaching situation, and parents were suddenly directly involved in their children's education. The aim of the book is to describe the changes forced by the pandemic and to show their consequences for the schools and those involved in them. The authors, who come from research and practice backgrounds, think constructively about these developments and analyze what needs to change in the future so that schools can fulfill their social tasks and become more crisis-proof.

"In the long run, it must be the goal of all of us to design teaching and learning in such a way that educational success is no longer dependent on the social background of the children. This requires significant changes in the training and continuing education of teachers, but also in the interaction between schools and administration," emphasizes Prof. Dr. Kai Maaz, Executive Director of the DIPF | Leibniz Institute for Human Development and Educational Information. Prof. Dr. Michael Becker-Mrotzek, Director of the Mercator Institute for Language Support and German as a Second Language, adds: "The school closures have revealed many existing challenges in our education system that will not go away even after the pandemic. One of these is language education. Only those who can read and write well are able to learn successfully and participate in society. For students who struggle with this, the situation has been exacerbated by the Corona pandemic."

This book, published by Dudenverlag, is a popular science publication in the best sense of the word, presenting scientific findings in a generally understandable way for the interested public. It asks questions of students and parents, teachers and school administrators. The individual chapters are devoted to the structures of the education system, quality assurance in schools, teacher training and continuing education, teaching quality, digitization, language education, mathematics education and inequalities in the education system.

Contributors were Dr. Martina Diedrich (Institute for Educational Monitoring and Quality Development Hamburg), Prof. Dr. Birgit Eickelmann (University of Paderborn), Ilka Huesmann (Mercator Institute for Language Support and German as a Second Language), Frauke König (Mercator Institute for Language Support and German as a Second Language), Prof. Dr. Mareike Kunter (DIPF | Leibniz Institute for Human Development and Educational Information), Michaela Mörs (Mercator Institute for Language Support and German as a Second Language), Anna Niewerth (Mercator Institute for Language Support and German as a Second Language), Prof. Dr. Susanne Prediger (Dortmund University of Technology, German Center for Teacher Education Mathematics), Prof. Dr. Sandy Taut (Bavarian State Office for Schools), Dr. Franziska Baier (Goethe University Frankfurt), and Dr. Till Woerfel (Mercator Institute for Language Support and German as a Second Language).

Publication:
Maaz, K. & Becker-Mrotzek, M. (Hrsg.). (2021). Schule weiter denken. Was wir aus der Pandemie lernen. Berlin: Dudenverlag.