德國如何鞏固早期化教育分流體制

Early Tracking in the German Educational System

1919年《威瑪憲法》確立了三軌制；而後，二戰後盟軍，以及1960年代的綜合中學運動，都致力於綜合中學的興建，但最後綜合中學仍僅居於三軌制的邊緣地位。1964年通過的《漢堡協定》仍堅持三軌制，但設置兩年的定向學級、延緩分流。直到千禧年「德國PISA震撼」中，三軌制受到嚴厲批判，促使各邦簡併三軌為兩軌。且為了推動在職人員入學高等學校，積極建構第三條教育路徑。另外，持續性積極改革職業教育，並提出「附加職業資格」方案，以便能與產業發展同步；且在2020年修正《職業教育法》，引入高等職業教育三級學位，為職業教育／高等教育的可比性架接通道。過去早期化分流制度常被譏刺為十歲定終身，但該制度多由父母決定，且分流後尚可通過轉學程序轉軌，再者，職業教育的升學管道十分暢通，入學高等學校的比率超過30%。誠然，高學歷會帶來較高收入，但是師傅的薪資與失業率、具有職業資格者的教育投資報酬率，都不遜於前者。雖然大多數職業教育學子無法實現上大學的夢想，但德國建構具有典範性職業教育，用實惠置換夢想，從而建構早期化分流政策的合法性。

Germany previously had a three-track educational system that was initially established as part of the Weimar Constitution in 1919. In the 1960s, reformist calls to establish comprehensive middle schools in West Germany gained traction. However, comprehensive middle schools only occupied a marginal position in the German educational system. Amendments to the system were proposed in the 1964 Hamburg Agreement, which retained the three-track system but established a 2-year“orientation phase”, delaying the tracking of students into separate academic and vocational paths. However, the German Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) shock in 2000 led to the three-track system being harshly criticized, prompting every German state to simplify the system to two tracks and provide incentives for working people to enroll in higher education. This established a pathway to higher education for all, including those who had been tracked out when they were younger. Additionally, Germany made further reforms to vocational education, proposing an“additional qualification plan”to maintain pace with the demands of industrial development. Moreover, the Vocational Training Act was revised in 2020 to include advanced vocational education with degrees at three levels, making the value of vocational education comparable to traditional higher education. The early tracking in Germany’s educational system has been widely criticized, with critics indicating it requires 10-year-old children to decide on their future career paths. However, this characterization is somewhat unfair: As is true in many other countries, parents usually make such decisions for their children, and the system includes streamlined provisions for transfers, with more than 30% of vocational students ultimately transferring to universities. Moreover, although Germans with a university degree typically have higher incomes than do those without, they fare no better than skilled workers with a vocational degree in terms of employment security and return on investment in education. Furthermore, although vocational students face obstacles when electing to pursue a university degree, the high quality of vocational education in Germany and the bright career prospects for vocational school graduates demonstrate the wisdom underlying the early tracking policy in German education.