A German education union leader has called for language tests to be conducted before the start of the school year. According to Stefan Düll, the president of the German Teachers’ Association, the union advocates for language tests and subsequent compulsory language support in the preschool age group.
Across the country, 14.5 percent of families with kindergarten children predominantly do not speak German at home, Düll stated, citing the impact on school performance. “Children and adolescents who only occasionally or never speak German at home achieve, on average, a lower competence level in reading and listening in the German subject” he explained, referencing a study by the Institute for the Quality Development in Education (IQB). “For a child to turn multilingualism into an advantage, it is necessary for it to be sufficiently fostered in the language that is not spoken at home from an early age.”
Language tests in the preschool age group have been a recurring political topic. In Bavaria, a program has been in operation since March, aiming to raise the language skills of children who will start school in a year and a half. There is no such concept in place nationwide.