Lower Secondary School

The lower secondary school [Hauptschule] is designed to provide all pupils with a basic general education within a four-year period. Its purpose is to prepare pupils for working life and to equip them with the necessary knowledge for transfer to upper-secondary schools.

Lessons in lower secondary school are designed to pay special attention to the interests, skills and abilities of the individual pupils.

In the 3rd and 4th year of lower secondary school much attention is being paid to prepare pupils for their further educational and vocational career. Thus, the subject "careers guidance" has been introduced and practical training sessions in companies as well as educational visits to companies are organized.

Structure and Organization

In order to do justice to the individual pupil's abilities and pace of work, lower secondary schools stream pupils in the subjects German, mathematics and modern foreign language. Transfer between the individual streams is possible not only after each year but also during the school year.

Different School Profiles

Within the framework of school autonomy (see above) schools are given the opportunity to introduce their own modified curricula. By doing so, schools may specify in certain areas such as modern foreign languages, sports, fine arts, science and technology, ecology, computer science etc.

In addition to that, special types of lower secondary schools offer orientation towards sports or musical education.

Geändert am 23.02.2007