XI. Congress of Montessori Europe 01. - 03.10.2010, Bad Honnef


Please notice:
School visits are filled on a first-come, first-served basis after the payment receipt!
The registration for School visits has to be done in the form.
Alterations in the choice of school visits in front of the congress or on-site are not possible!
The confirmation of school visits including a journey description will be sent out in the middle of September.
We kindly like to ask you to respect the visiting hours and the school visit allocation! In case of cancellation, please send us information in time to inform our partners!

 

School visits in Bad Honnef / Bonn / Cologne

Bad Honnef is a little town, offering just a view places for school visits.
Therefore we will also arrange school visits in Bonn and Cologne. All facilities can be reached by public transport. A detailed journey description will be send after the receipt of payment with the payment confirmation.

 

School visits at the Montessori Centre ANGELL Freiburg

The Montessori Zentrum ANGELL Freiburg consists of a primary school, a middle school („Realschule“) and a secondary school which finishes with a diploma qualifying for university admission (“Gymnasium”). All schools are accredited by the German state. In total, 995 pupils attend school at the Montessori Zentrum ANGELL Freiburg.

We are pleased that the schools offer school visits in the pimary, the middle and the secondary school on Monday, 04th October 2010!
If you are interested please make your choice in the online registration. Following you will receive more information from ANGELL schools per email.
Further information available on the homepage: www.angellnet.de

 

General Information
The responsibility for the German education system lies primarily with the Bundesländer (states) while the federal government plays only a minor role. Optional Kindergarten (nursery school) education is provided for all children between three and six years of age.
The German preschool is known as a Kindergarten (plural Kindergärten) or Kita (short for Kindertagesstätte), meaning ‘children's daycare center’. Children between the ages of 3 and 6 (sometime already from the the ages 0-3 )attend Kindergärten, which are not part of the school system. They are often run by city or town administrations, churches, or registered societies, many of which follow a certain educational approach as represented, e.g., by Montessori or Reggio Emilia. Forest kindergartens are well established. Attending a Kindergarten is neither mandatory nor free of charge, but can be partly or wholly funded, depending on the local authority and the income of the parents.
Kindergärten can be open from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. or longer and may also house a Kinderkrippe, meaning crèche, for children between the ages of nine months and two years, and possibly an afternoon Hort (often associated with a primary school) for school-age children aged 6 to 10 who spend the time after their lessons there. Alongside nurseries, there are day-care nurses (called Tagesmutter, plural Tagesmütter - the formal, gender-neutral form is Tagespflegeperson(en)) working independently from any pre-school institution in individual homes and looking after only three to five children typically up to three years of age. These nurses are supported and supervised by local authorities.
Compulsory school attendance applies to children of German citizenship, those of foreign citizenship, and stateless children living in Germany. In the first nine years, all children attend school from the age of six to 15 or 16. The system varies throughout Germany because each Bundesland decides its own educational policies. Most, however, first attend Grundschule from the age of six to ten or 12.

In contrast, secondary education includes four types of schools: the Gymnasium is designed to prepare pupils for university education and finishes with the final examination, Abitur, after grade 12 or 13. The Realschule has a broader range of emphasis for intermediate pupils and finishes with the final examination, Mittlere Reife, after grade 10; the Hauptschule prepares pupils for vocational education and finishes with the final examination, Hauptschulabschluss, after grade 9 or 10 and the Realschulabschluss after grade 10. There are two types of grade 10: one is the higher level called type 10b and the lower level is called type 10a; only the higher level type 10b can lead to the Realschule and this finishes with the final examination Mittlere Reife after grade 10b. This new path of achieving the Realschulabschluss at a vocationally-oriented secondary school was changed by the statutory school regulations in 1981 - with a one-year qualifying period. During the one-year qualifying period of the change to the new regulations, pupils could continue with class 10 to fulfil the statutory period of education. After 1982, the new path was compulsory, as explained above. Other than this, there is the Gesamtschule, which combines the three approaches. There are also Förderschulen/Sonderschulen. One in 21 pupils attends a Förderschule. Nevertheless the Förderschulen/Sonderschulen can also lead, in special circumstances, to a Hauptschulabschluss of both type 10a or type 10b, the latter of which is the Realschulabschluss.

In order to enter university, students are, as a rule, required to hold the Abitur; however, those with a Meisterbrief (master craftman's diploma) have also been able to apply since 2009. Those wishing to attend a "university of applied sciences" must, as a rule, hold the Abitur, the Fachhochschulreife or a Meisterbrief. Lacking those qualifications, pupils are eligible to enter a university or university of applied sciences if they can present additional proof that they will be able to keep up with their fellow students (see: Begabtenprüfung and Hochbegabtenstudium)

A special system of apprenticeship called Duale Ausbildung allows pupils on vocational courses to do in-service training in a company as well as at a state school.[3] Although Germany has had a history of a strong educational system, recent PISA student assessments demonstrated a weakness in certain subjects. In the test of 43 countries in the year 2000[6], Germany ranked 21st in reading and 20th in both mathematics and the natural sciences, prompting calls for reform.

Grade Average ages of Pupils School level
1 6/7 primary
2 7/8 primary
3 8/9 primary
4 9/10 primary
5 10/11 secondary
6 11/12 secondary
7 12/13 secondary
8 13/14 secondary
9 14/15 secondary
10 15/16 secondary
11 16/17 secondary
12 17/18 secondary
13 18/19 secondary

Parents looking for a suitable school for their child have a wide choice of elementary schools:

  • State school. State schools do not charge tuition fees. The majority of pupils attend state schools in their neighbourhood. Schools in affluent areas tend to be better than those in deprived areas. Once children reach school age, many middle class and working class families move away from deprived areas.
  • or, alternatively

After children have completed their primary education (at 10 years of age, 12 in Berlin and Brandenburg), there are four options for secondary schooling:

  • Hauptschule (the least academic, much like a modernized Volksschule [elementary school]) until grade nine (with Hauptschulabschluss and in some cases Mittlere Reife = Realschulabschuss as exit exam); in some States of Germany the Hauptschule does not exist and pupils are mainstreamed into a so called Intermediate School instead.
  • Realschule until grade ten (with Mittlere Reife (Realschulabschluss) as exit exam);
  • Gymnasium (grammar school) until grade 12 or 13 (with Abitur as exit exam, qualifying for university); and
  • Gesamtschule (comprehensive school)
  • Intermediate School - a comprehensive school that offers regular and remedial classes, but no college preparatory classes
  • After successfully passing through any of the above schools, pupils can start a career with an apprenticeship in the Berufsschule (vocational school). The Berufsschule is normally attended twice a week during a two, three, or three-and-a-half year apprenticeship; the other days are spent working at a company. This is intended to provide a knowledge of theory and practice. The company is obliged to accept the apprentice on its apprenticeship scheme. After this, the apprentice is registered on a list at the Industrie- und Handelskammer IHK (chamber of industry and commerce). During the apprenticeship, the apprentice is a part-time salaried employee of the company. After passing the Berufsschule and the exit exams of the IHK, a certificate is awarded and the young person is ready for a career up to a low management level. In some areas, the schemes teach certain skills that are a legal requirement (special positions in a bank, legal assistants).