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Berlin Launches New Education Quality Strategy With Mandatory Extra Year
The city implements standardized evaluations and an additional compulsory education year.
How we reported this

Berlin implemented a new strategy to improve the quality of education in 2025/2026 to boost German and math skills, introducing standardized learning progress evaluations and a data-based paradigm shift in quality development according to item [16].
Berlin introduced an 11th year of compulsory education starting in the 2025/2026 school year for students under 18 without a clear post-school plan, addressing the rising number of graduates leaving without qualifications at 8.7 percent in the last school year as stated in item [16].
Teachers in Berlin will receive significant workload reductions starting in the 2026/2027 school year, including smaller class sizes in challenging areas, a teaching day off for progress meetings, and reduced loads for teachers over 63, requiring 32 million euros in additional funding according to item [16].
Berlin's ranking in the national education comparison improved to 11th place out of 16, driven by increased focus on basic competencies, school construction, and teacher recruitment as noted in item [16].
Sources: perplexity-sonar.