Conference 2000Germany
Representing Parents in School Decision
Making: Germany/Berlin
1.
Introduction
This
chapter will first give some global remarks about the
situation in Germany and then focus on the Berlin
situation. Because of the absence of a central
Ministry of Education it is not possible to give a
detailed description of all the 16 German Länder (provinces)
each of them having a local legislation of their own.
If you tried to draw a table containing only keywords
of the most important questions about representing
parents you would need 9 square meters of paper in
1981 (cf. Dietze, p.77). Meanwhile Germany has got
five supplementary Länder as a result of the
fall of the wall.
In the
absence of a central ministry the Standing Conference
of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs of
the Länder in the Federal Republic of Germany (KMK)
tries to guarantee a minimum of agreement among the
different laws of the Länder. But the KMK
approves explicitly the possibility of different
regulations and underlines the necessity of
cooperation between school and parents beyond
institutionalized involvement, based on confidence
(cf. KMK 1991, p. 4).
"Parents
exercise their rights, on the one hand, individually
and, on the other hand, collectively through
parents´ groups and their representatives on other
consulting and decision-making bodies at schools. The
rights enjoyed by the parents of primary school
pupils do not fundamentally differ from those
afforded parents of secondary school pupils who have
not yet reached their majority." (KMK 1994) In
the sector of vocational education parents are
scarcely involved in decision-making. As most of the
pupils are adults normally there are no parents`
committees. Nevertheless parents are often allowed to
have meetings if there is a demand from at least a
fifth of the parents of a class. But they can only
exchange information and opinions.
As each
of the Länder has developed its own approach to
participation at school names of committees and
councils often change from one Land to another
and there are always exceptions. Generally parents
are elected on four different levels. The following
names in brackets are not exhaustive; for more
detailed information see the laws of the German Länder.
First
level: the individual class
(Klassenelternversammlung, Klassenelternschaft)
Second
level: the school as a whole
(Gesamtelternvertretung, Schulelternbeirat,
Elternbeirat, Elternkonferenz, Schulpflegschaft)
Third
level: the municipality or the district
(Stadtelternbeirat; Kreiselternrat,
Kreiselternbeirat, Bezirkselternbeirat,
Bezirkselternausschuß)
Fourth
level: the Land (province)
(Landeselternrat, Landeselternbeirat,
Landeselternausschuß, Landeselternkammer)
To be
exact there is a fifth level, the Bundeselternrat
(Federal Association of Parents) which is not
mentioned by legal texts. It is the free association
of the parental Länder committees. The
membership is optional. Most of the Länder
committees, however, are members of the association.
The Bundeselternrat does not have any legal rights
but it is recognized as a non-profit-making
institution. As the association has not got the
possibility of direct decision-making it is difficult
to estimate its real influence. Resolutions and press
statements are widely spread (33 resolutions in
1996/97, beginning with the "reform of primary
education" and ending with the "reform of
orthography" (cf. Bundeselternrat 1998). But the
work has to be done in a more or less political way
by trying to establish contact with the
teachers’ unions, the Federal Association of
Pupils, the Standing Conference of the Ministers of
Education and Cultural Affairs of the Länder or the
Federal Ministry of Research and Technology.
School
decision-making is undertaken in other
councils/advisory councils where parents have to send
their delegates. These councils are mostly installed
on the same levels as the parental committees, the
most important being the Schulkonferenz
(school council). It deals with general educational
and teaching questions of the individual school. The
composition varies from one Land to another.
In some Länder teachers make up half the
members while the other half is split evenly between
parents and pupils; and in others each group accounts
for one third of the total, sometimes one fourth of
the total, when delegates of the non-teaching staff
are members of the council, too.
Parental
representatives are elected at each level by parents.
There is no selection by school authorities.
2. The
Berlin situation
2.1
Recent and current legislation
All
provincial school laws depend on the German
Constitution which declares (in article 6) that:
"The
natural right and the most important duties of
parents are the care and education of their
children." and in article 7: "The whole
school system is under supervision of the
state." (cf. Grundgesetz 1949) That means that
parents and school have the common task to educate
which can be done only through sensible cooperation.
Rules
concerning the rights of parents at school are laid
down in the Schulverfassungsgesetz (law about
the constitution of schools). These rights are
very different depending on such matters as: the
right to be informed, the right to be heard, the
right to give advice and the right to decide.
Representatives
of private schools have only consultative functions.
