The new “Informatik Monitor” of the GI gives the German school system the grade “unsatisfactory” as far as computer science is concerned. But improvement is in sight.
Computer science lessons are still neglected at German schools, but recent developments have been positive: These are the main results of the “Informatik Monitor 2022/2023”, which the Gesellschaft für Informatik (GI) recently published. Another study by the Stifterverband provides one possible reason for the still inadequate teaching situation: there is a shortage of teaching staff.
The Computer Science Monitor compares the range of independent computer science courses at German secondary schools by federal state. According to the authors of the study, there was good news to announce at the beginning of the new school year: After a sobering picture of the situation had to be drawn in the first edition of the “Informatik Monitor” at the beginning of 2021, improvements have since been made, at least for grades 5 to 10 watch. As soon as all federal states have implemented the measures they have announced, for the first time in more than half of the German federal states there will be mandatory computer science lessons for all schoolchildren for at least one school year – a success in stages.
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Above all, the study praises the scope that is already planned in Saxony and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, as well as in Thuringia and Saarland and is on the curriculum in pilot projects. Nevertheless, there is a broad consensus in science and society that in order for schools to fulfill their teaching mandate, it is necessary to significantly increase the scope of computer science lessons. The study calls for six weekly hours of pure computer science instruction over all six school years from the 5th to the 10th grade.
There is a lack of teaching staff
One reason for the insufficient computer science education is probably the lack of teaching staff. At least that’s what the study “Computer Science Lessons: Incomplete and understaffed,” which the GI publishes on the Monitor’s homepage. The study by the Stifterverband and the Heinz Nixdorf Foundation states that there are currently around 10,000 computer science teachers in Germany. But if you only want to reach the level of the top states of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Saxony across Germany, which according to the GI is still insufficient, you would need more than twice as many. In addition, too little has happened in recent years: In 2010, 724 students decided to study computer science as a teacher and there were 322 female graduates. Ten years later, the numbers were only marginally higher: 755 beginners, 361 degrees.
The last edition of the “Informatik Monitor” in March 2022 also reported pleasing results, while the first edition in March 2021 still had a result that could be greatly expanded. In the future, the GI intends to publish the study only once a year – always in September at the start of the new school year. The entire “Computer Science Monitor” 2022/2023 and the study “Computer Science Lessons: Incomplete and Understaffed” are each available as a PDF.
(jvo)
