PIRLS 2006 Encyclopedia

Summary of Regional CurriculaThe Ministries of Education in the different federal states are responsible for the schoolcurricula, which are published as regulations by the respective Ministry of Education.These regulations are binding on teachers, and head teachers are responsible for ensuringcompliance. The curricula are formulated in a general way, allowing teachers considerablefreedom with regard to content, objectives, and teaching methods. To reach a degree ofconsensus on methods and assessment criteria at schools, teachers of a certain subjectmeet to agree on curricula.Mandated Materials for Reading InstructionTextbooks are provided by independent publishers. They are designed to correspond tothe curriculum of the respective federal state and must be approved by the Minister ofEducation and Cultural Affairs of the state. Different publishing houses publish a rangeof textbooks that are usually revised every 5 years. Each school’s teachers’ conferenceselects textbooks from a regularly updated list. The great majority of teachers of firstgrade follow a basic reader or a learning-to-read program. In later classes, most of theteachers use textbooks that contain exercises for German lessons.Reading Instruction in the Primary GradesInstructional TimeA school year includes 38 weeks of instructional time (between 190 and 208 days). Ingrades 1 to 4, a school week can be divided into up to 20 to 25 class periods of 45 minuteseach. Approximately 5 to 6 hours a week are devoted to German, which includes readingand writing. It is difficult to estimate the exact amount of teaching time devoted toreading because the states differ in the number of total instructional hours in primaryschools, as well as in the number of hours devoted to languages. The exact amountof time designated for reading also varies according to the practices of teachers, sincereading is embedded in German language activities (which also include writing, spelling,literature, and grammar). 9Instructional MaterialsTeachers can choose from a list of approved textbooks, as long as these are consistent withthe chosen teaching methods. Also, many teachers use worksheets for special exercisesfrom existing materials or materials created by the teachers themselves. Most schoolsand classrooms have libraries, and children are free to choose reading material. Someteachers also make use of public libraries.PIRLS 2006 EncyclopediaUse of TechnologyAccess to the Internet is provided in all schools. Moreover, new media (multimedia)is becoming increasingly important, both as a teaching aid and as a subject and skill.However, computers are not very widely used in primary schools. In PIRLS 2001, only 17%of German fourth graders reported using a computer at least weekly at school (comparedto an international average of 29%). 10GermanyTIMSS & PIRLSInternational Study CenterLynch School of Education, Boston College 147