Parental representatives are elected and sent as
delegates on four different levels (representatives
of private schools have always consultative
functions):
PARENTAL COMMITTEES
|
DECISION-MAKING
COUNCILS
|
1st LEVEL
Klassenelternversammlung  §41
(Parental class committee)
|
1st LEVEL
Klassenkonferenz § 17
(Class council)
|
2nd LEVEL
Gesamtelternvertretung § 45
(Parental school committee)
|
2nd LEVEL
Fachkonferenz § 21
(Subject council)
Gesamtkonferenz
§§
13-14
(Teachers’ council)
Schulkonferenz
§§
50-54
(School council)
|
3rd LEVEL
Bezirkselternausschuß § 71
(Parental district committee)
|
3rd LEVEL
Bezirksschulbeirat § 72
(District school advisory council)
|
4th LEVEL
Landeselternausschuß §74
(Parental province commitee)
|
4th LEVEL
Landesschulbeirat § 75
(Provincial school advisory council)
|
(cf. Gesetz über die Schulverfassung 1995)
(5th LEVEL, out of law)
Bundeselternrat
(Federal Association of Parents)
|
|
The
Berlin parental province committee is member of the
Federal Association of Parents.
2.2
Membership of and powers accorded to committees and
councils
2.2.1
Parental committees
Klassenelternversammlung
All parents of a class are members of the parental
class committee. They elect the two parental
representatives of a class (a chairperson and a
deputy). In order to avoid inequality there are two
votes per child. The committee has got the right to
be informed and to be heard about things concerning
the class and the school. There are at least three
meetings per year, organized in agreement with the
form teacher. Delegates of teachers and pupils are
allowed to assist.
Gesamtelternvertretung
The two parental representatives of each class
are automatically members of the parental school
committee. They elect a chairperson, two delegates to
be sent to the parental district committee and four
delegates to be sent to the school council. The
parental school committee has got the right to be
informed and to be heard about matters concerning the
school as a whole There are at least three meetings
per year, organized in agreement with the head
teacher. Delegates of teachers and pupils are allowed
to assist.
Bezirkselternausschuß
The two delegates of each school of the district are
members of the parental district committee. They
elect a chairperson, two delegates to be sent to the
parental province committee and twelve delegates to
be sent to the district school advisory council. The
parental district committee has got the right to be
informed and to be heard about matters concerning the
different types of schools in the district. The
number of meetings is not fixed. The first meeting is
organized by the Bezirksstadtrat, the
political councillor of education of the district.
There
are no delegates of teachers or pupils.
Landeselternausschuß
The two delegates of each district are members of
the parental province committee. They elect a
chairperson. The parental province committee has got
the right to be informed and to be heard about things
concerning the interest of parents in school. The
number of meetings is not fixed. Teachers and pupils
send two delegates who are members of the district
school advisory council.
Bundeselternrat
The chairperson of the parental province committee
and several delegates (maximum 7) represent the
province within the Federal Association of Parents.
The association, founded in 1952, organises two
plenary sessions every year, three seminars
concerning a special type of school and several
seminars with general school concern. The
seminars are mostly sponsored by the Federal Ministry
of Research and Technology which is not responsible
for schools and cultural affairs.The association has
got no specific rights (see introduction).
2.2.2
Decision-making councils
Fachkonferenz
All teachers of a school teaching the same subject
are members of the subject council. Two delegates of
the parents and the pupils may assist in a
consultative function. The council has got the right
to give advice and to decide in matters of didactics,
standards for the award of the different marks,
choice of teaching materials, suitability of
textbooks and coordination of parts of the syllabus.
If a member refuses a decision it has to be consented
to by the Gesamtkonferenz (teachers´ council)
before being effective. The chairperson, who is not
elected, is the subject head of department.
Klassenkonferenz
All teachers teaching in an individual class are
members of the class council. Two delegates of the
parents and the pupils may assist in a consultative
function.If the council deals with things such as
marks and examinations parents and pupils are not
allowed to assist. The council has got the right to
give advice and to decide on all questions of
teaching and education concerning the individual
class. The chairperson, who is not elected, is the
form teacher or the head teacher.
Gesamtkonferenz
The members of the teachers’ council include the
head teacher, the teachers and the social workers of
the individual school. Teachers teaching less than
six lessons per week or teaching religion and the two
delegates of pupils and parents may assist in a
consultative function. The council has the right to
give advice and to decide on all important matters
concerning teaching and education in the school,
(e.g. principles concerning standards for the award
of the different marks, allocation of classrooms,
optional lessons, budgetary planning, cooperation
with other schools etc). Normally there are six
sessions per year. The chairperson, who is not
elected, is the head teacher.
