The Journal of Special Education Volume 42 Number 1 May 2008 47-54 © 2008 Hammill Institute on Disabilities Cultural and Social Diversity 10.1177/0022466907313609 http://journalofspecialeducation.sagepub.com hosted at http://online.sagepub.com An Analysis of Minority Groups in German Schools Rolf Werning Jessica M. Löser Michael Urban Leibniz Universität Hannover, Germany This article focuses on the special situation of children from low socioeconomic backgrounds and children from immigrant backgrounds within the German school system. This analysis presents an overview of research results showing a strong overrepresentation of these two minority groups within the special education system, particularly within special schools for students with learning difficulties. The authors emphasize the exclusionary and inclusionary processes within the German school system, showing that the strong tendency toward homogeneous grouping in German schools leads to disadvantages for minority students. Keywords: cultural context; comparative education; economic factors; ethnicity; family environment; German school system; immigrants; learning disabilities; minority groups; poverty; school segregation; socioeconomic status; special education s the history of education shows, every school In this article, we show that the German school sys- A system is challenged to cope with differences tem still follows the traditional orientation of construct- among children and to create a balance between the ing homogeneous learning groups in different forms of right to be treated equally yet individually. Therefore, schools. We also point out that this strong institutional school systems must create systems to deal with the grading leads to inequities when educating children tensions that result from these potentially conflicting from low socioeconomic or immigrant backgrounds. purposes. Students from low socioeconomic backgrounds are In Germany, there is a long tradition of preferen- those whose families’ incomes are less than 60% of the tially organizing students into homogeneous learning average German household income. In 2003, 15% of groups in distinct different school categories (Werning, children and youths under age 16 in Germany lived in 2006). The founding and development of special such households (Bundesministerium für Gesundheit schools for children with special needs is one example und Soziale Sicherung, 2005). Most of the respective of homogeneous grouping. The idea of this structure is studies in the educational sector discussed in this article to construct disparate schools with different academic apply to this group by indirect indicators, mainly levels and to organize homogeneous learning groups parents’ occupational status. within these schools. The question of students’ appro- The group of students from immigrant backgrounds priate support is tied closely to the question of which is very heterogeneous. It contains students with or school a student should attend within the German without German citizenship in the first, second, or third school system. Despite extensive discussion over the immigrant generation. According to Gogolin, Neumann, past 30 years concerning the advantages of inclusive and Roth (2003), 9% of students in Germany do not learning, specifically the benefits of heterogeneous have German citizenship, 22% have at least one parent learning groups with regard to culture, gender, and who was born in a country other than Germany, and academic achievement in schools for all children, there 8% have family languages other than German. has been little progress in promoting inclusive educa- The disadvantage of these two student groups tion to date (Werning, 2006). can be analyzed using different data sources, such as 47 48 The Journal of Special Education school qualifications, competencies, and overrepre- settings in 2003 (Kultusministerkonferenz, 2005b). sentation in special schools within the German school From this perspective, special schools hold a specific system, as well as via international comparison stud- “easing function” as institutions for the support of ies. One must consider that there are great differences students with special needs. These children’s specific between migrating groups in traditionally high immi- and individual needs are removed from the standard gration countries such as Canada in comparison with school system and tied to special-needs schools insti- Germany. To present this in more detail, these tutionally. This complies with the principal of struc- students’ situations will be shown in general educa- turing groups homogeneously, which is repeatedly tion schools and also in special schools for learning evident in different parts of the German school system. difficulties. Prior to presenting the current data, a In the following section, data concerning the situations brief introduction to the German school system is of students from low socioeconomic and immigrant necessary. backgrounds are presented. Students From Low Socioeconomic An Introduction to the German Backgrounds in the General School System Education School System The German school system includes different The disadvantaged situation of students from low types of schools that offer different levels of school socioeconomic backgrounds has been discussed since qualifications. Its basis is formed by 4-year primary the late 1960s (Roth, 1969). On this basis, significant schools, which all children aged 6 to 10 years are effort was put forth to optimize the educational oppor- obliged to attend. These are schools for nearly all tunities of working-class children in the German school children, following the concept of comprehensive system. Since then, the general educational profi- schools. After fourth grade, children are selected to ciency level of the educational inclusion of students attend different schools designed with different levels with low socioeconomic status (Baumert, Cortina, & of education. These different types of secondary Leschinsky, 2003) as well as the educational achieve- schools include basic secondary schools (Grades 5 to ments of female working-class students have been 10: Hauptschulen), the general level (Grades 5 to 10: improved (Geißler, 2005). Nevertheless, this success Realschulen), and advanced secondary schools (Grades cannot be considered satisfactory. Studies in the 1980s 5 to 12: Gymnasien). One can see the previously (Helsper, 1992) showed that working-class children mentioned tendency of homogeneous grouping within are underrepresented in advanced secondary schools secondary schools. In addition, a few comprehensive (Gymnasien) and overrepresented in basic secondary schools exist that integrate the educational courses of schools (Hauptschulen). Although in the past two the above-mentioned levels. In addition to the general decades, the rate of working-class children at advanced school system, one can also find eight different types secondary schools has increased, disadvantages still of special schools (Kultusministerkonferenz, 2005a). exist. According to Baumert and Schümer (2001), the Special schools imply specially educated teachers, spe- first international school comparison study, Program for cial curricula, and small learning groups. In the context International Student Assessment (PISA), in 2000 discussed here, special schools for children with learn- showed that the relative chance to gain access to ing difficulties are of high importance. The reason for advanced secondary schools was more than 4 times this is primarily that approximately half of all students higher for children of professionals in comparison with special needs are educated in these schools. with children from the working classes. Second, this form of school contains the majority of In the subsequent PISA study, conducted in 2003, students with special needs from low socioeconomic access to the different secondary school types was and, more recently, immigrant backgrounds. analyzed on the basis of the economic, social, and Apart from the special schools, there are also inclu- cultural status (ESCS; Ehmke, Siegle, & Hohensee, sive concepts to educate students with special needs. 2005). In addition, on the basis of this index, the Despite an intensive 30-year discussion of inclusion, sociostructural bias appeared to be very high. Ehmke there has been no notable breakthrough in inclusive et al. (2005) showed that the relative chance to attend education in Germany to this day. Only 12.9% of advanced secondary schools was 4.01 times higher students with special needs were educated in inclusive for a student belonging to the highest ESCS quartile Werning et al. / Diversity in Germany 49 compared to a student in the 25% to 50% ESCS actual study concerning the reading competencies of quartile, when reading and mathematics competen- students in elementary schools, it becomes obvious cies were statistically controlled. For students in the that achievement levels are not as diverse as in high 0% to 25% ESCS quartile, the relative odds of attend- school. Many elementary students reach the highest ing advanced secondary schools were even lower. reading level. Their performance in elementary school On the basis of the international socioeconomic index is not as dependent on their social backgrounds as is (described by Ganzeboom, De Graaf, & Teiman, the case in high school. However, the relationship is 1992), Ehmke et al. pointed out that no other country still higher than in most other countries (Schwippert, within the Organisation for