This chapter provides a thematic and chronological overview of national reforms and policy developments since 2022.

The introduction of the chapter describes the overall education strategy and the key objectives across the whole education system. It also looks at how the education reform process is organised and who the main actors in the decision-making process are.

The section on ongoing reforms and policy developments groups reforms in the following broad thematic areas that largely correspond to education levels:

• Early childhood education and care
• School education
• VET and adult learning
• Higher education
• Transversal skills and Employability

Inside each thematic area, reforms are organised chronologically. The most recent reforms are described first. 

Overall national education strategy and key objectives

There is a consensus that, in light of demographic changes in Germany, and with a view to the emerging need for skilled workers, but also because of the challenges posed by digitisation, significant efforts must be made to develop the German education system in the years ahead.

In connection with the Agreement on the Common Basic Structure of the School System and the National Responsibility of the Länder in Central Questions of Education Policy (Ländervereinbarung über die gemeinsame Grundstruktur des Schulwesens und die gesamtstaatliche Verantwortung der Länder in zentralen bildungspolitischen Fragen) of October 2020, the Länder agreed in the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs of the Länder in the Federal Republic of Germany (Kultusministerkonferenz) on a series of “political projects” which were to be implemented in the next few years. In December 2024, the Conference of the Ministers of Education of the Länder (Bildungsministerkonferenz) published the final report on the status of implementation of the political projects for the Länder agreement. The report provides a detailed overview of the wide range of measures that the ministers of education have taken to further improve the quality and comparability of education in Germany:

• The educational standards for the primary sector (fourth grade) and for the lower secondary level have been revised, among other things, to further increase compatibility and consistency between school levels and subjects and to meet the requirements of an increasingly digitalised world.
• The agreements on the types of school and courses of education in the lower secondary sector and on the design of the gymnasiale Oberstufe and the Abitur examination have been updated, further increasing comparability and transparency. The former “Recommendations for Work in Primary School” (‘Empfehlungen zur Arbeit in der Grundschule’), have been thoroughly revised and adopted by the Standing Conference as a “Agreement”(‘Vereinbarung’) with a higher degree of obligation.
• Together with the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung – BMBF), a “Pact for Vocational Schools” (‘Pakt für berufliche Schulen‘) was launched, which, together with the institutions and stakeholders involved in vocational training, is intended to ensure the innovative and integrative capacity of vocational schools as important partners in vocational training on a permanent and reliable basis.
• In the context of digitalisation and accelerated by the coronavirus pandemic, the focus was on the (further) development of cross-phase concepts for the training, further education and continuing education of teachers, and in particular on expanding offers for the acquisition of digitalisation-related teaching skills.
• In order to counter the shortage of teachers, additional routes into teaching have been defined that enable training to become a single-subject teacher, a dual teacher training course and a lateral entry master's degree (Q-Master), supplementing the existing regulations for undergraduate teacher training.
• Promoting digital learning environments: As part of the Digital Pact for Schools, considerable progress has been made in expanding the digital infrastructure in schools. This includes the provision of digital end devices, the development of online learning platforms and the training of teachers in the use of digital media.
• My Educational Space (until October 2023: „National Education Platform“ (NEP)) is intended to provide a cross-educational infrastructure that creates powerful, interoperable teaching and learning infrastructures and the functionalities that build on them. On 1 July 2024, the BMBF handed over the current state of development of the networking infrastructure to the Federal Agency for Breakthrough Innovations (Bundesagentur für Sprunginnovationen – SPRIND) and commissioned it to further develop and expand it.
• The Standing Conference has created an orientation framework for the qualification of school principals that can be used in the Länder as a basis for the design of corresponding further training programmes. This orientation framework takes into account the importance of school principals for a successful school and the diversity of their pedagogical and system-oriented management tasks in schools.

As a central educational and family policy project, the Federal Government has anchored a legal entitlement to all-day support for children of primary school age in Book Eight of the Social Code (Achtes Buch Sozialgesetzbuch – Kinder- und Jugendhilfe – SGB VIII – R61). This will be introduced in stages from 2026, starting with the first grade, and will be extended by one grade each year. From the school year 2029/2030, the legal entitlement will apply to all children in grades 1–4. In preparation for this legal entitlement, the Federal Government is supporting the Länder and local authorities with financial assistance amounting to Euro 3.5 billion for the expansion of all-day education and care services. These funds are distributed to the Länder in two investment programmes. The Länder and municipalities had Euro 750 million at their disposal from the end of 2020 to 2022 under the "Investment Programme for the Accelerated Infrastructure Expansion of All-Day Care for Primary School Children" (‘Investitionsprogramm zum beschleunigten Infrastrukturausbau der Ganztagsbetreuung für Grundschulkinder‘ (Acceleration Programme – Beschleunigungsprogramm). The funds not spent from this will be added to the funds of the subsequent "All-day Expansion Investment Programme" (‘Investitionsprogramm Ganztagsausbau’) and will thus not be lost.