Schulkonferenz
The members of the school council are: the head
teacher, three teachers (elected by the teachers´
council), four pupils (elected by the pupils´ school
committee) and four parents (elected by the parental
school committee). One delegate of the non-teaching
staff may assist in a consultative function. In
primary schools the pupils´ delegates (form 5 and 6)
have only consultative functions. The chairperson,
who is not elected, is the head teacher. The council
has the right to give advice and to decide on
questions of principles concerning lessons and
breaks, house work, school regulations and
disciplinary rules, pilot projects, road safety
provisions for children on their way to and from
school, allocation of classrooms, construction
projects, etc. It has got the right to be heard in
matters of division, relocation and closing of the
school, merger with another school, important change
of school organization and optional lessons.
Bezirksschulbeirat
The district school advisory council consists of 12
parents, 12 teachers and 12 pupils. The inspector and
the Bezirksstadtrat ( political councillor of
education) are allowed to participate without the
right to vote. The chairperson, who is elected, may
be a parent, a teacher or an (adult) pupil. The
council has got the right to be informed and to give
advice to the inspector and to the political
councillor of education. It must be heard in matters
of construction projects, opening and closing of
schools, determination of school districts,
cooperation between schools. The chairperson,
traditionally a parent, the deputy teacher and the
deputy pupil are elected during the first session of
the year.
Landesschulbeirat
The provincial school advisory council consists of 23
parents (one per district), 23 teachers, 23 pupils, 3
representatives of the teachers’ unions, 2
representatives of industry and trade and one
representative of each of the religious communities
(protestant, catholic, jewish). The local Minister of
Education and other members of the local government
are allowed to participate without the right to vote.
The council has got the right to be informed and to
give advice to the local Minister of Education. It
must be heard in matters of objectives of education
in the syllabus, change in structure and organisation
of school administration, equipping of schools,
testing new ways of co-determination, pilot projects,
new legislation etc. Theoretically, the chairperson,
who is elected during the first session of the year,
may be a parent, a teacher or a pupil. Traditionally
it is always a parent, with a deputy teacher and a
deputy pupil.
2.3
Relationships between the local and central government
The
province of Berlin, represented by its local Minister
of Education, is a member of the Standing Conference
of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs of
the Länder in the Federal Republic of Germany. This
conference passes resolutions every time the
ministers think that a problem needs an answer in
universally binding terms. This is normally the case
when a province, because of its individual politics,
runs the risk of losing the general recognition of
reports and diplomas, e.g. if the number of lessons
or subjects differ too much from the majority of the
other provinces.But parental co-determination does
not seem to be a debatable point. Resolutions in this
field have been published on the following subjects:
Self-management and school (1961), the transition
from one type of school to another (1966), sexual
education (1968), traffic education (1972),
recommendations for special schools (1972),the role
of pupils at school (1973), pupils with difficulties
in reading and counting (1978), youth and sects
(1979), AIDS (1988), prevention of drug addiction
(1990).
2.4 The
process of selecting/electing parental representatives
Parental
representatives are elected at each level by parents.
There is no selection or pre-selection by school
authorities. Each body elects a chairperson and one
or several deputies for one year. The delegates of
the district school advisory council and the parental
province committee are elected for two years. The
parental committees (except the Federal Association
of Parents) send delegates to all decision-making
councils. Elections have to be held by secret ballot
unless all persons entitled to vote decide for an
open vote.
2.5 The
nature and provision of training for parental
representatives
Training
courses for parental repesentatives are organised
free of charge by the district in cooperation with an
adult education centre and the Arbeitskreis Neue
Erziehung (a private association for education,
sponsored by the local Ministry of Education) in
cooperation with the Gewerkschaft Erziehung und
Wissenschaft (a teachers´ union) and the
BIL (Berlin Institute of In-Service Teacher
Training). The latter courses are not free of charge
but they are rather cheap (about 5 EUROs). In 1998
there were eight courses just for the primary
sector with topics such as the functions and
responsibilities of parental representatives,
chairing meetings and discussions, cooperation
between parents and teachers, bodies and laws, school
reform.
