Germany’s school system has recorded its worst results since PISA assessments began 25 years ago. Politicians are calling for language tests and tougher standards, while experts argue the real problem lies elsewhere.
When the latest PISA study was published this week, German 15-year-olds recorded their lowest scores yet in reading, maths and science.
That original report triggered what Germans still call the PISA-Schock, prompting years of education reforms which produced clear improvements in reading, maths and science scores until around 2012.
Now, with results even worse than those of a quarter of a century ago, Germany is once again debating what’s gone wrong and what should happen next.
Much of the debate is centred on two competing explanations. Politicians often emphasise language skills, school readiness and family factors, while many education experts place greater emphasis on poverty, inequality and structural weaknesses in the education system.
How are people explaining the decline in education standards?
Speaking to the German Press Agency (dpa), Federal Education Minister Karin Prien (CDU) argued that schools are struggling because “the student body has changed, not only due to immigration, but also because of parenting methods, the way families live, the number of single-parent households, the influence of screen time and social media.”
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A similar argument came from Rhineland-Palatinate Minister President Gordon Schnieder (CDU), who complained that many children arrive at primary school lacking basic skills and language abilities.
“When children start elementary school, they must be able to speak German and master certain skills,” Schnieder said, adding that “a great many children are not at all ready for elementary school when they start.”
Other politicians echoed these concerns. Schleswig-Holstein education minister Dorit Stenke pointed to immigration, changing media habits and growing pressures on young people, while Chancellor Friedrich Merz argued that education and upbringing can’t simply be “outsourced” to the state and that families also bear responsibility.
Many experts paint a different picture.
The most direct challenge comes from Samuel Greiff, director of the German PISA study. While acknowledging that immigration has contributed to a more diverse student population, he said that performance differences have “nothing to do with migration, but rather with socioeconomic background.”
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“The dividing line runs not between students with and without an immigrant background, but between students from socially privileged and socially disadvantaged families,” he added.
Several other voices reached similar conclusions, including teachers’ union representative Stefan Störmer who argued that family circumstances, time, money and access to quiet study spaces remain decisive factors.
What solutions are being proposed?
The political response has largely focused on intervention before children enter school.
Schnieder has announced plans to introduce mandatory language tests and the assessment of basic skills at age four and a half in Rhineland-Palatinate, with a view to identifying potential problems before children begin primary school.
Prien has been advocating similar measures for some time. Long before the current PISA results were released, she proposed mandatory language testing for four-year-olds and additional support for children who fall behind.
She has also championed expanded investment in daycare centres, stronger language support in preschools and the extension of Germany’s Startchancen programme, which channels additional funding into disadvantaged schools.
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Many experts support parts of this agenda. Greiff himself argues that learning difficulties should be identified as early as possible and says that proficiency in the language of instruction is “the key to all other subjects.”
Where experts diverge from politicians is in how much weight they place on broader structural issues.
Education researcher Olaf Köller told NDR that Germany is failing to reach both struggling pupils and top performers. Language barriers may be part of the challenge, he said, but schools also had to make learning more relevant to students’ lives and interests.
Education expert Silke Müller goes much further. Talking to SWR, she described the current situation as an “educational catastrophe” and argued that Germany needs not merely reform but “a revolution”.
“We are, more or less, managing a system in ruins,” Müller said.
Her proposals include nationwide education standards, compulsory teacher training, media literacy lessons from primary school onwards, more psychosocial support staff and, repeatedly, what she described as “an insane amount of funding”.
For Müller, the central issue is not the background children bring into school but the system’s inability to compensate for unequal starting points.
Crucially, she also sees Germany’s fragmented education system as part of the problem. Because responsibility for schools lies largely with the country’s 16 federal states, policies often vary significantly across Germany.
Müller argued the country must move beyond the “dead horse of educational federalism” and agree nationwide standards so that a child’s educational opportunities don’t depend on where they were born, where they attend school or whether their family moves from one state to another.
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What happens now?
Chancellor Friedrich Merz has offered to work with Germany’s states in a new national effort to improve educational standards. Meanwhile, the SPD has called for a major education summit bringing together federal, state and local leaders.
Whether this leads to concrete reforms remains unclear.
One striking observation came from Greiff’s assessment of what happened after the first PISA shock. According to the study director, reforms introduced in the 2000s substantially improved education in Germany before momentum faded after around 2012.
Germany’s current decline is not inevitable, in other words. As Greiff argues, education systems can improve – but only if policymakers follow through with sustained action.
