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Nuremberg, Germany (dpa) – We’ve all been late for class before. Whether it’s because you missed your bus or because you couldn’t pull yourself away from your friends – it happens and normally isn’t that big a deal.
It’s when students start to be late all the time that it becomes an issue.
In what might be conceived as a rather unconventional approach to the problem, the Dürer high school in Germany’s Nuremberg has begun charging perennial offenders €5 if they are constantly late for class without an excuse.
When headmaster Reiner Geissdörfer announced the new rules earlier this year, it caused quite a stir.
A few months later, it’s not just him who says the measure is working.
According to the student council, the number of latecomers has decreased significantly since the fine was introduced.
Geissdörfer explains that the new measure isn’t really about the punishment. “It’s not that we take out the whip and are giving lashes.”
“We have too many children who, for whatever reason, don’t make it to school on time.”
Those kids, the headmaster says, don’t care if you threaten to expel them. “But the €5 fine really bothers them.”
However, the school only fines students as a last recourse – if talking to parents, teachers, school psychologists and social education workers doesn’t help.
So far, it has only been imposed in isolated cases and only applies to years 9 to 11, says Geissdörfer.
Jeopardizing the future?
Above all, the introduction of the fine has led to greater awareness of the problem, the headmaster says.
The school now keeps a digital record of all students who skip class or arrive late, which helps to identify problems early on.
“By the time pupils start attracting attention, it’s usually already too late,” Geissdörfer says.
He estimates that some 5% to 10% of students are not interested in school to such an extent that it could jeopardize their chances of graduating, regardless of how gifted they are.
No reliable data is available in the state of Bavaria, where Nuremberg is located, on the number of pupils who are occasionally or regularly late to class or skip school.
It’s the responsibility of each school to record such offences, a spokeswoman for the state Education Ministry says.
In exceptional cases, the district administrative authorities could impose a fine at the request of schools or school supervisory authorities, she said.
Interest from other schools
In the case of the Dürer high school, that is the city of Nuremberg.
According to the school department, local schools reported students missing class around 1,500 times last year either due to being late or missing entire days, up from almost 1,250 the year before.
Before the coronavirus pandemic in 2019, that figure stood at around 800.
Geissdörfer says other schools have reached out to him to hear how the new measure is working out.
According to the German Teachers’ Association, when and in which cases fines are imposed for being late or skipping school varies from state to state.
The state of Berlin has tightened its regulations, says President Stefan Düll. After a student is late for class three times, they are considered to have missed a lesson which in turn could add up to a missed day.
After five missed days in a school term, the school can file a report with the education authority, which could result in fines.
“The Berlin measure is intended to send a signal that schools are no longer willing to watch,” says Düll.
No interest in school – but why?
According to experts, students are repeatedly late for school or skip class altogether for a number of different reasons – and that was true even before the pandemic hit.
However, Düll believes that school closures during lock-down may have contributed to some students losing interest in their education.
According to the Bavarian School Principals’ Association, the number of young people with mental health issues has risen sharply since the pandemic, which in turn could lead to school phobia or truancy.
However, Geissdörfer also thinks that schools share some of the responsibility, advocating for a shift away from exams and surprise tests in favour of more project-based learning, which encourages students to take an active role in acquiring knowledge.
And what do the students at the Dürer high school think about all of this? Has the threat of a fine worsened their relationship with their teachers and headmaster?
“No,” says a student representative who did not want to give his name.
“Many students were initially shocked,” he says, adding that their perspective shifted once the school management provided a more detailed explanation.
“The fine doesn’t affect most of the students,” he says. “It’s just a few individuals who were constantly late.”
Latecomers who interrupt the class in the middle of a lesson affect everyone, he adds.
