Study on the Development of All-Day Schools (StEG)

All-day schools have developed special music, art, sport, and leisure related actives and provide comprehensive tutoring. The range of offers has increased above all at primary schools. Leisure and educational offers which take place outside of schools have been less affected by all-day schooling than previously suspected. Sport, music, and art based schools for youth have not experienced a noticeable drop related to all-day schooling - on the contrary, these schools are creating a recruitment effect. Sport and music activities in all-day schools are increasingly reaching new target groups.

Various studies show that sports in all-day school are less socially selective than sports clubs. Over 90 per cent of all-day schools offer music classes.  Music activities in all-day schools primarily attract students who are already musically active, but they also reach children and youth who do not play instruments outside of school. These activities in music and art are also less selective than music and art schools.

Thus increasing participation of children in all-day schools beginning at the primary level is all the more important. Students who participate in school-based extra-curricular activities in primary school are more likely to continue making use of such offers later on.

Compatibility of Family and Career

A tailored provision of all-day schools that offer children educational and developmental opportunities, also in out-of-school settings, supports the compatibility of family and careers, and especially working moms. The study reinforces the significance of all-day schooling for the labour market and family politics; the schools are especially utilized by children with employed and single parents.

In 2009, around 80 per cent of children with fulltime working mothers attended all-day schools; participation of children with mothers employed part time was just under 67 per cent. A considerable portion of parents ascribed all-day schools a supporting function that goes far beyond providing care. Resource-poor families in particular feel relieved by all-day schools - with a positive impact on the family environment.

At the primary school level, children in families with the highest socio-economic status are more likely to attend all-day schools than children from  less socially privileged families. Children with migration backgrounds also participate in all-day schools less than children without migration backgrounds. Beginning with the fifth grade, these differences balance out.

Quality of Activities at All-Day Schools is Crucial

The utilization of all-day schooling activities depends on the individual characteristics of the students (which play a predominant role in the decision to participate) and their parents, as well as the contextual conditions of the school. The quality of activities offered at all-day schools is particularly decisive, although on the other hand, the number of participants also affects the diversity and quality of offers.

With the involvement of all 16 Länder, the "Study on the Development of All-Day Schools" (2012-2015) will focus more intensely on the quality and effects of all-day schooling, which are also preconditions for acceptance and use of such offers. Questions will be posed regarding how all-day schooling activities can be optimally organized for success, and which specific organizational factors positively influence students' individual development. The further support of this longitudinal study offers a unique opportunity for researchers to view the introduction of this educational political measure empirically. This will help them to determine the exact potential of and requirements for development, as well as the specific effects. The results are important for the further development of our educational system as a whole.

With individual state programmes, the Länder have placed the quantitative and qualitative development of all-day schooling at the centre of their own educational policies, and have thus set ambitious goals for the coming years.

Source: Federal Ministry of Education and Research in Germany