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The Abitur has begun with the first exams. The pressure is particularly great this year for the last G8 year group, because failure would have serious consequences.
A few students have already started this year's Abitur: The practical exams in music and sport have already taken place, and on Monday everyone who chose French as their Abitur subject had to take it - that was eleven students in the district. But all 293 prospective Abitur graduates from the three grammar schools in Weilheim, Schongau and Penzberg will really be challenged tomorrow, Thursday, when it comes to the subject of German. This is a very special Abitur year, namely the last after the so-called G8, which ends after the 12th grade. There will be no Abitur next year, and the current eleventh graders will only graduate after the 13th grade.
This means that failure this year will have particularly serious consequences. In theory, students who do not pass the Abitur have to repeat the exam for two years. However, the Free State has reacted to this and created a so-called safety net: 45 high schools across Bavaria are ready to ensure that those who fail the Abitur only have to go to school for one year longer and can take another G8 Abitur.
The problem: There are none of these safety net high schools in the district. "These are usually schools that also have a so-called introductory class," says Schongau's headmaster Bernhard O'Connor. They are attended by students from middle and secondary schools who are aiming to take the Abitur at the high school via an intermediate year - the introductory class. Schongau's Welfen-Gymnasium is actually one of these, but no introductory class was set up for this year due to a lack of applicants.
Safety net not in the district
This means that students from Schongau who fail their Abitur would also have to travel - in this case to Landsberg. For high school students from Weilheim and Penzberg, the next safety net schools would be in Tutzing and Murnau. "I can't say how many would take on this. But I think that such students would then prefer to pursue vocational training," says Matthias Langensteiner, head of the Penzberg high school.
The aim is of course to ensure that no student ends up in this situation, says Andrea Pauline Martin, head of the Weilheim high school. "We are ready if there are any problems, from the school social worker to the senior school supervisor." If the worst comes to the worst, we would then discuss what the student should do next.
For Martin, the Abitur is a challenge for another reason. For more than a week, the dilapidated gymnasiums right next to the school have been being demolished using heavy machinery. "We agreed with the district office weeks ago when the demolition work would have to be suspended because of exams," she says. On Monday for French, it went well, and tomorrow for the German Abitur, it won't be a problem because that will be written in the Jahnhalle, which is further away. Martin hopes that the agreement will also work for the rest of the Abitur - the third Abitur subject will be examined on May 3rd, math on May 7th, and after the Whitsun holidays there will be oral exams between June 3rd and 7th.