Education Monitor 2025: Saxony once again top of the league

Saxony is followed by Bavaria, Hamburg, Baden-Württemberg and Thuringia. At the bottom of the main field are Saxony-Anhalt, North Rhine-Westphalia and Brandenburg, with Bremen bringing up the rear.

Which federal state has the best education system? Who has improved? Where is there a need for change in kindergartens, schools, teaching and universities? The Education Monitor provides information on all of this. The study, which has been compiled annually since 2004, includes 98 indicators in 13 fields of action. These range from the number of early school leavers per federal state to the number of newly awarded doctorates from a university. The Education Monitor shows the extent to which a federal state's education system contributes to the growth and prosperity of the economy.

Saxony performs very well in most of the 13 fields of action examined. The Free State has particular strengths in the areas of funding infrastructure (1st place), school quality (1st place), research orientation (1st place), prevention of educational poverty (1st place) and integration (3rd place). The study emphasizes:

• Top score for the proportion of KITA staff with a university degree.
• Highest reading skills among young people in ninth grade.
• Best value for third-party funds raised per professor at universities.
• Best value for the (small) size of the at-risk group in reading.
• Best percentage of foreign school leavers with A-levels.
• High proportion of foreign students among all students.

Support infrastructure (1st place):

In order to achieve better social participation in the education system, it is important to establish a high-quality infrastructure for the individual support of children. Saxony relies heavily on all-day schooling. In Saxony, 88.2 percent of primary school pupils attend an open or tied all-day school (national average: 49.9 percent). At 82.8%, the proportion of pupils at all-day schools in lower secondary level is also well above average (national average: 47.9%). In addition, 82.8 percent of three to six-year-olds were looked after all day (national average: 46.6 percent). In addition, 13.2 percent of staff in childcare facilities have a university degree (national average: 7.3 percent). Saxony achieves the best value here.

School quality (1st place):

Due to the very good results in the last IQB school performance tests from 2022, Saxony achieved 1st place for school quality.

Research orientation (1st place)

With a value of 309,600 euros in third-party funding per professor, Saxony achieves the best value of all federal states (national average: 183,000 euros). Saxony's focus on research is also evident in the number of researchers at universities in relation to GDP. Saxony is also in first place here.

Prevention of educational poverty (1st place):

The good conditions for improving social participation pay off in the goal of preventing educational poverty. In the latest IQB comparative studies, Saxony has the lowest risk groups. In terms of the proportion of successful graduates among those leaving the vocational preparation year, Saxony achieves the best value of all federal states.

Integration (3rd place)

At 16.6 percent, Saxony achieves the highest rate of all federal states (national average: 7.6 percent) in the proportion of foreign pupils at general education schools who are qualified to study. In the IQB tests on educational standards for ninth graders, Saxony showed a lower correlation between social background and educational success in reading compared to the other federal states.