Pupils at secondary schools in Saarland will soon once again be able to take the general baccalaureate as part of a nine-year curriculum, from Year 5 to Year 13. Just like the Gemeinschaftsschulen, which have never abandoned the nine-year curriculum, all schools with a secondary section will now revert to this model.
There has never been a comparable debate on the length of schooling leading up to the baccalaureate in neighbouring France, nor indeed in many other European countries: eight years of secondary education have been, and still are, the norm. Pupils at all Franco-German High Schools successfully complete the eight-year programme, leading to the simultaneous award of the Allgemeine Hochschulreife and the French baccalaureate, and are therefore every bit as capable as the vast majority of European pupils. The new Franco-German High Schools in Strasbourg and Hamburg will also offer their pupils this programme, which has proven its worth over the past twenty years
For decades, the Franco-German High School in Saarbrücken had to offer, under one roof, a nine-year Saarland and German curriculum and an eight-year French curriculum, though the circumstances at the time were very different. Instead of the current integrated classes, there were separate German and French classes running in parallel. French and German pupils were only brought together for a few specialist lessons, and in such cases, the age difference had a significant impact on their sense of belonging to a Franco-German school community and class. Furthermore, pupils from the Saarland had already been at the school for two years by the time the French pupils arrived, having completed five years of primary school, to undertake an eight-year course of study leading to the baccalaureate. The successful model of integrated Franco-German classes was introduced around 15 years ago, at the same time as the duration of schooling was reduced by one year.
There are, however, options available for those who are considering, in all cases or where necessary, an extra year of schooling for their children. Franco-German High School pupils who wish to follow the nine-year curriculum may repeat their third or second year. This will be an additional year undertaken voluntarily, not as a result of failing a year but following a considered decision. These pupils will thus have the opportunity to study certain subjects in the other language of instruction, consolidate their knowledge and tackle the curriculum of the higher years with an even greater level of bilingualism. Furthermore, this will enable pupils interested in spending time abroad – a number that is growing and is expected to continue to rise, and whose plans we expressly support – to progress to the next year group without an increased workload upon their return to the Franco-German High School .
In the Saarland, IT will become a compulsory subject for young pupils in the coming years, in response to the growing importance of digital tools. The extension of the school day now provides the necessary time for these additional lessons. At the Franco-German High School, we will increasingly integrate digital and IT learning content into existing subjects. The basic training model in information technology has already existed in this form throughout the Saarland and offers us the opportunity to successfully combine learning with digital tools and the teaching of IT content with other subjects, in the spirit of the MINT concept, without having to extend the timetable further or overload the eight-year curriculum. At sixth form level, the LFA has long offered computer science as a subject, with three hours of lessons per week and the option to sit an oral A-level examination; furthermore, at lower secondary level, working groups such as the robotics club draw on IT skills or encourage pupils to develop the relevant competences. Finally, algorithm exercises form an integral part of the ‘brevet’ exam, for which our pupils are prepared at the end of Year 9 and which they pass with a success rate of nearly 100 per cent – even though the ‘brevet’ is optional and has no bearing on progression to the next year group!
On the basis of all these considerations, and following many years of successful schooling within a curriculum designed to last eight years, education policy will deliver a ‘Solomon-like’ judgement on the question of the duration of schooling: in principle, the tried-and-tested European eight-year curriculum (G8), with the option for individual pupils – justified on pedagogical or linguistic grounds – to opt for the ‘G8+1’ .
Stefan Hauter, principal of the German department