The state government in Bavaria has expanded obligatory German language testing among Kita children approaching school age. Here’s how the new system will work:
In Bavaria, state-funded Kitas are responsible for formally testing children’s German language skills in the penultimate year before they start primary school (Grundschule).
Now, a new law rules that Grundschulen also have to “screen” incoming pupils 18 months before they are due to start school. This includes all children, even those who come from monolingual German families and those who do not attend a Kita.
Children who the Kita believes need additional support in German will then have to attend a language test in person at their prospective Grundschule. The test will take place in the springtime before they are due to start school in the autumn.
Educational authorities hope that the new system will improve migrant children’s chances in the German school system, while the German Education and Academia Union (GEW) has warned that the programme will “barely work in reality” due to staff shortages.
During the 30-minute test appointment, children speak to a school counsellor or psychologist in the company of their parents. Within one week of the test, parents are told how the counsellor or psychologist has assessed their child’s German skills.
If the psychologist or counsellor assesses that the child’s German is insufficient for starting Grundschule, their parents are obliged to find a space at a new Kita which offers an “integrated preparation course”.
This “integrated preparation course” is called the Vorkurs Deutsch 240 and is run by Kitas in tandem with Grundschulen. Over the year-long language course, children participate in 240 hours of German which should prepare them for starting school.
Children of any age are obliged to take the course. For example, if a child arrives in Germany around the age they are due to start school, but the test determines that their German skills are insufficient for Grundschule, they would have to attend the course and start school a year later.
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