The administrative agreement concluded between the Federation and the Länder for the "All-Day Expansion Investment Programme" (‘Investitionsprogramm Ganztagsausbau‘) in accordance with Section 10 of the All-Day Financial Aid Act for the implementation of the Act on Federal Financial Aid for the Expansion of All-Day Education and Care Services for Children of Primary School Age (VV II) came into force in May 2023.

In view of the ongoing costs incurred by the Länder as a result of the phased introduction of the legal entitlement (operating costs), the Federation is providing the Länder with gradual relief, increasingly from 2026 and permanently from 2030, by means of changes to the distribution of value added tax revenues in favour of the Länder, amounting to Euro 2.49 billion for the years 2026 to 2029 and a permanent Euro 1.3 billion per year from 2030. The operating costs associated with all-day care are the responsibility of the Länder. The Länder and local authorities have already taken numerous measures and made investments with financial aid provided by the Federation to date

An amendment to Article 104c of the Basic Law entered into force in April 2019 which enables the Federation to grant financial aid to the Länder for investments by the Länder and local authorities that are significant for the nation as a whole in order to increase the efficiency of the municipal education infrastructure without limiting aid to "financially weak" municipalities. The amendment enables the federal government, among other things, to provide targeted support for municipal investments in the renovation, conversion and expansion of school buildings. The new Article 104c is also the constitutional basis for the DigitalPact School 2019-2024 (DigitalPakt Schule 2019–2024), with which the Federation and the Länder, among other things, pursue the goal of creating digital education infrastructures suitable for the future. In the face of the COCID-19 pandemic, the DigitalPact could be used to address the challenges that have emerged from moving to teaching and learning from home.

Overview of the education reform process and drivers

In the Federal Republic of Germany responsibility for the education system is determined by the federal structure of the state. Unless the Basic Law awards legislative powers to the Federation, the Länder have the right to legislate. Within the education system, this applies to the school sector, the higher education sector, adult education and continuing education. Administration of the education system in these areas is almost exclusively a matter for the Länder.

The Federation bears responsibility particularly for the regulations governing the following domains of education, science and research:

• Extra-curricular vocational education
• Admission to higher education institutions and higher education degrees (here the Länder may enact laws at variance with the legislation of the Federation after the Federation has made use of its competence)
• Financial assistance for pupils and students
• Promotion of scientific and academic research and technological development
• Public welfare, wich also includes child and youth welfare servieces
• Regulations on entry to the legal profession
• Regulations on entry to medical and paramedical professions
• Employment promotion measures as well as occupational and labour market research

More detailed information on the distribution of legislative competences in the education sector is available in the section on Fundamental Principles and National Policies.

In addition to the division of responsibilities described above, the Basic Law also provides for particular forms of cooperation between the Federation and the Länder within the scope of the so-called joint tasks (Gemeinschaftsaufgaben). Joint tasks in the field of science and education are regulated in Article 91b, paragraphs 1 and 2  of the Basic Law. Pursuant to Article 91b, the Federation and the Länder may mutually agree to cooperate in cases of supra-regional importance in the promotion of science, research and teaching (paragraph 1) as well as for the assessment of the performance of educational systems in international comparison and in drafting relevant reports and recommendations (paragraph 2).

Federalism has proved successful as a state structure which encourages diversity and competition. The Federal Government and the Länder will introduce the appropriate measures and initiatives within their respective areas of responsibility. At the same time, there has been an increase in the common responsibilities of the Länder and the need to agree objectives and coordinated measures on the part of the Federal Government and the Länder in fields of national relevance.

The following account includes measures resolved by all Länder in the Standing Conference and measures by the Federal Government. Within their own area of responsibility, the Länder take various and far-reaching measures which cannot be separately described. The reform measures of the Länder, mostly with substantial support or in cooperation with the Federation, affect the following areas in particular:

• Expansion of all-day programmes with the aim of expanding educational and support opportunities in implementation of the legal entitlement to all-day care for children of primary school age
• Measures to raise the educational and competence levels of disadvantaged groups
• Measures to secure the potential of skilled workers
• Measures to improve linguistic competence
• Measures to improve dovetailing of the early childhood sector and primary school
• Measures to improve school education, reading competence and the understanding of mathematical and scientific correlations
• Vocational orientation measures and measures to improve transition from school to work
• Measures to strengthen the link between vocational and higher education
• Laws to improve the identification and recognition of professional qualifications acquired abroad by the Federation and the Länder
• Measures to increase the higher education graduation rate and that of comparable qualifications
• Measures for digitalisation in the school and higher education sector