| Summary: | In Germany, schooling is highly stratified and children are streamed very early, after four or six years of primary schooling, into a variety of school types. Lower secondary education exhibits a status hierarchy extending from academic secondary schools (Gymnasien) at the top to special-needs schools (Förderschulen) at the low end. Academic secondary schooling at lower secondary level prepares students for gymnasial sixth form (gymnasiale Oberstufe), which in turn provides access to HE. Intermediate secondary school (Realschule) is usually completed with a intermediate secondary school-leaving certificate (Realschulabschluss/Mittlere Reife) after ten years of schooling. General secondary school (Hauptschule) leads to the minimal school-leaving certificate (Hauptschulabschluss) that is obtained after nine or ten years of schooling. While general secondary school used to be a major pathway to access quality VET programs, this role has increasingly shifted to intermediate secondary school. As a consequence, in several federal states (Länder) general secondary school has been merged with intermediate secondary school to avoid its further stigmatization (e.g., Baum 2011). Furthermore, there are integrated comprehensive schools (Gesamtschulen) in which differentiation is brought to the level of each school; for each subject students are allocated to courses that correspond to their individual performance in that field of study (see, e.g., Oelkers 2006). Finally, special-needs schools (Förderschulen) represent a highly differentiated field and are intended to address the individual demands of students with specific disabilities (see Powell 2011 for a critical discussion)
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