Technology lessons are not uniformly regulated at German schools and are rarely compulsory, particularly at grammar schools. This is the result of a brief study conducted by the German Economic Institute (IW) on behalf of the VDMA Impuls Foundation.

According to the study, only seven federal states provide a compulsory subject with a technology component at grammar schools, mostly to a limited extent. "Only seven federal states provide a compulsory subject with a technical component at grammar schools - usually to a very limited extent," notes study author Wido Geis-Thöne. Even the frontrunners Brandenburg and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania only have two lessons per week over the entire school year.

In other types of lower secondary schools, technology lessons are more often compulsory, although there are clear differences between the federal states. According to the study, Thuringia, Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt offer particularly extensive courses. Baden-Württemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate do not offer a compulsory technology subject in any type of school. In North Rhine-Westphalia and Bavaria, secondary school pupils do not receive any compulsory technology lessons.

In the overall ranking across all school types - including proportionally weighted compulsory elective courses - Thuringia leads with 5.2 total weekly hours, followed by Schleswig-Holstein (4.5) and Saxony (3.3). At the lower end are Hesse (1.2), Saarland (1.1) and Bremen (1.0).

The VDMA is calling for technology to be introduced nationwide as an independent compulsory subject with three to four lessons per week from the fifth grade onwards. In addition, a training offensive for technology teachers should be launched. Compulsory elective courses are no substitute for a compulsory basic technical education.

The background to the study is a systematic comparison of technology lessons from year 5 onwards in all federal states. Both stand-alone technology subjects and integrated formats such as work studies or business-work-technology were taken into account, in each case in proportion to their technology-related content. The weekly hours shown correspond to the sum of the planned proportion of technology-related lessons across the grades considered.

You can download the final report of the study here.