Gymnasium (Germany)

Gymnasium (German: [ɡʏmˈnaːzi̯ʊm] ^ⓘ; German plural: Gymnasien), in the German education system, is the most advanced and highest of the three types of German secondary schools, the others being Hauptschule (lowest) and Realschule (middle). Gymnasium strongly emphasizes academic learning, comparable to the British grammar school system or with prep schools in the United States. A student attending Gymnasium is called a Gymnasiast (German plural: Gymnasiasten). In 2009/10 there were 3,094 gymnasia in Germany, with c. 2,475,000 students (about 28 percent of all precollegiate students during that period), resulting in an average student number of 800 students per school.

Gymnasia are generally public, state-funded schools, but some parochial and private gymnasia also exist. In 2009/10, 11.1 percent of gymnasium students attended a private gymnasium. These often charge tuition fees, though many also offer scholarships. Tuition fees are lower than in comparable European countries. Some gymnasia are boarding schools, while others run as day schools; they are now predominantly co-educational, and few single-sex schools remain.

Students are generally admitted at 10 years of age and are required to have completed four years (six in Berlin and Brandenburg, where they are enrolled at 12) of Grundschule (primary education). In some German states, permission to apply to a gymnasium is nominally dependent on a letter of recommendation from a teacher or a certain GPA. However, when parents petition, an examination can be used to decide the outcome.

Traditionally, a pupil attended a gymnasium for nine years in Western Germany. However, in the early 2000s, there was a strong political movement to reduce the time spent at the gymnasium to eight years throughout Germany; for a short time most pupils throughout Germany attended the gymnasium for 8 years (referred to as G8), dispensing with the traditional ninth year or oberprima (except in Rhineland-Palatinate). In 2014, Lower Saxony became the first federal state to switch back to G9, i.e., reintroducing the 13th year, with several states following, most recently Bavaria (2024), and, coming up, North Rhine-Westphalia and Schleswig-Holstein (2025).

Final-year students take the Abitur exams. The results of these exams are combined with grades achieved over the last two years of school (Qualifikationsphase) to obtain the final grade.