Creating the basis for comparable Abitur examinations in Germany

(March 9, 2012) The Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs of the Länder in the Federal Republic of Germany is improving the comparability of the general higher education entrance qualification (Allgemeine Hochschulreife) in Germany by establishing educational standards in key subjects, offering a national pool for secondary school leaving examination (Abitur) questions and establishing uniform assessment criteria.

In an initial step, in autumn 2012, the standards are to be submitted and adopted for the subjects German, Mathematics, English and French. Work on developing educational standards for the Abitur in the natural-science subjects Biology, Physics and Chemistry will commence in 2013.

In further steps, the Institute for Educational Progress (Institut zur Qualitätsentwicklung im Bildungswesen – IQB) is to develop model questions for the Abitur examinations, including the level of expectation, as well as information on how to assess the answers. The Länder are supporting this process by submitting further written Abitur examination questions, as well as relevant assessment criteria, to the committee responsible for developing examination questions. The Abitur questions that the IQB deems suitable will then be included in a pool of questions. This pool will continue to grow from 2013, when it will be made available to the Länder for possible use in the Abitur in 2016/17, when the first year of pupils to be educated on the basis of the educational standards will take the Abitur.

The submission of national educational standards for key subjects and the planned pool of questions form the basis for an Abitur examination that is comparable in all 16 Länder. Implementation will start as early as the 2012/2013 school year.

Read more in german language here.