FIZE

‹ Back

64,000 Young People Leaving School Without a Qualification – Time for a Debate?

 

Wolf Hannes Kalden, Managing Board Member of the Forum for International Future and Development Partnerships (FIZE), has addressed an open letter to Germany’s Ministers of Education. The letter responds to recurring debates about reducing or abolishing compulsory schooling in Germany. While FIZE regards compulsory education as a cornerstone of learning, social participation, and democratic development, the letter raises a different question: Should Germany today be discussing an extension rather than a reduction of compulsory education?

 

 

The discussion focuses on two key considerations. First, whether nine years of compulsory schooling still meet the requirements of a modern knowledge-based society. Second, whether the completion of compulsory education should be linked more closely to the attainment of a first general school-leaving qualification.

 

The background to these questions is the continuing high number of young people who leave school each year without a formal qualification. For many, this creates long-term barriers to vocational training, employment opportunities, and full participation in society.

 

The proposal is explicitly not intended as a call for additional legal obligations. Rather, it is an invitation to a broader educational policy debate about which educational standards society should consider indispensable in the future and how as many young people as possible can be supported in achieving them.

 

These reflections are informed both by the author’s professional experience and by current international projects and educational partnerships, including the MICT UA initiative. Together with universities, ministries, and regional partners in Ukraine, MICT UA explores questions of education, integration, and future opportunities for young people in the context of long-term societal development.