Methods of History Teaching in the Ninth School Year

In the following article, a classroom teacher in a Bavarian Hauptschule writes about his thoughts and experiences. The Hauptschule, established during the early 1960s, comprises the upper section (grades five through nine) of the traditional Volksschule. Although it serves those 50 percent of the children who are not enrolled by their parents in either the Realschule (ten-year school for general education) or a Gymnasium (thirteen years), the Hauptschule has also been given a secondary-school character. The curriculum and teaching methods had to be revised accordingly. The ninth year is a fairly recent addition to compulsory full-time schooling. Most teachers were not prepared for this level and had to learn to adjust their practices from elementary teaching styles to new approaches suitable to today's young adolescents and to the more substantial aims and programs designed for the Hauptschule as compared to the traditional Volksschule.