In
addition to these courses there is written
information edited by the local ministry and by the
private association for education as well. The
ministerial booklet contains the most important laws
for parents and pupils (cf. Senatsverwaltung für
Schule, Jugend und Sport 1997); the private booklet
gives practical help in answering questions such as :
What are the parental rights at school?, How to
choose a representative?, How to organise a meeting?,
How to help foreign parents?, How to help new
parents?, etc.
2.6
Parental partnership with the teaching profession
Parental
partnership with the teaching profession is not well
developed. Parents often think that they are not
welcome at school and teachers often fear to
be "inspected" by the so-called
"professional parents". Parental
partnership means mostly parental assistance during
school outings because of the lack of teachers. Apart
from this and the possibility to assist with a lesson
(with the consent of the teacher) parental
cooperation is mentioned only in legal texts for
primary education. Here, three forms of cooperation
are possible:
Supervising
groups of a class during exercise phases and
helping the teacher in organizing the lesson
(without sports where special knowledge is
necessary).
Supporting
the teacher during special events such as
school outings and traffic education.
Supporting the teacher during special
activities of the school such as school
parties.
The
overall responsibility lies with the teacher
at all times. If parents want to do the work
they need the consent of the teacher and of
all the parents of the class. The work is
voluntary and they must remain discreet. For
reasons of insurance they need the written
directions of the district (cf.
Grundschulordnung 1986).
2.7
Perspectives on the future role and extension of powers
Berlin
will have a new school law which will bring a general
school reform leading to self-managing schools
similar to those in several Anglo-Saxon countries
(e.g. England, Canada, Australia, New Zealand). The
first steps have been taken since 1995 in the form of
pilot projects called "School with enlarged
responsibilities" and the results have been
published recently (cf. Avenarius & Döbert
1998). The draft of the new law appears to strengthen
the role of the parents. The draft says that
parents’ proposals concerning content and
didactics of lessons should be realized if possible
and that parents are allowed to organize, with the
agreement of the school council, extra-curricular
lessons intending to support children pedagogically.
The school council will be enabled to decide on
matters concerning the collaboration of parents and
other persons during a lesson and the appointment of
a new head teacher. Members of the school council
(parents, teachers, pupils) will be allowed, with the
agreement of the teacher, to assist in a lesson and
if it is necessary for their work within the council
(cf. Neues Berliner Schulgesetz 1998, pp. 66/76).
3.
Comment
When
looking at the different ways of participation it is
evident that the term "decision-making"
doesn’t fit for most of the ways if you want to
use it literally. The parental rights to be informed,
to be heard, to give advice may, from time to time,
lead to decisions which were intended by the parents.
But if the decision makers do not want to receive
advice the profit is meagre. Seen this way, one must
say that the parental committees are not really
decision-making. The councils have, to a certain
extent, the right to decide, but the parents are a
minority and sometimes their roles are only
consultative ( cf. class council, subject council,
teachers’council). So the school council remains
the only body where parents are really involved in
decision-making, even though the parents’ group
accounts only for one third of the total. The roles
of the district and the provincial school advisory
councils are special. Being only advisory it is
difficult for a politician to neglect constantly the
advice of these councils because of political
reasons. So, during the last years, these councils
have lobbied for a variety of issues e.g.
introduction of financial minimum standards for
schools, keeping of free textbooks for all pupils,
provision of funds for renovation of schools and
transformation of school yards (project "green
school yards"). There have also been failures
e.g. refusal to employ more young teachers (the
average age of Berlin teachers being about 50 years),
refusal to reduce the number of pupils per class,
refusal to introduce computers in all schools, lack
of consequences for teachers for being negligent of
their duties etc. According to the Provincial school
advisory council (cf. Landesschulbeirat 1998) the
most important success during the last ten years was
the integration of the schools of the eastern part of
Berlin into the new school system with a minimal
number of frictions. The biggest deception was (and
still is) the fact that they do not succeed in
stopping the constant shortage of financial resources
for schools.
Decision-making
is more complicated in Berlin than in other provinces
of Germany because of the division of powers between
the local government and the district. The districts,
responsible of the non-teaching staff and the school
buildings, are rather independent and even if the
local government is willing to follow the advice of
parents the district authorities will not follow
automatically, especially if they must provide money.
When
talking with parental representatives about the
future of parental decision-making they are somewhat
pessimistic. On the one hand lack of money will not
facilitate the realization of parental demands, on
the other hand not all parents are happy when other
parents will have the opportunity to
"control" classes and pupils. They fear
that their privacy will be invaded.
Klaus-J
Heinermann
NOTES
¹In the
following text the term "province" is used as a
synonym for "Land".
