All-day schools - The investment programme "The Future of Education and Care"

The all-day school programme is one of the largest federal and state initiatives in the area of education. The Federal Government supports the sustainable structuring of all-day schools through the programme "More ideas! All-day learning," the regional service agencies "All-Day Learning" in the individual Länder, and the concurrent research project "Study on the Development of All-Day Schools" (StEG), in which all 16 Länder participate. The Federal Government has supported the Länder in their development and expansion of over 8,200 all-day schooling through the investment programme "The Future of Education and Care" (IZBB) from 2003 to 2009. In the meantime, 51.1 per cent of the country's general schools at the primary and lower secondary levels offer all-day school programmes.

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The all-day school programme has evolved into a successful joint project of the Federal Government and the Länder. In order to ensure sustainable use of investment funds, the BMBF is funding the supporting programme "More ideas! All-day learning" with 4.3 million euros annually until 2014, as well the concurrent research project "Study on the Development of All-Day Schools" (StEG) with a total of 6 million euros. In the meantime, all-day schools have become firmly anchored in the German education landscape. They collaborate particularly in local and municipal networks with all educational partners.

With  a funding volume of 4 billion euros, the investment programme "The Future of Education and Care" (2003-2009) promoted the development and expansion of all-day schools in all 16 Länder.

According to the Federal Government-Länder administrative agreement, the funding could be used for the development and follow-up development of new all-day schools, increasing the capacity of existing all-day schools, and improving the quality provided at all-day schools. Funding was made available through the end of 2009. It was in the remit of the Länder to determine which schools and school types received funding as well as how to enhance their curricula and to make staff hiring decisions.

All-day schools enhance equal opportunities

All-day schools hold the promise of improving the general conditions of classroom and non-classroom learning and of narrowing the gap between academic achievement and family background. Support of the individual pupil is a core element of this approach. The schools are also meant to provide children and youths with opportunities to take advantage of additional sport, cultural and educational activities.

All-day schools for a better education

The more comprehensive time scheduling of all-day schools makes for better conditions for a new learning culture so vital to the enhancement of quality in education. At the core of the concept is a focus on the pupil which takes into account his/her individual strengths, interests and circumstances. All-day schools will enhance the link between classroom learning and educational opportunities outside the classroom and thus better foster individual competences.

All-day schools support families

More and more parents nowadays seek to have a family and pursue a career, too. They are looking for quality education coupled with flexible, all-day education and supervision. All-day schools which are attuned to the needs of families are better equipped to meet today's need for modern infrastructure in education.

Accompanying research and evaluation

The accompanying empirical research that the Federal Government is supporting in close cooperation with the Länder serves to systematically acquire knowledge about the structure, development and efficiency of all-day schools in Germany. The "Study on the Development of All-Day Schools" (StEG) is at the heart of this initiative. The Länder also support other accompanying research, both their own and joint projects between Länder.

Study on the Development of All-Day Schools (StEG)

A consortium headed by Prof. Eckhard Klieme (DIPF Frankfurt/Main), Prof. Thomas Rauschenbach (DJI Munich), Prof. Heinz Günter Holtappels (IFS Dortmund), and Prof. Ludwig Stecher (Justus Liebig University Gießen) has been working on the "Study on the Development of All-Day Schools (StEG)" since 2005.

The study records the experiences of headmasters, teachers and other teaching staff, pupils, parents as well as non-school sector partners. The most recent survey polled more than 54,500 people from 328 schools, of which 32,000 were pupils in years 3, 5, 7, and 9. The first results of the longitudinal study were published in November 2010 in a publication entitled "The All-Day School: Development and Impact - Results of the Study on the Development of All-Day Schools, 2005-2010" (in German language only). An extensive book on the study was published in 2011.

Fischer, N./Holtappels, H. G./Klieme, E./Rauschenbach, T./Stecher, L./Züchner, I. (Hrsg.) (2011): Ganztagsschule: Entwicklung, Qualität, Wirkungen. Längsschnittbefunde der Studie zur Entwicklung von Ganztagsschulen. [The All-Day School: Development and Impact - Results of the Study on the Development of All-Day Schools 2005-2010]. Weinheim: Juventa.

In future, the study will focus more attention on the quality and impact of all-day school programmes. It seeks to answer how all-day school programmes can be designed optimally and to determine which specific organizational factors have a positive effect on pupil's individual development. All 16 Länder have been involved in the study since 2012.

More information can be found here (in German only).

Research on various aspects of all-day schooling

The BMBF has provided funding for in-depth research projects on the development of all-day schooling since 2005 and supplemented the initiative in 2008-2011 with the research programme for all-day schooling.

Some of the results of this comprehensive research programme have been published:

Fischer, N. & Klieme, E. (2012). Quality and effectiveness of German all-day schools: Results of the study on the development of all-day schools. In J. Ecarius, E. Klieme, L. Stecher & J. Woods (Eds.) Extended Education - an International Perspective. Leverkusen: Verlag Barbara Budrich.

Tillmann, K. & Rollett, W. (2012). Does participation matter? The impact of participation on multi-professional co-operation in German all-day schools [Full Paper]. ICSEI Conference 2012 (International Conference of School Effectiveness and Improvement), Malmö (Schweden).   Ecarius, J., Klieme, E., Stecher, L. & Woods, J. (Eds.) (2012). Extended Education - an International Perspective. Proceedings of the International Conference on Extracurricular and Out-of-School Time Educational Research. Leverkusen: Barbara Budrich.

Richter, M. & Andresen, S. (Eds.) (2012). The Politicization of Parenthood: Shifting private and public responsibilities in education and child rearing (Children's Well-Being: Indicators and Research, 5). Dordrecht, Heidelberg, London, New York: Springer.


More information can be found at http://www.ganztagsschulen.org/10250.php (in German only) and in this interview with Prof. Joseph Mahoney (University of California - interview in German and English).

Supporting programme of the German Children and Youth Foundation

The supporting programme "More Ideas! All-day learning" of the German Children and Youth Foundation (DKJS) supports the continuous fine-tuning of all-day schooling programmes in close cooperation with the Länder. The supporting programme will continue up to 2014.

Regional service agencies

The Länder established regional services agencies to support all-day schools. These agencies facilitate the local exchange of experience and transfer of good practice examples among schools and also offer consulting services and further training opportunities. The service agencies are closely associated with the Länder support systems. The Länder carry at least half of the agencies' operating costs.
Click here for more information.

Transfer Forum

The dynamic development of all-day schools will pose a number of challenges to the players in the school system. The extensive processes of change taking place will raise new questions concerning education, school development and time planning. The DKJS supporting programme and the Federal Ministry of Education and Research have hosted a so-called Transfer Forum since 2010 to help meet the new challenges of all-day schooling. The forum provides an opportunity for the nationwide exchange of research results and to present examples of good practice. This one-day event takes place once a year at alternating locations throughout the country and draws representatives from all-day schools, school administrations, scholars and support systems.

More information can be found here (in German only) and in this interview with Prof. Alan Dyson (University of Manchester - interview in German and English).