Against All Odds: Education in Germany Coping with Covid-19
- PDF / 195,893 Bytes
- 5 Pages / 439.37 x 666.142 pts Page_size
- 12 Downloads / 182 Views
Open Access
Against All Odds: Education in Germany Coping with Covid-19 Michael Kerres 1 # The Author(s) 2020
Keywords Educational Technology . Digital Change . Culture . Germany . Covid-19 .
Sociology
High-Tech Innovators, Ed-Tech Laggards Great times for learning technologists, one might think, in times of Covid-19! Out of a sudden, teachers are looking for digital tools to deliver learning materials to their students and organize communication within their classes. No managerial strategies, no teacher training, no debates on technological design or politics, no arguments about the pros and cons—we just do it. Worldwide, the use of technology in all fields of education is at a historical high. In Germany, though, we face a special situation. Germany is a world-leading developer and producer of high-tech products in many domains. And while the medical sector seems relatively well equipped to face the epidemic, educational system seems to be lagging in the use of digital technology for teaching and learning. Ninety percent of German schools and universities are public institutions (Statistisches Bundesamt 2020), and Germany’s educational system heavily relies on autonomy of its 16 states (Länder). Robust data on the spread of digital infrastructure in education is not available (cf. Eickelmann et al. 2019), yet schools have been struggling with planning and implementing basic digital services for years. Only recently, schools have started to provide teachers with email accounts, web servers, and other learning technologies (News4Teachers 2019). In early 2019, the federal government decided to invest 5 billion euro for proliferating digital technologies in secondary schools (Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung 2020). But most school districts have not been able to spend the money so far, due to complex bureaucratic procedures that precede expenditure, and the need to first develop sound and aligned pedagogical concepts for the use of technology.
* Michael Kerres michael.kerres@uni–due.de
1
Universität Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany
Postdigital Science and Education
Given its economic strength, why is Germany so far behind? In Germany, digital technology in education is a highly debated topic. For decades, emotional discussions have been centering around the usefulness of computers in education. A German book written by a physician is receiving high attention in the public debate and explains— with references to brain science—that computers in schools lead to poorer performances, causing addiction and obesity (Spitzer 2012). Some parents have long been protesting, for example, against the installation of wireless LAN in schools, arguing for the negative effects of radio waves on the health of their children. The system of private Steiner Schools is successfully advertising their schools as non-digital for younger children (Freie Hochschule Stuttgart 2019).
Constitutional Freedom of Teaching German federal regulations restrict the adoption of software that is successfully used in education in other
Data Loading...
