Background
Beginnings 🔗
Since the 1990s, Germany has participated in international large-scale assessments of student achievement such as PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment), TIMSS (Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study), and IGLU/PIRLS (Progress in International Reading Literacy Study) to assess students' strengths and weaknesses.
Results from these studies showed significant deficits in the late 1990s and early 2000s: Students‘ competences in reading, mathematics, and natural sciences were below average by international comparison. Furthermore, the link between students’ proficiency levels and their family background was particularly pronounced in Germany. The German education system therefore faced both a performance and an equity problem.
Reform processes: Focus on competences 🔗
These findings showed that controlling academic achievement solely through curricula (input control) would not produce the desired outcomes. Therefore, with the Konstanz Agreement of 1997, the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs (KMK) launched a comprehensive reform process. This reform process was now intended to put greater emphasis on the outcomes and effects of educational processes (output control).
The aim is to further develop and ensure the quality of school education by defining binding competence goals for specific stages of education (educational standards) and regularly monitoring the achievement of these goals. Both aspects are central elements in the KMK’s overall strategy for educational monitoring (2006/2015), agreed upon by all 16 of Germany’s federal states.
(Further) Development of Educational Standards 🔗
The KMK Secretariat coordinated the development of the initial educational standards for primary and lower secondary levels, which the KMK adopted in 2004/2005. The IQB coordinated the development of educational standards for the General Higher Education Entrance Qualification (Allgemeine Hochschulreife; KMK decisions: 2012, 2020), as well as for refining educational standards for primary and lower secondary education (KMK decisions: 2022, 2023, 2024).
The aim of the refinement of the educational standards for primary and lower secondary education was to address the changing demands on teaching and learning, particularly the use of digital media, as stated within the KMK strategy on education in the digital world („Bildung in der digitalen Welt“). Furthermore, care was taken to ensure that the educational standards for the three school levels are more systematically aligned with one another than before.