Overview
- Education minister Julia Willie Hamburg announced the package on Thursday, August 20, 2026, and said the rules will apply to current 9th and 10th graders from 2028 with the first reformed Abitur in 2030.
- Pupils will be able to build flexible subject combinations instead of choosing from fixed profiles, allowing options such as three foreign languages or mixes of several sciences with computer science.
- The state will keep five Abitur exam subjects but cut the number of written exams from four to three and allow some exams to be oral.
- Schools may reduce traditional in‑course written tests, must offer combined performance records like podcasts, and the previously mandatory Facharbeit will be removed.
- The ministry insists standards will remain unchanged, citing a three‑year average Abitur grade of 2.45, while critics warn the changes will require more teachers and course offers for the promised choice to work in practice.