APPENDIX
Laws of the
German Länder concerning parental co-determination
Baden-Württemberg:
Schulgesetz
in der Fassung vom 1.8.1983, zuletzt geändert am
15.12.1997
Elternbeiratsverordnung
vom 16.7.1985, zuletzt geändert am 17.6.1998
Bayern:
Bayerisches
Gesetz über das Erziehungs- und Unterrichtswesen in der
Fasssung vom 7.7.1994, geändert am 24.7.1998
Berlin:
Schulverfassungsgesetz
vom 11.7.1974, geändert am 26.1.1995
Brandenburg:
Brandenburgisches
Schulgesetz vom 12. April 1996
Bremen:
Gesetz zur
Novellierung des Bremischen Schulgesetzes und des
Bremischen Schulverwaltungsgesetzes vom 20. Dezember 1994
Hamburg:
Hamburgisches
Schulgesetz vom 16. April 1997
Hessen:
Hessisches
Schulgesetz und Wahlordnung für die Wahl zu den
Elternvertretungen vom 14. Juli 1994
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern:
Schulgesetz
für das Land Mecklenburg-Vorpommern vom 15. Mai 1996, in
der Fassung
vom 25.
September 1997
Niedersachsen:
Niedersächsisches
Schulgesetz in der Fassung vom 3. März 1998
Nordrhein-Westfalen:
Gesetz über
die Mitwirkung im Schulwesen vom 13.12.1977, zuletzt
geändert am 19.6.1994
Rheinland-Pfalz:
Landesgesetz
über die Schulen in Rheinland-Pfalz vom 6.11.1974 in der
Fassung vom 12.2.1997
Saarland:
Schulordnungsgesetz
und Schulmitbestimmungsgesetz vom 21. August 1996,
geändert am 27. November 1996
Sachsen:
Schulgesetz
für den Freistaat Sachsen vom 3. Juli 1991 in der
Fassung vom 29.9.1998
Sachsen-Anhalt:
Schulgesetz
des Landes Sachsen-Anhalt in der Fassung vom 27. August
1996
Schleswig-Holstein:
Schleswig-Holsteinisches
Schulgesetz in der Fassung vom 2.8.1990, geändert am
8.9.1998
Thüringen:
Thüringer
Schulgesetz vom 6. 8. 1993 in der Fassung vom 16.12.1996
Thüringer Schulordnung vom 20.1.1994 in der Fassung vom
22.1.1996
References
Arbeitskreis
Neue Erziehung für Familie, Schule und Gesellschaft e.V.
(Ed)(1998)
Leitfaden
für neue Elternvertreter (Berlin, GEW)
Avenarius,H.
& Döbert,H.(Eds)(1998) Schule in erweiterter
Verantwortung. Ein Berliner Modellversuch.
Abschlußbericht der wissenschaftlichen Begleitung (Frankfurt/M.,
DIPF)
Bundeselternrat
(Ed)(1998) Bundeselternrat im Dienste der Eltern,
Heft 16 (Mainz)
Dietze,L.(1981)
Elternrecht macht Schule (Düsseldorf/Wien,
Econ/Schroedel)
Gesetz über
die Schulverfassung des Landes Berlin vom 11.Juli 1974,
geändert
durch Gesetz vom 26. Januar 1995
Grundgesetz
für die Bundesrepublik Deutschland vom 23.5.1949,
geändert am 20.10.1997
Grundschulordnung
(Berlin) vom 7. Juli 1980 in der Fassung vom 5.Februar
1986
KMK see:
Sekretariat....
Landesschulbeirat
Berlin, Brief vom 4.12.1998
Neues
Berliner Schulgesetz, 1. Diskussionsentwurf, Stand: 29.
Oktober 1998
Sekretariat
der Ständigen Konferenz der Kultusminister der Länder
in der Bundesrepublik
Deutschland
(KMK)(1991) Zusammenarbeit von Eltern und Schule,
Beschluß der Kultusministerkonferenz vom 19.9.1980 in
der Fassung vom 29.7.1991
Sekretariat
der Ständigen Konferenz der Kultusminister der Länder
der Bundesrepublik Deutschland (KMK)(1994) The
Education System in the Federal Republic of Germany (Bonn)
Senatsverwaltung
für Schule, Jugend und Sport (Ed)(1997) Alles was
Recht ist. Ratgeber für Eltern- und Schülervertreter
(Berlin, Verwaltungsdruckerei)
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