Germany drops in international ranking for primary school reading competence: study

BERLIN, Dec. 5 (Xinhua) -- A growing number of German children are unable to meet basic reading standards after leaving primary school, an international comparative study published on Tuesday warned.

According to the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) presented in Berlin, the share of German children in their final year of primary school with only rudimentary reading competency rose from 16.9 percent in 2001 to 18.9 percent in 2016.

As a consequence, Germany has since fallen from fifth to 21st place in the ranking of states participating in the PIRLS.

The findings were based on data from 57 states and regions. A total of 4,277 German final year primary school children were assessed for their reading competency and habits in 208 educational institutions across the country.

Study author Wilfried Bos expressed disappointment that the German federal states, who are responsible for primary education, failed to improve outcomes. Although there was better availability of all-day schools, these mostly only offered supervision rather than educational assistance in the afternoons.

"Not enough has happened," Bos complained.

"Against this background, stagnation obviously means regression," said Susanne Eisenmann, President of the conference of German regional ministers for culture and Minister for Culture of Baden-Wuerttemberg.

While Germany's tumble from the top- to the mid-field of states ranked by PIRLS may be a relatively abstract concern in itself, the study authors emphasized the worrying implications of their findings.

Nearly every fifth German pupil with an average age of 10 years fell into the two lowest competency reading competency bands (out of five) identified by the PIRLS.

"It is to be expected that they will be confronted with severe learning difficulties in all subjects when they progress to the middle school," the study read.

The share of German children who say they enjoy reading has also fallen by 5 percent to 70 percent overall between 2001 and 2016.

There were significant gender differences in reading competency and habits. German girls were better at reading than boys and enjoyed it more. This circumstance has remained largely unchanged from 2001 when Germany first participated in PIRLS and is apparent in other countries as well.

Furthermore, the latest PIRLS suggests that growing social divisions characterize Germany's primary school system.

At the same time, the share of pupils with extremely high reading competency has also risen (8.6 percent in 2001, 11.1 percent in 2016), pointing to a growing disparity in performances.

"No other participating country recorded significantly larger social disparities in reading competency compared to Germany," the study revealed. Enditem