Which Young People in Germany are in a Gymnasium at the Age of 17? A Typological Analysis

Abstract

The Gymnasium is the most academically selective and the most prestigious among the types of secondary school in Germany (see Chapter 4). While attending a Gymnasium is not the only way to obtain the Abitur, the prerequisite for university access, it is the most common and straightforward way. Many parents therefore wish for their children to enter this type of school. In this chapter, I present and discuss findings both from Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) analyses of German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) data (see Chapter 4) and in-depth analyses of my interviews to describe and explain Gymnasium attendance to age 17. Since some young people leave the Gymnasium at the age of 16 with the intermediate qualification of Realschulabschluss, staying on to 17 is a clearer indicator of being en route to obtaining the Abitur than merely entering the Gymnasium would be.