🏫 Fair on the surface
Education was free, and all children went to the same type of school. Most pupils left after ten years and trained for a skilled job, which suited a state that wanted trained workers.
Life in the GDR: Social Change, 1962-87 » Education and Welfare in the GDR
What you'll learn this session
Study time: 30 minutes
Edexcel spec: Paper 2 Section A, Investigation A5, Key topic 3
- How the polytechnic school mixed lessons with work experience and political teaching
- Why only some young people could go to university
- How free health care, pensions and cheap prices worked as welfare
- How to answer a 6-mark 'Describe TWO features' question
🔒 Unlock Full Course Content
Sign up to access the complete lesson and track your progress!
Unlock This CourseSchools and welfare: the state looks after you
The German Democratic Republic (GDR) was a one-party state run by the Socialist Unity Party (SED). Its leaders wanted people to feel that the state gave them a fair start in life and a safe old age, and they hoped this would make people accept Party rule. Two big parts of that bargain were education and welfare. Jobs and housing are covered in Work and Housing in the GDR.
Key terms:
- Polytechnic school: the GDR's ten-year state school, which mixed ordinary lessons with practical work experience in industry and farming.
- Civics (Staatsbürgerkunde): a compulsory school subject that taught the Party's political ideas.
- Abitur: the exam taken at the end of the long academic route, needed to go to university.
- Polyclinic: a health centre where several kinds of doctor worked under one roof.
Education: one school for everyone
A law of December 1959 set up the ten-year polytechnic school as the school for all children. Its idea was to join learning to the world of work. From September 1958, pupils from the age of about 12 spent one day a week in a factory or on a farm, learning practical skills alongside their lessons. The aim was to produce workers as well as thinkers.
📢 Political teaching
Lessons were not politically neutral. Civics lessons taught Marxism-Leninism and praised the GDR and its friendship with the Soviet Union. Other subjects, such as history, were taught to support the Party's view. From 1978 pupils also had military education lessons, as Controlling the Young and the Church explains.
Who could go to university?
A small number of pupils were chosen for an extended secondary school, which led to the Abitur and then to university. There were fewer places than applicants. Marks mattered, but so did political loyalty. Young people who joined the Free German Youth, took part in the Party's activities and were seen as reliable had a better chance. Pupils who refused to join in, or whose families were active in the Church, could be turned down.
This meant education was both a benefit and a form of control. It gave children a free, secure start, but the Party used it to shape their beliefs and to reward loyalty.
Welfare: care from cradle to grave
The GDR promised to protect people from the money worries of illness and old age. The state paid for much of this from its own funds and from an insurance system that workers paid into.
🏥 Health care
Medical treatment was free. Polyclinics and workplace health centres brought doctors close to people, and visits cost patients nothing.
👴 Pensions
Retired people received a state pension. It gave them a basic income, but the amounts were small, so many pensioners found life hard.
💰 Cheap prices
The state subsidised basics such as food, rents and public transport. Prices stayed low and hardly changed for years.
These policies gave ordinary families real security. A parent did not have to worry about doctors' bills or about whether the family could pay the rent. Under Erich Honecker, who led the GDR from 1971, the Party tried to improve welfare further, in the hope that people who felt looked after would stay loyal.
There was a high price. Subsidies for food, rent and transport cost the state huge sums every year. The GDR could not really afford them, which is part of the story in Economic Problems in the 1980s. Cheap prices also did not help when goods were not in the shops.
Common mistakes
- Saying schooling was free of politics. Civics and other lessons were used to teach loyalty to the Party.
- Saying anyone with good marks could go to university. Places were limited and loyalty counted.
- Saying welfare was a failure. It gave real security, but it was costly and had weaknesses.
- Writing about women and childcare here. That is in The Changing Role of Women in the GDR.
Exam-style question
This is a Paper 2 Section A (a) question. It tests what you know, so there are no sources. Pick ONE of the two options, give TWO features and add detail to each. One feature alone can earn no more than 3 marks.
Describe TWO features of EITHER education in the GDR OR housing in the GDR. [6 marks]
Model answer
(Education chosen.) One feature of education in the GDR was that it was political. Pupils had to study civics, which taught the ideas of the SED, and from 1978 they took military education lessons. This shows that schools were used to make children loyal to the state.
A second feature was that the ten-year polytechnic school linked lessons to work. From 1958 pupils spent a day each week in a factory or on a farm, and most left school after ten years to train for a skilled job. This fitted the GDR's aim of producing trained workers.
What lifts it to the top level: each feature is named, then supported with two specific facts, so both are explained rather than just stated.
Exam tip
Write two separate paragraphs, one per feature, and start them 'One feature was...' and 'A second feature was...'. Then add at least two facts to each, such as a date, a law or a named policy.
Recap
- The polytechnic school was a free, ten-year school that joined lessons to work, with a weekly day in industry or farming.
- Civics and military lessons taught loyalty to the SED.
- University places were limited and went mainly to those seen as politically reliable.
- Welfare meant free health care, state pensions and subsidised basics, which gave security but cost the state more than it could afford.