About us
95 members
– this is the Verband Evangelischer Evangelical schools und Kitas (German national association of free evangelical schools and pre-schools)!
with 216 educational institutions
(56 daycare centers & 160 schools)
at 134 locations
with 39,500 pupils & daycare children
and more than 6,000 employees,
supported by Christian parent initiatives…
The Verband Evangelischer German national association of free evangelical schools and pre-schools (VEBS e.V.) represents the interests of 207 Christian evangelical schools and Christian kindergartens. They were all founded by parents who have thus exercised a fundamental right of our constitution (Article 7 Paragraph 4 of the Basic Law).
They share the “common basis of faith of the Evangelical Alliance in Germany”, i.e. they are independent (“free”) of (e.g. Protestant regional) churches.
As an umbrella organization, the VEBS is a spiritual home, platform and service provider (advice, further training, staff recruitment…), organizer of events and representative of the interests of independent Evangelical schools and daycare centers – and also a defender in the event of inaccurate attacks.
Evangelical schools are characterized by the fact that they only have to follow the state teaching objectives1 but not the curricula/educational plans.
For example, the North Rhine-Westphalian constitution states: “In Evangelical schools, children of the Catholic or Protestant faith or of another religious community are taught and educated according to the principles of the respective denomination“1.
Evangelical schools are therefore allowed to develop and teach their own curricula2 – these must be approved by the state’s school supervisory authority.
The entire school routine of a confessional school (including all school subjects) must be permeated/shaped by the Christian confession (just as Waldorf schools or Montessori schools must be shaped by the respective pedagogical principles).3
We use this freedom, while respecting the state’s teaching objectives, to shape the school with our own methods and teaching content, which are shaped by our own beliefs.
To avoid misunderstandings: Our schools largely adhere to the curricula – but often go beyond them in terms of religious beliefs. Especially when it comes to questions of meaning and values, in addition to the content of the state curriculum, in a denominational school we discuss everything that is important according to the school’s denomination.
And yes: we are allowed to advertise our confession in Evangelical schools – but of course the children and young people decide for themselves personally (“ban on overwhelming”).
Only employees who share this confession work at the Evangelical schools and Christian kindergartens in the VEBS – this is also an obligation of the Basic Law3.
Of course, the VEBS also supports parents (initiatives) in setting up schools and daycare centers!
Would you like to support us in this work? You can find our job advertisements here.
Our donation account: DE88 5009 2100 0001 7675 00.
Important legal bases and rulings of the two highest German courts on Evangelical schools
“The right to establish private schools is guaranteed. Private schools replacing public schools require the approval of the state and are subject to the laws of the federal states. Approval shall be granted if the private schools are not inferior to public schools in their teaching objectives and facilities and in the academic training of their teaching staff and if they do not promote the segregation of pupils according to the property status of their parents. Approval is to be refused if the economic and legal position of the teaching staff is not sufficiently secure.
A private elementary school (today: elementary school) is only permitted if the education administration recognizes a special pedagogical interest or, at the request of legal guardians, if it is to be established as a community school, a denominational or ideological school and a public elementary school of this type does not exist in the municipality. “1
“In Evangelical schools, children of the Catholic or Protestant faith or of another religious community are taught and educated according to the principles of the respective denomination. “2
“Unless otherwise provided for in this Act,
the providers of these schools are responsible for
- the school organization, in particular the decision about
a special pedagogical, religious … character, - the definition of teaching and teaching methods and
- the teaching content and
- the organization of lessons
also deviating from the regulations for publicly funded schools. “3
“A confessional school presupposes the homogeneity of the confession of parents, pupils and teachers, which characterizes the school and its entire teaching.”4
“What matters (in Evangelical schools) is whether the same knowledge and skills are taught in essence, irrespective of whether the teaching is based on an independent ideological basis with teaching methods and content geared towards this.
In this respect , equivalence with public schools is not required, only equivalence. “5
“… private alternative schools are free to pursue other educational objectives in addition to the teaching objectives specified by the state, including the educational objectives, which in any case do not contradict the state objectives, especially since the state educational objectives typically leave room for filling in the content of specific lessons. “4
“The character of a denominational school is not changed by the fact that a minority of the pupils come from a parental home that does not belong to the religious community of the school’s sponsors and teachers…”4
“Tolerance does not mean openness and neutrality in the sense that pupils should not be taught to develop a certain conviction of their own, to profess it and, if necessary, to defend it…
This minimum level of tolerance prohibits devaluation and, in particular, defamation of dissenting convictions, but by no means the promotion of one’s own conviction.”4
“For the constitutionally required minimum of values teaching at school, there is no need for religious education or even a separate subject. Rather, other subjects such as German or social studies are also suitable for dealing with ethical issues.” 6
“The fulfillment of school-related approval requirements other than those listed in Article 7 (4) sentence 3 of the Basic Law may not be demanded of the private school authority either by state law or by a specific form of school authority approval practice. “7
Locations
1 Basic Law Article 7 (4) and (5)
2 NRW State Constitution, Section 12 (3) sentence 2
3 Saxon law on independent schools, § 2 paragraph 2 sentence 2
4 Federal Administrative Court, judgment of 19.02.1992, ref.: 6 C 3/91, headnote 1
5 Federal Constitutional Court, decision of 9.3.1994 (1 BvR 682, 712/88) and of 8.6.2011 (1 BvR 759/08, 733/09)
6 Federal Administrative Court, decision of 29.4.2019 (6 B 141.18)
7 Federal Administrative Court, judgments of 11.3.1966 (7 C 194.64) and 30.1.2013 (6 C 6.12)
