Difference between comprehensive school and community school

The comprehensive school, like the community school, offers a model alongside the traditional system of main, secondary school and high school. The main difference to the usual schools is that the pupils are taught together from the fifth grade onwards. Both School types are often set up as all-day schools with homework supervision and various leisure activities. The difference between comprehensive school and community school lies in the teaching methods.

The comprehensive school as the first model for learning together

• The comprehensive school was introduced in 1968 to create greater equality for working class children, rural children and girls.
• The difference to the usual school system is that pupils can switch between the different types of school more flexibly. Pupils from poor households or with a migration background who are overrepresented in secondary schools and secondary schools benefit from this.
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• In contrast to comprehensive schools, comprehensive schools have to offer their own upper level and thus award all degrees. Here children from the fifth grade learn together at one school instead of being divided between different schools.
• The comprehensive school is often still based on traditional structures and the various classes are based on the curriculum of the Hauptschule, Realschule and Gymnasium. Accordingly, despite having shared school, the children are divided into different classes depending on their performance.


Comprehensive school pros and cons - a decision-making aid

The comprehensive school is a secondary school. It belongs next to the secondary school, which ...

In contrast to the comprehensive school: The community school for more individual support

• This model is still new in the German school landscape and promotes students according to their skills. However, this type of school is still in the trial phase with regard to learning content and learning success.
• The division of the classes into Hauptschule, Realschule and Gymnasium should not take place in community schools in order to promote greater equality of all students. Instead of classes, these schools form study groups and, in contrast to the typical frontal teaching, here the teachers see themselves as learning companions. Children who do not get along well with normal frontal teaching get a chance here to successfully finish school at their own learning pace.
• Pupils in the community school can also acquire all degrees, but the school itself only has to offer ten classes up to the secondary school leaving certificate. Through an obligatory cooperation with a grammar school, the students then acquire it there High School.

Pupils who receive a recommendation for the Hauptschule or Realschule from their primary school teacher benefit from the flexibility of the comprehensive school. This enables you to achieve a better qualification in an environment that is based on traditional school forms. The classes at community schools, on the other hand, come about regardless of the performance of the students. Here, students learn together up to the tenth grade and are looked after more individually by the teachers.