The IFO Education Barometer 2019, the annual representative opinion poll of more than 4,000 citizens, has inquired the public opinion in Germany about inequality in education.

Most of the informants do not believe that there are any major performance differences between genders or students coming from urban or rural background, but rather according to the social conditions and the migration background. Accordingly, unequal opportunities for children from different social or possible migrant backgrounds are seen as a problem. Many educational policies aimed at reducing inequality are receiving high approval. Most notably the public covering of kindergarten fees (78%), higher state spending on schools with disadvantaged students (81%) and additional scholarship programs for low-income students (83%).

Despite a high willingness to support disadvantaged groups, the majority is in favour of evenly distributing additional resources rather than focusing on disadvantaged groups.

CHE (in German)