Sport

Movement, play, and sport are essential and indispensable components of holistic education. They influence the physical, linguistic, emotional, intellectual, and social development of children and adolescents. Sport thus promotes the development of a well-rounded personality.

In addition, elite schools of sport and other schools that support competitive sports make an important contribution to fostering young athletic talent as well as to the academic education of school-age top athletes.

The main topics addressed by the Conference of Ministers of Education are related to school sports. School sports are more than just a subject; they also include the provision of extracurricular sporting activities.

The Conference of Ministers of Education is responsible for coordinating cross-state matters in the field of school sports. In the individual states, responsibility for school sports lies with the ministries of education.

School sports

The specific design of curricula and lesson content is the responsibility of the respective state ministries of education. The curricula for sport can be accessed on the school sport websites of the states and in the curriculum offerings for general education schools.

The Uniform Examination Requirements in the Abitur Examination for Sport form the basis for subject-specific requirements in sport at the upper secondary level. They also contain guidance for the creation of examination tasks and their assessment, as well as concrete sample tasks.

The Conference of Ministers of Education places great importance on constructive cooperation with providers of extracurricular sports activities in schools. Examples include the 

• Joint Recommendations of the Conference of Ministers of Education and the German Olympic Sports Confederation for the further development of school sports (2023–2028), the 
• agreement to support performance-oriented students at elite sports schools within the school–sport–boarding system, and the 
• recommendations of the Conference of Ministers of Education, the German Association for Sport Science, and the Federal Association for the Promotion of Swimming Education for swimming lessons in schools.

The Conference of Ministers of Education also cooperates with various institutions dedicated to school sports. Important partners include:

• The German School Sports Foundation: Promotes extracurricular school sports and organizes the national competition Youth Trains for the Olympics and Youth Trains for the Paralympics.
• The German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB): With the German Sports Youth (dsj) and its member organizations, the DOSB is an important partner in extracurricular school sports. The Sports Committee coordinates cooperation at the annual high-level contact commission and prepares joint resolutions between the Conference of Ministers of Education and the DOSB.
• The German Football Association (DFB): Since the early 2000s, there has been close cooperation between the DFB and the Conference of Ministers of Education. As part of Youth Trains for the Olympics, a football talent competition for students has been held.
• The German Statutory Accident Insurance (DGUV): In 2019, the Conference of Ministers of Education and the DGUV launched the joint school sports initiative “Safety and Health in and through School Sports” (SuGiS). The overarching goal of the initiative is to improve safety and health in school sports. SuGiS aims in particular to strengthen the preventive and health-promoting aspects of school sports without limiting its educational and experiential value. Through sport, play, and movement, children and adolescents learn to deal directly with risks and challenges while simultaneously building risk competence.