Ersatzschule

Alternative schools are privately run schools that can be attended as a substitute for state schools.

Your children can complete their compulsory schooling at alternative schools. In addition, your children can acquire school qualifications and entitlements at alternative schools that have the same effect as qualifications from public schools.

An exception are the so-called alternative schools of their own kind, which realize special educational reform ideas. Your children can also complete compulsory schooling at these alternative schools. However, the schools are not allowed to award qualifications and entitlements independently, but prepare for the relevant final examinations in which state authorities are involved. The best-known example of alternative schools of their own kind are Waldorf schools.

There are substitute schools in the school types that are provided for in the respective school laws of the federal states, e.g. Hauptschulen, Sekundarschulen, Realschulen, Gesamtschulen and Gymnasien in the lower secondary level. However, alternative schools are permitted to develop teaching and educational methods equivalent to those of state schools and to adopt a special pedagogical or religious character. This permission is limited; alternative schools may only implement their own ideas to the extent that these ideas do not jeopardize the educational opportunities of pupils in comparison to state schools.

If you would like your child to attend an alternative school, you must submit an application for admission to the private school authority.

The conditions under which the private school authority admits your child are determined by the private school authority itself and it is free to do so because the school relationship is established by a contract under private law. However, if the admission of pupils to public schools is subject to conditions, these also apply to alternative schools.

Even if the private provider is free to choose the pupils of its school, it must ensure that the admission of a child does not fail due to the financial circumstances of the parents if all other admission criteria are met.

Determined by the private school authority.

• Alternative school
• Replacement for public schools
• Compulsory schooling can be completed at alternative schools.
• Alternative schools award school-leaving certificates and qualifications.
• Substitute schools essentially correspond to the school types of the public school system.

Determined by the private school authority.